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Ernst Voulliéme, Die Inkunabeln der öffentlichen Bibliothek und der kleineren Büchersammlungen der Stadt Trier (Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, Beiheft 38; 1910).

[2]

No such date (28 Calends) was known to the Romans.

[3]

Vols. I-VIII, pt. 1 (Leipzig, 1925-40). GW lists 14 editions (nos. 9496-9509). Also cited in this study are: Ludwig Hain, Repertorium bibliographicum (1826-38); J. C. T. Oates, A Catalogue of the Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in the University Library Cambridge (1954); Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century now in the British Museum (1908-62; cited as BMC); and the works listed in notes 7, 11 and 12 below.

[4]

The date of February 3rd is arrived at by counting back from the Calends of March (March 1st), 1488 being a leap year. According to classical usage, February 3rd would be "III Nonas Februarii".

[5]

For the dates in this study, use has been made of the enormously handy article by Frederick R. Goff, "The Dates in Certain German Incunabula," Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, XXXIV (1940), 17-67. All dates have been rechecked against Adriano Cappelli, Cronologia, Cronografia e Calendario Perpetuo (1930).

[6]

Campbell's Annales de la typographie néerlandaise au XVe siècle, Contributions to a new Edition (1956), p. 34, no. 717a.

[7]

The Fifteenth-Century Printing Types of the Low Countries (1966), II, 390.

[8]

Morgan Library, PML 17560, sig. ee6; Duff 283.

[9]

PML 778, sig. i3; Duff 103.

[10]

As listed by the Hellingas (see note 7).

[11]

E. Gordon Duff, Fifteenth Century English Books (1917).

[12]

See the short-title list in Curt F. Bühler, The University and the Press in Fifteenth-Century Bologna (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1958; cited as Bühler).

[13]

For the books dated in Holy Week, only a few examples need be cited: Monday: 5 April 1490 (BMC IX:66 — IA. 47806) = "altera die palmarum"; 13 April 1495 (Duff 173) Tuesday: 14 April 1495 (BMC IX:24 — IA. 47188) Wednesday: 26 March 1494 (Oates 3555) = "tercia die post Dominicam Palmarum"; 18 April 1492 (Bühler 32.A.1) Thursday: 19 April 1492 (Bühler 32.A.2; also 6.A.41). Note: Giovanni Giacomo Fontanesi published two books on successive days in Holy Week. However, the second of these (Bühler 32.A.2) includes a letter from Politian dated "xvi. kal' Iun. 1492," which would imply that the book was not issued before 17 May 1492, though BMC VI:838 suggests that Iun. might be a misprint for Ian. The publication of April 18th (the Letters of St. Catherine of Siena) seems quite appropriate for Holy Week, but that of the following day (an abridged Metamorphoses of Ovid in Latin elegiacs) does not.

[14]

Christmas Eve: 1495, Richard Pafraet (GW 4524) 1476, Annibale Malpigli (Bühler 7.A.4) 1499, Richard Pynson (Duff 341) Erhard Ratdolt, in Venice, issued an edition of Abraham Aben Ezra, De nativitatibus, with the date of Christmas Eve ("nona kalendas Ianuarij"). BMC (V:291 — IA. 20551) interprets the year as 1485, while the GW (113) maintains that the year was 1484. See, also, note 20.

[15]

For other significant days, one may record two books dated on August 15th (Assumption BMV): Albertus de Saxonia, De proportionibus (Padua: Cerdonis, 1482; BMC VII:920 — IA. 29988) and Alexander de Villa Dei, Doctrinale (Lyons: Jean du Pré, 1489; GW 1035). Also two editions of the Doctrinale (GW 1071/2), both dated "quarto Nonas Nouembris" 1494 (November 2nd = All Souls), were printed in Cologne by Heinrich Quentell.

[16]

The existence of this book is guaranteed by the Hellingas' notes on the types (II, 408 and 495), where they state: "From MS. GW". The book is also not included in Dr. Kronenberg's list of "Doubtful cases" (pp. 59-112). An Aesop was issued "a di primo Aprile" 1491 in Venice by Benalius and Capcasa (GW 438), another example of Good Friday dating. See also note 19 below.

[17]

Two further examples with this date are: Aesopus moralisatus (Rome: [Silber], "DIE. XXVIIII. MARCII" 1483 = BMC IV:105 — IA. 19166) and an Albertus Magnus, Compendium theologicae veritatis (Venice: [Locatellus for] Scotus, "io. die Aprilis" 1490 = Hain 443).

[18]

An Albertus de Padua was printed in Venice by Rottweil and Corvus with the date "8°. Kl'. Janu." 1476 (BMC V:249 — IB. 20582). This is the equivalent of December 25th.

[19]

Sometimes the printer was fully aware of the precise meaning of his date. Thus, Michael Greyff issued from Reutlingen (in 1489) a Doctrinale with the date: "Sexta feria post palmarum" which can only stand for Good Friday (GW 1155). In like manner, Quentell put out an Albertanus Causidicus Brixiensis in 1489 with the printed date "in profesto pasche" (BMC I:274 — IA. 4542). Thus the work is clearly dated "the day before Easter".

[20]

A copy in the Morgan Library (PML 93) of the Sermones de tempore et de sanctis by Albertus Magnus, printed by ther Hoernen in Cologne in 1474, has the precise date in the colophon: "Ipso die gloriosi ac sancti profesti natiuitatis domini nostri Ihesu Christi," which unequivocally means Christmas Eve.

[21]

See BMC II:328/9 and 341/2. At Strassburg, the press styled "Printer of the 1483 Jordanus de Quedlinburg" on at least three occasions dated its productions with "circa" (BMC I:134, 144 and 146) and twice with "post" (BMC I:132 and 141).