BEUGHEM, Cornelius von

First edition of the first printed bibliography of incunabula compiled by the preeminent Dutch C17 bibliographer Cornelius (or Cornelis) van Beughem. This groundbreaking pocket sized volume (you could easily take it with you when visiting your favorite bookshop) lists more than 3000 incunables, helpfully in strict authorial alphabetical order, rather than first by subject matter, unlike most bibliographies of the period; the full title is usually given. In some cases, several editions are listed with date and place of printing, sometimes with names of editors and translators and sizes. In the case of editions of particular importance the printer may be also identified. At the end are appendices of anonymous editions and those of uncertain date or imprint. This was a remarkably comprehensive and useful volume, providing modern style bibliographical information on more than ten percent of now known incunabula, including many more obscure works.

Beughem (c. 1637-1710) of Prussian origin, worked as a bookseller in Amsterdam for Jansson before setting up his own shop in Emmerich. He was “without doubt the foremost bibliographer of the seventeenth century” (Breslauer & Folter) who “provided for his contemporaries a series of bibliographies of outstanding usefullness, full, accurate, and intelligently compiled” (Besterman). Beughem can be justly considered the precursor to the great bookseller-bibliographers of the 19th century, although they were largely critical of his pioneering efforts.