The Scheide Library was gifted to Princeton’s Firestone Library in 2015. The collection had been housed within Firestone since 1959, when William H. Scheide ’36 moved the collection from his hometown of Titusville, Pennsylvania. It holds the first six printed editions of the Bible, starting with the 1455 Gutenberg Bible, the earliest substantial European printed book; the original printing of the Declaration of Independence; Beethoven’s autograph (in his own handwriting) music sketchbook for 1815-16, the only outside Europe; Shakespeare’s first, second, third and fourth folios; significant autograph music manuscripts of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner; a lengthy autograph speech by Abraham Lincoln from 1856 on the problems of slavery; and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s original letter and telegram copy books from the last weeks of the Civil War. Bibles The Scheide Library is the only library outside Europe to include all 18 of the pre-Luther German Bible editions, the earliest of which is the edition printed by Johan Mentelin in Strasbourg [before 27 June 1466]. Besides these pre-Luther vernacular Bibles, the Scheide Library also contains the first editions of Martin Luther’s New Testament (Wittenberg, September 1522) with woodcuts from the workshop of Lucas Cranach, three volumes of the Old Testament (1523-24), the Prophets (1532), and the first complete edition (1534).It also has the first Dutch Bible text, the Old Testament (Delft. Jacob van der Meer and Mauricius Yemantszoen, Jan. 1477.) as well as 4 (the largest collection in America) of the 11 editions of the Italian Bible printed in the 15th century.Also notable is their copy of the first French New Testament (Lyons, printed by Guillaume LeRoy, 1476.)Details are to be found in: Paul Needham, “Incunabula, Bibles and Early Americana in the Scheide Library” in the Chronicle XXXVII, 2 (Winter, 1976) pp. 85-93 [ full text ].The article by Needham also describes many other “firsts” in Bible printing, Czech, Spanish, Scandinavian, English, etc. In addition to the Needham article see also: Mina R. Bryan, “The Scheide Library” in the Book Collector vol. 21, no. 4 (Winter, 1972) p. 495 ff.Also see the handlist of exhibits and announcement for the Spring 2004 exhibition “The Bible in English: Before and After the Hampton Court Conference, 1604.”For particulars refer to: Mina R. Bryan and Howard C. Rice, Jr. The Gutenberg Bible. Exhibition of the Scheide Copy. Catalogue of the Exhibition Held in the Princeton University Library. Princeton, 1960 [(ExB) 0639.739 no. 30]. [full text]. Besides the Gutenberg Bible itself, the exhibition displayed some 50 other items tracing the history of the Scheide copy, the fame of the Gutenberg, and printing in the age of Gutenberg describing the movable molded type, the development from manuscript to printed page, and the spread of printing after Gutenberg. Also see: Book of Books: The English Bible and Its Antecedents; An Exhibition. (Princeton, New Jersey, 1963) 7 pp. Incunabula The Scheide Library has a large (about 150 volumes) collection of 15th century books. These have been given to the Princeton University Library and include an important collection of books printed by Johann Gutenberg and his partners. Primary is a copy of the famous Gutenberg Bible. Many voyages and travels were collected, including a facsimile copy of the Columbus letter, one of the first printed accounts of the discovery of America (1493) [(Ex) E116.2 .D1952].Refer to: Paul Needham, “Incunabula, Bibles and Early Americana in the Scheide Library” in thePrinceton University Library Chronicle XXXVII, 2 (Winter, 1976) pp. 85-108 (esp. 92-101) [full text] .See also BIBLE entry in this Guide since it describes the Bible incunabula in the Scheide collection.Among the early printed books in the Scheide collection, there are many famous incunables. For example: Two important block books: First, the Biblia pauperum, made by the woodcutter Hans Sporer of Nuremberg. 1471. Second, the Opera nova contemplative, which is one of only two or three known blockbooks of Italian manufacture, and was made by Giovanni Andrea Vavassore in Venice. The collection also includes important woodcut-illustrated printed books as well as five Caxtons. Paul Needham’s article gives detailed descriptions of books falling into the categories mentioned. It also briefly mentions other holdings in the collection.Scheide incunabula collected during the years 1954 to 2004 are listed in the publication For William H. Scheide: Fifty Years of Collecting, 6 January 2004(Princeton, 2004) [(ExB)Z989.S35 F67 2004 and (F)Z989.S35 F67 2004].
