News of interest to all of us who work with early printed books! A.
 
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Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 16:01:05 -0500
From: Germaine Warkentin <[log in to unmask]>
To: Multiple recipients of list FICINO <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: News from ISTC 1995 (Long message) [x-post]
 
Cross-posted from ExLibris:
 
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> N E W S F R O M I S T C
>
> F E B R U A R Y 1 9 9 5
>
>
> Since our last newsletter of Autumn 1993, the British
> Library's Incunable Short-Title Catalogue has made steady
> progress on a number of fronts towards its aim of
> recording all fifteenth-century printing. At 1 January
> 1995 the database recorded 26,767 items. The breakdown of
> the figures may be of interest: 25,342 of these separate
> editions are strictly datable to the fifteenth century,
> meaning that 1,425 are post-incunabula, retained in the
> database (but easily separated out in searching) in
> virtue of having been classed as incunabula by at least
> some bibliographers since Hain. Of the genuine
> incunabula, 1,347 are items of single-sheet printing
> (format 'Bdsde' in ISTC). Since a good proportion of what
> is now entering the database is indeed broadside
> material, it looks as if the tally of substantial
> fifteenth-century editions will eventually settle at
> around 27-28,000.
> The major development in the course of 1994 has been
> preparation for the Incipit CD-ROM, detailed below. But
> we continue to add a good deal of information to the
> database, in the areas particularly of location
> information and new bibliographical references. The
> essentials of three major European catalogues-the union
> catalogues of Hungary, Poland and Spain-have now been
> almost entirely entered, and work is in hand on the
> registration of Portuguese collections (in the first
> place, the Biblioteca Nacional). We are also entering
> systematically the complete collections of facsimile
> pages in the Gesellschaft fur Typenkunde and Type
> Facsimile Society series (GfT and TFS). Ready reference
> to a large set of facsimiles-in effect indexing them for
> the first time-should facilitate identification of many
> difficult editions.
> Parallel to development of the CD-ROM with page-
> images, the ISTC text database continues to be available
> online on the British Library's BLAISE-LINE service, and
> on PICA in Europe and the RLIN Books file in North
> America. RLIN has also been selected to host a major new
> enterprise, the Hand Press Book Database of the
> Consortium of European Research Libraries. This will
> eventually establish an online record of all European
> printing until about 1830. It is hoped that ISTC will be
> loaded as one of the constituents of the database,
> searchable separately or as part of an edited union file,
> by the end of 1995.
>
> Incipit
> In January 1994, ISTC entered a new phase of development.
> With funding from the Libraries Programme of the
> Commission of the European Communities, the British
> Library has formed a partnership with five European
> libraries and the commercial publisher Research
> Publications International, with the goal of publishing
> ISTC on CD-ROM.
> The project, known as Incipit, was inaugurated at
> Oxford on 18 January 1994, and will run for two years.
> The partner libraries are: The British Library; the
> Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Rome; Bibliotheque
> Royale/Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Brussels; Consiglio
> Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome; Instituto da Biblioteca
> Nacional e do Livro, Lisbon; and Koninklijke Bibliotheek,
> The Hague. A second meeting to review progress so far and
> to plan future coverage was held at Lisbon, 23-24 January
> 1995.
> The role of the partner libraries is to enhance the
> existing ISTC database with information which it cannot
> provide in its current on-line form, namely, images of
> pages. Project Incipit collects existing and specially-
> produced microfilm of incunabula and converts it into
> digital form on a microfilm scanner. These images are
> then linked with their corresponding ISTC records on the
> CD-ROM, and can be searched and viewed just like ISTC
> records.
> The partner libraries are choosing and filming only
> bibliographically key pages from each edition. These
> images will, it is hoped, take the place of traditional
> textual transcriptions, and thus simplify the process of
> bibliographic identification and description. In
> addition, a database combining both ISTC and images of
> printed pages will make the comprehensive study and
> comparison of typefaces, as well as of non-typographical
> elements, layout and design, a real possibility for the
> first time.
> Partner libraries have been filming and scanning
> incunable pages since January 1994. In this first year,
> each library has concentrated on selecting editions
> representing its own national or linguistic area. In the
> coming year, the partners hope also to select editions on
> broader, more thematic lines, in order to test how well
> the disk can help in comparative research. Numerous
> editions of the same author or text will be collected,
> besides as much Greek and Hebrew printing as possible.
> While the partner libraries are contributing most of
> the microfilm, the CEC hopes Incipit can request
> microfilm from other libraries as well, especially in the
> case of rare or little known editions.
> Incipit passed a major milestone on 20 December 1994,
> with the release of a draft CD-ROM, known as CD-ROM 1.
> This will be distributed to around forty libraries and
> other institutions in the spring of 1995, in order to
> elicit comments and suggestions for the future. CD-ROM 2,
> another draft, will be released in the autumn of 1995.
