Johannes Melber (fl. 15th century). Vocabularius praedicantium, sive Variloquus. [Strassburg: Georg Husner, ca. 1493-1495].
[Bound with:] Vocabularius ex quo. [Strasbourg: Georg Husner, ca. 1498].
[Bound with:] Wenceslaus Brack (d. 1495). Vocabularius rerum. Strassburg: [Georg Husner], 1 February, 1491.
In November 2013 Bridwell Library acquired three fifteenth-century dictionaries of Latin terms with German definitions, all printed in Strasbourg by Georg Husner, and all preserved within the single volume into which they were bound circa 1500. The first dictionary, by Johannes Melber of Heidelberg, was intended for unschooled preachers. Bridwell’s copy is the only one recorded within the United States. The anonymous second work, the Vocabularius ex quo, was a handy all-purpose dictionary that appeared in at least forty-eight fifteenth-century editions. One of these editions is represented solely by Bridwell’s unique recorded copy.
The third dictionary, the Vocabularius rerum, was compiled by Wenceslaus Brack (d. 1495), a noted scholar-physician at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. The work first appeared in print at Basel in 1483. Bridwell’s Vocabularius rerum is one of only two copies from the eighth edition, printed at Strasbourg in 1491, that are recorded within the United States. Consisting of more than 3,500 Latin terms, Brack’s Vocabularius rerum was intended as a glossary for basic instruction in Latin. Today, it also serves as a valuable source for the study of late-medieval German vocabulary. Unlike the other two dictionaries, Brack’s work is arranged by categories, such as the features of the heavens and the Earth, the parts of the human body, and various crafts and their implements.
Wenceslaus Brack also owned Bridwell Library’s copy of the pseudo-Augustinian De cognitione verae vitae (Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, not after 1474). He inscribed his name on the inside of the book’s original vellum wrapper, along with the book’s title and the titles of five other tracts by Jean Gerson (1363–1429) that were bound with the first work during the fifteenth century. Although their present location is unknown, these tracts most likely were from Ulrich Zel’s collected edition, published at Cologne circa 1472.
Bridwell Library wishes to thank Dr. Eric White, former Curator of Special Collections, for this post.
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