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Detail map of Altstadt, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany Overview map of Altstadt, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

A: Altstadt, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Trithemius Issues the First Printed Bibliography on Secular Subjects

1495
Early title page for a printed book, and unusual for being printed in a type of crimson ink.
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Early title page for a printed book, and unusual for being printed in a type of crimson ink.

In 1495 Abbot Johannes Trithemius (Tritheim) published Catalogus illustrium virorum Germaniae in Mainz at the press of Peter von Friedberg. A selective bibliography of German authors, listing 2000 works by 300 writers, including Trithemius himself, this was probably the first printed bibliography on secular subjects. 

ISTC no. it00433000. In November 2013 a digital facsimile was available from the Herzog Auguste Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel at this link.

Breslauer & Folter, Bibliography: Its History and Development (1984) No. 9.

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Bibliography