> The final disk before the project becomes a fully
> commercial venture is expected in 1996.
> Incipit is a Windows-based application. Search terms
> and field names will be familiar to users of ISTC. On the
> other hand, the graphic layout and design of Windows,
> with its text boxes, menus and mouse, is an innovation
> which should after further refinement make the records
> and images easy to search and display.
> In addition, the partner libraries and Research
> Publications are discussing ways in which the Windows
> environment and the multimedia capabilities of CD-ROM may
> expand and enhance the database further. It may be
> possible, for example, to use hypertext to link ISTC
> records to other databases of information, for instance
> dossiers on printers or printing towns. Also under
> discussion is a 'sensitive map' (derived from those
> developed on the World Wide Web) in which individual
> printing towns, or whole areas of printing, could be
> selected and searched.
> These issues will be explored in more detail in 1995.
> Filming and scanning will continue, with opportunities to
> refine and improve the technical standards of the
> project. It is hoped that Incipit will not only publish
> the CD-ROM, but also establish helpful standards for
> other projects which may use the same technology in the
> future.
> The British Library has appointed a curator, Miss
> Margaret Meserve, to act as Incipit's project manager,
> while Dr Lotte Hellinga supervises the project as Project
> Coordinator. If you would like to volunteer to test the
> Incipit CD-ROM 1 in the spring or summer of 1995, please
> contact Miss Meserve at ISTC.
>
> Incunabula: The Printing Revolution in Europe
> The Incunabula project, providing full text of selected
> incunabula on microfiche, is continuing apace. Four units
> covering all Italian printing before 1472 will be
> published in early 1995, with introduction by Professor
> Luigi Balsamo. This brings the total of published units
> to ten. Three units with medical incunabula are in
> preparation for publication in 1995, to be issued with an
> introduction by Mr Peter Jones, Librarian of King's
> College, Cambridge. Further units are on the drawing
> board. This project is published by Research Publications
> in conjunction with the British Library, and is highly
> dependent on the good will and support of colleagues in
> other collections.
>
> North America
> Martin Davies completed the five year period of
> sponsorship to bring ISTC records for North America up to
> date with visits to New England in Autumn 1993 and to the
> South in June 1994. Collections checked on the ground
> include the important holdings of Williams College
> (Chapin Library), Dartmouth College and Emory University,
> Atlanta. Dr Davies took part, as usual, in the annual
> Rare Books and Manuscripts preconference in Miami in June
> 1994, giving there a seminar paper. Among other
> enhancements of the US records we have in the past year
> received revisions of the Princeton holdings (University
> Library and Scheide) and made a start on wholesale entry
> of references to James Walsh's new Harvard catalogue.
> There will be a continuing need to keep North
> American records up to date, and also to investigate some
> of the smaller collections so far untouched by ISTC
> visits or surveys. An application has been submitted to
> the National Endowment for the Humanities by Professor
> Henry Snyder of the University of California with a view
> to providing support for a small network of
> bibliographers on the ground who will be responsible for
> future reporting of N/A holdings.
>
> United Kingdom and Ireland
> The coverage of libraries in the British Isles has seen a
> small but important extension to the holdings recorded.
> We should particularly like to thank librarians at
> Holkham Hall (Norfolk), Manchester Central Library, St
> Patrick's College, Maynooth, and the National Library of
> Ireland, Archbishop Marsh's Library and the King's Inns,
> Dublin for their assistance during the past year.
>
> Germany
> Reinhard Horn and Gertrud Friedl are continuing the
> important work of the census of incunabula in Germany.
> This is now carried out with an updated version of the
> Advanced Revelation program, installed on PCs at the
> Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, in Autumn 1993. One
> hundred German collections have been completely
> incorporated over the past year, and a further forty-
> eight are practically complete. In addition to these
> collections, all the copies listed in the third volume,
> published in 1993, of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
> Inkunabelkatalog have been added to ISTC. A comprehensive
> listing is also in progress for the reunited
> Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. Dr Horn and Frau Friedl
> delivered papers on the Inkunabel-census at the Tuebingen
> Symposium 'Handschriften, Alte Drucke' in October 1994.
>
>
> Italy
> Italian locations as held in the IGI files were entered
> in ISTC during 1993 on the PC version of ISTC installed
> at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Rome. The IGI
> material dates back in some cases to the 1930s. Given the
> very wide distribution of old books in Italy and the lack
> of systematic cataloguing of many collections, it was to
> be expected that many locations of incunabula would stand
> in need of amendment. Some 850 libraries were therefore
> sent printed lists of their catalogued books for checking
> against actual holdings at the end of 1993.
> About 60% of the collections have so far responded,
> bringing to light a good deal of new material regarding
> both libraries (for example, seminaries and other small
> institutions which no longer exist) and the incunabula
> themselves. Against some dozens of copies not now
> forthcoming (through acts of war, theft, etc.), several
> hundred new copies have surfaced. The case of the 215
> incunabula at the Biblioteca Civica of Palazzolo
> sull'Oglio, which was not covered by IGI, is particularly
> striking.
