The Epic BOD-INC Catalogue of Incunabula in the Bodleian Library

[Bodleian Library]. Alan Coates, Kristian Jensen, Cristina Dondi, Bettina Wagner, and Helen Dixon

[INCUNABULA REFERENCE]. A Catalogue of Books printed in the Fifteenth Century now in the Bodleian Library (a.k.a. BOD-INC)

Oxford: University Press, 2005. First Edition. COMPLETE SET of all 6 vols., comprising more than 2,965 pages (sic!) printed in two- and three-columns. Original publisher's blue cloth (some scuffing to cloth covers), ISBN stickers on lower right corner of back covers. Vertical creasing on half title of volume III, occasional signs of use / thumbsoiling, but overall the contents are clean, fresh, and unspoiled. NOT ex-library! Item #3223

Complete sets are rare in private ownership; only two complete set have appeared action, and this was one of them -- the other one sold at Swann in 2013.

"Bod-Inc," as it is affectionately -- and reverentially -- known, is so epic that it scarcely warrants any discussion whatsoever. Suffice it to say that more than 5,600 incunables are EXHAUSTIVELY described, with detailed listings of the contents of EACH EDITION. Arranged alphabetically, the aims of Bod-Inc are summarized in the catalogue's introduction:

"The main aim of the catalogue has been, from the outset, to combine information about the individual copies in the collections of the Bodleian Library (their bindings, their provenance, manuscript notes, and other signs of use) with a detailed analysis of the contents of each edition, locating all texts in each edition, identifying their authors, and giving references to modern editions of each text where they exist. It is not the aim of the catalogue to replicate typographical information which is already available in one of the other detailed incunable catalogues, such as GW, BMC, or Polain."

The sixth volume contains an indispensible 102-page "Index of Provenances, Owners, and Donors" (pp. 2833-2935). Printed in 3 columns, there must be 4000 names listed herein.

The Bodleian Library Bod-Inc database is NOT condusive to browsing, and thus the user cannot experience the luxurious joy of bibliographic discovery, namely browsing through the Bodleian's incunabula for months and years.

MUST BE SEEN TO BE FULLY APPRECIATED.

Price: $2,250.00