Kallimachos: The Alexandrian Library and the Origins of Bibliography

by Rudolf Blum, Hans H. Wellisch (Translation)

The famous library of Alexandria, founded around 295 BCE by Ptolemaios I, housed the greatest collection of texts in the ancient world and was a fertile site of Hellenistic scholarship. Rudolf Blum’s landmark study, originally published in German in 1977, argues that Kallimachos of Kyrene was not only the second director of the Alexandrian library but also the inventor of two essential scholarly tools still in use to this the library catalog and the “biobibliographical” reference work. Kallimachos expanded the library’s inventory lists into volumes called the Pinakes , which extensively described and categorized each work and became in effect a Greek national bibliography and the source and paradigm for most later bibliographic lists of Greek literature. Though the Pinakes have not survived, Blum attempts a detailed reconstruction of Kallimachos’s inventories and catalogs based on a careful analysis of surviving sources, which are presented here in full translation.

Genres: History, Alexandria

282 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 1991

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really a tremendous book. The author has a fine grasp of a wide range of materials and makes a careful historical argument. The topic is fairly specialized and a familiarity with the period and some of the resources might help, but many of the point made are sufficiently explained for a lay-person.

This book covers a wide range of questions related to ancient books, including the fate of the personal libraries of famous philosophers like Aristotle and Theophrastus, the history of the library of Alexandria and its staff, and the history of literary catalogues ranging from the Aristotelian catalogue of Attic dramatists to the Suda. Much of the material covered in this book gets an important new focus under the perspective of the history of bibliography.

This was a slow read, and it is dry material, but if you have any interest in ancient books and libraries, this is definitely worth a read. The book engages with many important scholars from the late 19th and early 20th centuries (it was originally published in German in the 70s so some of the scholarship may be out of date), but most of the academic material is pushed into the endnotes. The interesting antiquarian inquiries are able to stand on their own in most places.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

The library of Alexandria is shrouded in myth and legend. Even more so, the catalog of Callimachus, which Blum here analyzes. Many remaining bits of literary history of the Greeks were excerpted into a Byzantine encyclopedia, the Suda, which Blum utilitizes. This is an in depth study of Callimachus and Alexandrine bibliography.