The Incunabula Collections at the Library of Congress

PETER M. VAN WINGEN

Abstract

Over its 187-year history the Library of Congress has collected nearly 5,700 fifteenth-century books, the largest collection of incunabula in the Western Hemisphere. This paper draws together from many sources the history of the several collections that give the Library this strength. It is a tale of intrigue, good fortune and hard work, of politics, patriotism and philanthropy.


The original Library established by Congress in 1800 and destroyed when the British burned the Capitol in 1814 had no fifteenth-century books. Neither did the collection sold to the Congress by Thomas Jefferson in 1815. This is not surprising—the books in . . .

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/rbml.4.2.46
Copyright 1989© American Library Association


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