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JournalISSN: 0014-9527

Quaerendo 

Brill
About: Quaerendo is an academic journal published by Brill. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): History of the book & German. It has an ISSN identifier of 0014-9527. Over the lifetime, 265 publications have been published receiving 925 citations. The journal is also known as: Quærendo (Köln) & Quærendo (Leiden).


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The first publication of Hebrew Mikhlal Yophi by Jacob Abendana appeared in the Netherlands in 1662 as mentioned in this paper and was the first publication by subscription in the Dutch language.
Abstract: Publication by subscription is a sales technique developed in England in the seventeenth century. It was probably not introduced to the German-speaking countries until after 1725. The first hitherto known instances in the Netherlands date from after 1680. The article describes the publication of two linguistic works by Sephardic Jews which are the earliest known examples of works published by subscription in Holland and Germany. The first of the works concerned is the Hebrew Mikhlal Yophi, a commentary on the Bible of which an edition prepared by Jacob Abendana appeared in Amsterdam in 1662. An exchange of letters between Abendana and Antonius Hulsius is indicative of the former's attempts at recruiting subscribers. Abendana's efforts concentrated on Leiden, where in about 1660 he, his brother Isaac and the rabbi David Cohen de Lara, formerly of Hamburg, were living as private Hebrew tutors and booksellers. Abendana used an approbation of his book by the Leiden professors Cocceius, Heidanus and Uchtmannus to support his request for permission to dedicate his work to the States General. This was a more conventional way of acquiring funds from the state. At the same time the dedication, the approbation and a letter from the Basle Hebraist Johan Buxtorf jun. were intended to smooth the book's path to the Christian reading public. A case is also presented for the publication by subscription of David Cohen de Lara's Keter Kehunna (Hamburg 1668). Cohen de Lara's initiative goes back to the example set by Abendana, who, in turn, probably borrowed the idea from the London Polyglot. Finally some observations are presented concerning the conspicuous popularity of this method of publishing with Sephardic Jews interested in language. A comparison with the events surrounding the appearance of the Dutch translation of Athanasius Kircher's Mundus subterraneus, subscriptions for which were opened in 1678, makes it probable that Abendana's work was one of the first ever to be published by subscription.

42 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Athias's primacy in the history of stereotyping is established by as mentioned in this paper, who found evidence that he had two English bibles in plates, one a twelvemo, the other an eighteenmo.
Abstract: There is circumstantial and documentary evidence that printing from stereotype plates was being undertaken by Joseph Athias in Amsterdam no later than September 1673. The terms of an agreement of that date between Athias and the Widow Schippers and Anna Maria Stam imply that he had two English bibles in plates, one a twelvemo, the other an eighteenmo. The eighteenmo can be equated with an edition with engraved title-page with the imprint 'Cambridge, Roger Daniel, 1648', the last in a sequence of four with the same imprint, each of which carries over from its predecessor a certain amount of setting. The earliest in the sequence appears to have been printed by Joachim Nosche in Amsterdam. That the fourth was impressed at least six times is suggested by the fact that it was printed on six or more discrete papers, thus implying that it was either kept standing or plated. That it was indeed plated at some stage of its life, and that the plates consisted of columns (not pages), is confirmed by the observable differences in alignment of the columns from exemplar to exemplar, particular alignments agreeing with particular papers. Athias's primacy in the history of stereotyping is thus established. From among the many librarians who have assisted me during this investigation I should like to thank in particular Dr Lotte Hellinga, whose advice in the early stages proved especially helpful. Earlier versions of the text were presented to: The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, Adelaide, August 1985; The Centre for Bibliographical and Textual Studies, Monash University, September 1985; The Bibliographical Society, London, April 1992.

39 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the author's Thomas Basson 1555-1613: English Printer at Leiden has been published and a number of new facts have come to light.
Abstract: Since the appearance in 1961 of the author's Thomas Basson 1555-1613: English Printer at Leiden, a number of new facts have come to light. Moreover, thirty-three new titles can be added to the checklist of Basson's publications, plus a considerable number of theses printed by Thomas Basson. This brings the total number of Basson imprints to c. 450 instead of the original 180. It is now clear, however, that all or nearly all 1585-7 Basson imprints are books or pamphlets printed for him by others. One of the interesting discoveries since 1961 is a copy of The Coniugations in Englishe and Netherdutche (1586), translated and prefaced by Basson himself. It is the first English-Dutch grammar in history, and was dedicated to the Leiden magistrates. New information clarifies Basson's move to Leiden from Cologne in 1583/4 and his involvement in the 'Family of Love', but the evidence remains circumstantial. In 1593/4 the first Basson press was set up. At first it was capable only of very small books and pamphlets, mainly theses, carmina, and auction catalogues. In 1603-6, however, the Basson press got involved in a major publication: Scaliger's Thesaurus temporum. Passages from Scaliger's correspondence show that Thomas Basson and his son Govert were learning their trade the hard way. After 1606 full-length books became a standard feature of their printing house 'At the Sign of the Music-Book'. The 1606 Thesaurus is also interesting because a specially made music-book device on the title page represents an actual piece of music which turns out to be a two-part canon. One other aspect of the Basson press, finally, is also discussed: its apparent interest in occult books.

38 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

38 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
20238
202225
20211
20205
20195
20182