Collection Highlights

The First Book in the BHS Library's New Electronic Catalog

Every project, large or small, has to start somewhere, and the BHS Library's cataloging project is no exception. Way back in May, 2006, the very first book was cataloged, during training provided by NYU's cataloging staff. Appropriately enough, it turns out to have been a book printed in Brooklyn by the important Brooklyn printer and publisher Thomas Kirk .

Here's what the new catalog record looks like:

In this book, Brown, identified as "Late Minster of the Gospel, at Haddington, in Scotland, defines and indexes principal words in the Bible, from "abase" to "Zion" citing chapter and verse where the words appear.

Thomas Kirk, the printer and effectively the publisher, has been viewed as "the pioneer printer in Brooklyn." Born in Ireland, he established the first newspaper in Long Island--the Long Island Courier in 1799--and in 1809 began publishing the Long Island Star (the Courier having ceased publication in 1803, a not-uncommon fate for early newspapers in America).

As a publisher of both books and newspapers, as well as a job printer, Kirk followed a typical business model typical of early American printer--"literature" alone would not yet sustain a printer or publisher! Apart from his publishing activities, Kirk played an important part in Brooklyn organizations and cultural life, a role as founding Vice President of the Apprentices' Library Association being merely one. The Apprentices' Library Association later evolved into the Brooklyn Institute of the Arts, which, in turn, became the Brooklyn Museum.

In addition to Kirk's 1812 edition of A Brief Concordance , the BHS Library has his 1805 edition. Both books are pretty rare items at this point, and both are thus among the library's limited-access special collections materials now

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