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Our Mathematical Heritage Versus its Organisatorial and Copyright Nightmare
Talk given at the CEIC Workshop "Across the Digital Divide", June 16, 2005, 10:00-10:30, hosted by the
2nd Joint Meeting of AMS, DMV, ÖMG at Mainz.

Georg Hermann Valentin (1848-1926)


Director of Preußische Staatsbibliothek

Important bibliographer of mathematics literature for the time 1445-1926.

His catalogue of mathematical manuscripts ("Allgemeine Mathematische Bibliographie") contained ca. 200.000 items, when he died.

Catalogue progress descriptions as given in "Jahrbuch":
1885, 1897, 1900, 1910

Valentin's activities are described in an article in "Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik 58 (1932), p. 44-45 (local copy)", which refers the content of a talk given by R. C. Archibald on the ICM 1928. Cf.: R. C. Archibald: Georg Hermann Valentin (1848--1926). Atti Congresso Bologna 6, 465-472).

Plans to publish the catalogue failed because of lack of money and because there was no suitable publisher available. The catalogue stayed - as a collection of handwritten cards -- at Preußischen Staatsbibliothek in Berlin and was (together with the library) destroyed by a fire in 1944, probably caused by a bomb attack.

Apparently there are only fragmentary copies.



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Copyright © 2005 by Ulf Rehmann