Editing Incunable (section)

==Terminology==
Incunable is the [[Anglicisation|anglicised]] form of ''incunabulum'',<ref>As late as 1891 Rogers in his technical glossary recorded only the form ''incunabulum'': {{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Walter Thomas|title=A Manual of Bibliography|publisher=H. Grevel|place=London|date=1891|edition=2nd|page=195}}</ref> [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] singular of [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|incunabula}},<ref>The word ''incunabula'' is a neuter plural only; the singular ''incunabulum'' is never found in Latin, and is no longer used in English by most bibliographers.</ref> which meant "[[swaddling]] clothes", or "[[bassinet|cradle]]",<ref>C. T. Lewis and C. Short, ''A Latin Dictionary'', Oxford 1879, p. 930.</ref> which could metaphorically refer to "the earliest stages or first traces in the development".<ref name="oed">{{OED|incunabula}}</ref> A former term for incunable is '''fifteener''',<!--fifteener redirects here--> meaning "fifteenth-century edition".<ref>"Fifteener" was coined by bibliographer [[Thomas Frognall Dibdin]], a term endorsed by [[William Morris]] and [[Robert Proctor (bibliographer)|Robert Proctor]]. {{harv|Carter|Barker|2004|p=130}}.</ref>

The term ''incunabula'' was first used in the context of printing by the Dutch physician and humanist [[Hadrianus Junius]] (Adriaen de Jonghe, 1511–1575), in a passage in his work ''Batavia'' (written in 1569; published posthumously in 1588). He referred to a period "{{lang|la|inter prima artis [typographicae] incunabula}}" ("in the first infancy of the typographic art").<ref name="junius">[[Hadrianus Junius|Hadrianus Iunius]], ''Batavia'', [...], [Lugduni Batavorum], ex officina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium, 1588, p.&nbsp;256, line 3.</ref><ref name="glomski">{{cite journal|last1=Glomski|first1=J.|title=Incunabula Typographiae: seventeenth-century views on early printing|journal=The Library|volume=2|issue=4 |page=336|year=2001 |doi=10.1093/library/2.4.336 }}</ref> The term has sometimes been incorrectly attributed to [[Bernhard von Mallinckrodt]] (1591–1664), in his Latin pamphlet {{Lang|la|De ortu ac progressu artis typographicae}} ("On the rise and progress of the typographic art"; 1640), but he was quoting Junius.<ref>[[Bernhard von Mallinckrodt|Bernardus a Mallinkrot]], ''De ortu ac progressu artis typographicae dissertatio historica'', [...], Coloniae Agrippinae, apud Ioannem Kinchium, 1640 (in frontispiece: 1639), p. 9, line 16. The term appears within a long passage of several pages (pp. 27–33; corresponding to ''Batavia'', {{pp.|253|58}}), set in italics to indicate a quotation, and attributed to Junius.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|year=2009|title=Le baptême inconscient de l'incunable: non pas 1640 mais 1569 au plus tard|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00791398v2|journal=Gutenberg Jahrbuch|volume=84|pages=102–105|language=fr|last1=Sordet|first1=Yann}}</ref>

The term ''incunabula'' came to denote printed books themselves in the late 17th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=incunabula {{!}} printing {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/incunabula |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> It is not found in English before the mid-19th century.<ref name="oed"/>

Junius set an end-date of 1500 to his era of ''incunabula'', which remains the convention in modern bibliographical scholarship.<ref name="junius"/><ref name="glomski"/> This convenient but arbitrary end-date for identifying a printed book as an incunable does not reflect changes in the printing process, and many books printed for some years after 1500 are visually indistinguishable from incunables. The term "'''post-incunable'''" is now used to refer to books printed after 1500 up to 1520 or 1540, without general agreement. From around this period the dating of any edition becomes easier, as the practice of printing the place and year of publication using a [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] or on the [[title page]] became more widespread.{{sfn|Walsby|Kemp|2011|p=viii}}