CUHK Library E-newsletter

Western Rare Books Collection

What makes a book rare? For western language books, there are no clear-cut definitions. In view of its relatively young history, the CUHK Library defines Western books printed before 1900 as rare. The scope of the collection is mainly on medicine, architecture and Western books on China. The medicine collection consists of a rare and significant collection in medical history built up over the years through purchase and donations. The architecture collection comprises books acquired since the inception of the Architecture Department in the early 1990s.

The Library has also built up a collection of distinguished Western books on China in the past decades for study and research purposes. At present, the Western Rare Book Collection consists of 2,431 titles in 3,033 volumes, the earliest from 1479.

We are delighted to have Professor Stuart McManus from the History Department to introduce some important western rare books to our collection as the video below.

Printing History and Incunabula

In 1455, Johannes Gutenberg, a German inventor and printer, produced the first book in moveable type in Mainz, Germany – the Bible, commonly known as the Gutenberg Bible or the 42-line Bible. He was best known for introducing Europe to the printing press and as the founding father of modern Western book publishing and printing. The term ‘incunabula’ or ‘cradle’ books refers to books printed during the infancy of printing, that is, before the year 1501. The Library comprises several Western books published in the 15^th century, mainly printed in Venice. These incunabula are exemplars of Western printing features, with beautiful initial letters, headings, illustrations, and layout. Below are notable works of exceptional cultural, historic, and aesthetic value.

Title: Summa Theologica
Author: Antoninus, Saint, Archbishop of Florence
Publisher: Venice: Nicolaus Jenson
Publication Year: 1477-1480
Language: Latin

Saint Antoninus (1389-1459; canon-ized 1523), archbishop of Florence who is regarded as one of the founders of modern moral theology and Christian social ethics.

Written between 1440 and 1454, his book Summa Theologica was the most extensive work on moral theology produced up to its time. The work consists of four separate parts printed in: I) December 1479; II) June 1480; III) 1477 and IV) April 1480. The Library only has Part I, which addresses the soul and its faculties, passions, sin, and law. It was printed by Nicholaus Jenson, one of the greatest Western printers of the 15^th century. This text was printed in Jenson’s rounded and readable gothic type, as well as burnished gold initials that open the prologue and main text. This incunabulum is the oldest title in the Library’s Western Rare Book Collection.

Title: Biblia
Editor: Petrus Angelus de Monte Ulmi
Publisher: Venice: Hieronymi de Paganinis
Date: 1492
Language: Latin

This is the second octavo edition of the Bible in Latin dated 7 September 1492. The earliest octavo edition of the Latin Bible was printed in 1491, known as the “poor man’s bible”. The new pocket-size bible printed in the fifteenth century was easy to carry and to disseminate scripture. This bible and the folio edition issued by the same printer in the same year are the earliest to exhibit a woodcut on the title page depicting St. Peter with the keys to heaven, but sadly missing in the Library’s copy. This second octavo edition is the first Latin Bible to contain the “Tabula alphabetica historiarium Bibliae”, an alphabetical table of contents compiled by Franciscan Gabriele Bruno in 1489.

Title: Avrelii Cornelii Celsi Medicinae Liber Primvs Incipit [De Medicina Libri Octo]
Author: Celsus, Aulus Cornelius
Publisher: Venetiis: Johannes Rubeus Vercellencis
Date: 1493
Language: Latin

Aulus Cornelius Celsus was one of the greatest Roman medical writers and the author of an encyclopedia entitled “Artes” which comprised six sections on agriculture, medicine, military arts, rhetoric, philosophy and jurisprudence. Of these, all that survives is the medical section “De Mendicne Libri Octo”, one of the chief monuments of ancient medicine. The book was rediscovered by Tomaso da Sarzana (later Pope Nicholas V) in the 15th century and was later published under the title De Medicina. This rare book exemplifies the transition from manuscript to the printed text as blank spaces were left for illustrated initial letters to be added later.