> Among the major collections checked in the course of
> 1994 are the Ambrosiana of Milan, the Biblioteca
> Nazionale of Milan and the Casanatense in Rome, each with
> around 2,000 incunabula. Updated records of the
> Biblioteca Nazionale of Florence are expected in early
> 1995, and most other substantial collections will have
> completed the process of checking in the course of the
> year.
>
> Russia
> A formal agreement by the British Library to assist the
> progress of the incunabula catalogue of the National
> Library of Russia (formerly the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public
> Library, now listed as St Petersburg NL) was signed in
> 1994. This agreement anticipated exchange of data between
> the National Library and ISTC, and we have made a start
> on incorporating the parts of the catalogue so far
> published into the database. Generous funding from the
> British Academy is allowing Miss Ekaterina Medvedeva of
> the National Library to spend some five weeks in London
> at the beginning of 1995. This will give her the
> opportunity to get thoroughly acquainted with our
> methodology and make the personal connections which are
> all-important in the successful co-operation of
> institutions.
>
> Hebrew
> Dr Adri Offenberg is continuing his visits as consultant
> to the British Library where he is preparing Volume XIII
> of BMC on the Library's Hebrew incunabula (see his
> articles in The Library, 16 (1994), 43-49 and 298-315).
> There are plans to join forces with the Bodleian Library
> in the publication of this volume of BMC, since the
> collections can fruitfully be considered to complement
> one another. Dr Offenberg's work is also bringing direct
> benefits to ISTC's recording of Hebraica. The records for
> Hebrew incunabula, hitherto segregated following the
> style of Goff, are to be disposed in the general
> alphabetical sequence in 1995 with his amendments. The
> books will still be easily picked out by the language
> code 'Heb'.
>
>
>
> Other
> French editions and French locations have continued to
> grow with the incorporation of Vols X-XI of the
> Catalogues regionaux series and of the new volume of the
> Bibliotheque Nationale catalogue. There are now just over
> 6,000 editions registered as being at the BN, and some
> 9,000 in France as a whole, though much remains to be
> done. Reference numbers of the national censuses of
> Poland (IBP), Hungary (Sajo-Soltesz) and Spain (IBE) have
> been added to the bibliographical references en bloc,
> though not in all cases with systematic entry of
> locations in those countries. Work has begun on entering
> the major holdings of Prague libraries (National Museum
> and National Library). We are continuing to receive help
> from Dra Regula Rohland de Langbehn on collections in
> Argentina, and hope shortly to co-operate in a new survey
> of the holdings of the Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico.
> Contributions have also been received from the National
> Library, Valletta, Malta and the New South Wales State
> Library in Sydney.
> The editing and indexing of ISTC records for the
> forthcoming Incunabula of the Low Countries, edited by
> Gerard van Thienen and John Goldfinch, has been completed
> and publication is expected in 1995. In Japan, Koichi
> Yukishima of Waseda University, Tokyo, has completed a
> revised census of incunabula in Japan based on ISTC and
> this too is to be published shortly.
>
> Recent Publications
>
> Pasqualino Avigliano, 'L'IGI e la base dati ISTC',
> Bollettino AIB, 34:3 (1994), 333-38
>
> Lotte Hellinga, 'European Automation Projects', in
> Bibliologia e informatica. Giornata di studio, Napoli,
> Istituto 'Suor Orsola Benincasa', 26 novembre 1993, ed.
> E. Esposito (Ravenna, 1994), pp. 65-74 [on ISTC, Incipit,
> the Hand Press Book Database]
>
> Maria Valentina Sul Mendes, 'Plano de Accao para as
> Bibliotecas Europeias e o Envolimento das Bibliotecas
> Portuguesas', Cadernos de Biblioteconomia, Arquivistica e
> Documentacao, 1994, no. 2, 83-85 [on Incipit].
>
> Margaret Meserve, 'Project Incipit' in Digital Imaging.
> Concertation Meeting, Luxembourg, 7 November 1994
> (European Commision Libraries Programme, DG XIII, 1994)
>
> Paolo Veneziani, 'Informatica e incunaboli: dall'IGI ad
> una base di dati'. Biblioteche insieme. Gli spazi della
> cooperazione. Atti del XXXVIII Congresso nazionale
> dell'Associazione Italiana Biblioteche. Rome: 1994, 149-
> 56
>
>
> Incunabula Lotte Hellinga
> The British Library Martin Davies
> Great Russell Street John Goldfinch
> London WC1B 3DG, UK Marcella Leembruggen
> Margaret Meserve
>
> Telephone: [44] 171 412 7579. Fax: [44] 171 412 7736
> (please note new numbers)
> Email: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] or
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Germaine Warkentin [log in to unmask]
English, Victoria College, University of Toronto
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