identifying the copy

For books from the hand-press period it is important to identify the edition but also the copy used. Early modern books are by definition individuals. Most of the work done on books was hand work. Typesetting and printing was manual labour and so was the gathering of the printed leaves and the cutting and binding of the quires. During it's long passage through time and space a book acquired the traces made by users: torn pages, scriblings, owner's notes and so on. To be able to trace these, we note which copy we used.

A short title here is not the short title that a specialist bibliographer would made.

- The name of the author is given in it's standard form that does not have to be the same that is found on the title page. We use the name Desiderius Erasmus in stead of Erasmus Roterodamus.

- The title is shortened and the impressum, the part that contains the place of publication, the name of the printer and the year of publication is normalized.

This book is: Desiderius Erasmus. Familiarum colloguiorum formulae. Deventer, A. Paffraet, 1519
The Shelfmark is important. This is the copy in the Dutch Royal Library: Den Haag KB 226 E 86.

The year of publication and the place are mentioned separately. This is to be able to trace changes in typographical vogues.