Johann Christoph Gatterer]

Elementa Artis Diplomaticae Universalis . Volumen Prius. [All published]

      Gottingen: Vandenhoeck, 1765 - According to author Luciana Duranti: "Diplomatics and paleography were born as sciences arising from the need to analyze critically documents considered to be forgeries." [p. 12]. Duranti later comments "In the middle of the [eighteenth] century, the teaching of diplomatics and consequently of paleography was introduced in university faculties of law, and this led to the publication of numerous works on the subject in Germany, France, England, Spain and Italy. The works conceived in academic schools tended to present an excess of schematization that reach its apex in the attempt of Johann Christoph Gatterer, professor at the University of Gottingen, to introduce to diplomatics a version of the classification system adopted by Linnaeus in the natural sciences." [pp. 13-14. Ref., Duranti, L. 1989 Jan 1. "Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old Science, Part I." Archivaria [Online. June, 2009] Gatterer’s skill with the monograms and symbols of old diplomacy resulted in this book which is considered one of the most important treatises of diplomatics. [Ref., Stern et. al, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (CRC Press, 1996) p. 16.] Johann Christoph Gatterer Gatterer (1727-1799) was a German historian whose work in the fields of genealogy, numismatics, and heraldry promoted the value of historical science and attempted to establish prudent methodologies. Quarto, [i, engraved t.p, with vignette], [ii-iii], iv-xvi, [1]-391, [1, errata] + four folding diagrams + twelve folding tables. Text in Latin. Bound in contemporary or early half sheep, papered boards, five raised bands, spine tooled in blind; all edges sprinkled. Small loss to heel of spine; joints with rubbing and slight cracking; front endpaper neatly excised; y4 small hole and tiny text loss; a touch of foxing or small stains throughout; indistinct autograph and date of 1861 to t.p., a very good unsophisticated copy.