Three Dictionaries

Johannes Melber (fl. 15^th 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. (07071/A-C)

Three Latin dictionaries comprise this fifteenth-century Sammelband, still preserved in its original binding. The first of the three dictionaries, by Johannes Melber of Heidelberg, was intended for unschooled preachers and therefore includes vernacular German terms in its definitions. This is the only recorded copy of this edition of Melber’s dictionary in the United States. 

The exhibited dictionary, the anonymous Vocabularius ex quo, was extremely popular, appearing in at least forty-eight fifteenth-century editions. Bridwell Library’s copy is the unique recorded copy of this particular printing. The third dictionary, one of two copies in the United States, was compiled by Wenceslaus Brack, a noted scholar and physician at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Arranged by subjects, the text includes a section of definitions related to books and writing.