The Santa Clara Early Modern Book Initiative has brought to light a variety of early published works: journals, prayers, magazines, and court transcripts, just to name a few. SCU’s library is certainly unique, but there is also plenty of uniqueness found in the individual texts that form that collection. One such text that has kept us busy for months is a compilation of thirteen sermons delivered from 1685 to 1686.

It’s a surprise to no one that a Jesuit, Catholic university library has a collection of early religious publications. That’s definitely how I felt once I began working with this book. But, as I continued working, my opinion changed dramatically. While there are a number of copies of each of this book’s sermons in libraries and private collections across the globe, this particular assembly is the only one of its kind. Whoever previously owned these individual sermons, it appears, bound them together in the same volume, creating what is called a Sammelband: a composite volume of two or more works. Of course, this kind of unity might make things more convenient for librarians or students in the past, but it has actually complicated our work at SCEMBI. But, that’s not to say that these complications have only left us with negative consequences.

Due to its unique nature as a Sammelband, I could not simply catalogue the collection as it was: the online English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) only has records for the individual sermons. So, the first task this book gave us was the individual identification of each sermon. After combing through the entire volume, noting the titles for all thirteen works, recording unique details of each one, and cross-referencing my findings with the information on the online catalogue, I was left with a few surprises.

First of all, some of these sermons are quite rare. There are fifty-nine known copies of one of these publications, but only seven for another — entitled “A sermon preach’d before Their Majesties: in St. James’s on Advent-Sunday, November 28, 1686 / by Thomas Codrington” —  and Santa Clara’s is the only copy on the West Coast. You’d have to go to Texas to find the next closest copy. While this sermon is not the rarest printed text in SCU’s collection, it illustrates our project’s value to the greater community of scholars and researchers, especially those local to us in the Bay Area. One of our primary goals at SCEMBI is to make SCU’s collection more visible and accessible, and it is by documenting items like this sermon that we take the necessary steps towards achieving this goal. Hopefully, our work will ensure that fewer researchers have to travel across the globe just to get some time with the rare library items they need.

The title page of one of the English sermons present in the sammelband. Note: Only 8 copies are recorded in the ESTC. The nearest copy is in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C.

The rarity of some of these sermons wasn’t the only factor affecting our work. This collection is also bound with an Italian prayer titled “Oratione funebre del sig. Gabriello Cesarino Romano fatta per l’esseqvie del serenissimo Alessandro Farnese Romano: duca di Parma e di Piacenza, confaloniero di Santa Chiesa.” (English: “Funeral Oration of Mr. Gabriello Cesarino Romano made for the existence of the most serene Alessandro Farnese Romano: duke of Parma and Piacenza, confaloniero of the Holy Church”). Interestingly, this prayer was published in 1593, while the English sermons were all published between 1685 and 1687. Who desired to join this Italian prayer to English sermons? And when, exactly?  It’s difficult to know, but since the ESTC deals exclusively with English literature, we were faced with an item that our project could not incorporate. So, for the purposes of our project, we had to set this Italian prayer aside and focus on the rest of the book’s English-language contents. As of now, roughly 10 months into the SCEMBI project, this is the sole case where we could only enter a portion of a book into the online database. I suppose that means there’s a surprise for any scholars who end up using this compilation with the intention of only working with the pieces written in English.

The title page of the Italian prayer at the beginning of the sammelband.

So, how exactly does a Sammelband impact the SCEMBI project? We have to recognize that these compilations are often privately assembled by their owners and not a professional publisher. With this additional uniqueness and complexity, they require some additional steps before they can be catalogued. As I said before, the first step was to isolate the individual works contained within the book. From there, we treat each work contained within the collection as its own separate entity: that’s the general approach that librarians take as well. 

Sammelband provoke another kind of question: what was the owner’s reasoning for including the works they chose? In their view, what were the characteristics that each work shared? With this book of sermons, the answer seems quite clear: collect multiple sermons delivered from 1685 to 1686. But, with the inclusion of the Italian prayer, how can we say that the owner’s reasons were entirely simple? Either way, working with this book through the SCEMBI project has forced us to become a lot more curious and more aware of the complexity and uniqueness to be found in any library. And, as a student, I’d say that this curiosity is the exact mindset we should have when working in the university environment.

Now, let’s bring this discussion of samelbands to today. Do modern readers bind their own books anymore? I suppose you could, but with modern printing and publication technology, creating your own Sammelbände would be more of an inconvenience than anything else. (And, I wouldn’t want to throw away any iconic cover art.) But, that only concerns physical literature. How do e-books factor into this discussion? Can a device like a tablet or a computer act as a kind of binding? Why not? Even if the texts are in a digital format, we can read a vast variety of literature all contained within the same device. Can the same be said for streamed content? I’ll let you decide. Even if you think that this book of sermons has a lot to unpack, consider how much information is present on the devices you use every day. I’m sure you’d be left with several surprises, too.