J. W. Holtrop's Monuments typographiques des Pays-Bas au quinzieme
siecle appeared in 1868, and were followed in 1874 by M. F. A. G.
Campbell's Annales de la typographie nierlandaise au XVe siecle, - both
works were published by Martinus Nijhoff at The Hague. These two books
marked an epoch at a time when incunabula were only beginning to be
considered worthy objects of study. With some help from older
bibliographies and catalogues, but mostly by person- al inspection of
the early editions, Campbell built up his Annales from the very
foundations. Since then incunabula have attracted more and more
attention, and thanks to international cooperation successful researches
have been made about their printers, their contents and the location of
copies. Consequently some hundreds of Low Country editions of the XVth
century have been added to those listed by Campbell, and a new edition
of his Annales is needed. Who will undertake this task? Were I twenty
years . younger, I would certainly do so myself, and thus, after having
been occupied with the Low Country post-incunabula for nearly forty
years, return to the starting point of my bibliographical career.