a branch of archaeographia, employed in the judging and perusing of ancient manuscripts, whether written in books, on paper or parchment.

The sense of it is now extended; and it signifies a work intended to give information concerning the first or best editions of books, and the ways of selecting and distinguishing them properly. In short, it is used for a notitia or description of printed books, either in the order of the alphabet, of the times when printed, or of the subject matters. In which sense it is nearly the same as bibliotheca. See BIBLIOGRAPHY, SUPPLEMENT.

Literary journals afford also a kind of bibliographia.