Using rare books to find rare books

I’ve gotten so I like to spend my Friday mornings seeing if I can find books in our special collections that might be particularly valuable.

Today I came upon “An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics” by Thomas Frognall Dibdin.  1804 in our Special Closed Collection.  If it was only the 1st edition instead of the 2nd, it would be valuable on it’s own.

Into our Voyager catalog I went.  I set the limits to “special collections” and pub. date less than 1804, then started doing keyword searches on titles or authors from this book.  Since I don’t know Greek and Latin I was working somewhat blind.  I did find a 1552 Caesar and a 1607 Boethius that are potentially of value.

I think this book is going to keep me busy for a few more Friday mornings.