Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/883

 Pidiiam : The Censorship of the Church of Rome 873 At times errors are due to gross mistranslations. In the account of the censorship in Bavaria, Reusch (I. 466) notes that in 1565 it was " verordnet dass fortan nur theologische Schriften, die in kathol- ischen Stadten gedruckt seien, verkauft werden diirften ". Mr. Put- nam finds in this statement authority for writing that an edict was issued " forbidding the sale of theological works in any but Catholic towns" (p. 217). Again Reusch (j'fc.) states that in " 1566 wurde ein ausfuhrlicher Catalogus der Biicher, die in Baiern offentlich verkauft werden diirften, also das Gegentheil eines Index librorum Prohibitorum veroiTentlicht ", while Mr. Putnam tells us that the Ducal Commission of Censorship " issues an Index librorum prohibitorum, and also a gen- eral catalogue of books which it is permitted to sell and to read within the duchy" (ib.). Translations from the French are equally faulty. A passage from Dejob {L'Iniluence du Concile de Trente sur la Liftera- tiirc, p. -'^) " ils semblent moins en vouloir a ces livres qu'a ceux qui les etudient ; si done on ne prend pas les devants, e'en est fait des travaux de plusieurs saints . . . et, perte lamentable, de tons les commentaires des Juifs ", is rendered " The people whose judgment should count concerning books are of course those who through study have knowledge of their character. These compilers have not hesitated to condemn the works of many saints and (a loss much to be lamented) • all the commentaries of the Jews " (p. 210). Mr. Putnam interprets his English authorities when he does not copy them, and he can not even follow his own narrative, as one ex- ample will show. We are informed on p. 23 that " A ' Directory ' of heresy was prepared early in the sixteenth century by Nicholas Eymeric of Cologne"; on p. 69 that Gregory XI, in 1378, as a result of a de- nunciation by the inquisitor Nicholas Eymeric, condemned two hundred propositions ... of Raymond Lully"; on p. 85 that "About 1520 Nicholas Eymeric brought into print in Venice, under the title of Directorium Inquisitorium ", etc. ; and on p. 121 that " The chief orig- inal authority for the system of the earlier Inquisition is the Directorium Inquisitorium of Nicholas Eymeric, who was Inquisitor-General for Castile in 1316". A fly-leaf notes some thirty errata; twenty solid pages would not suffice to point out the mere misprints, when one finds an average of eight in the titles of certain of the Indexes {cf., c. g., 148, 152). Mr. Putnam expects that his work "will be used chiefly for purposes of reference" (p. xi), but who can commend in any way, especiallv to a general reader, looking for information on a specific point, a book which contains numerous errors on almost every page? George L. Hamilton.