Paulus Bolduanus (also Paul or Bolduan, among other variations; c. 1563 – 1622 or later) was a pastor and bibliographer who lived in Pomerania.
Bolduanus was born around 1563 and lived to at least 1622. He entered a theological school in a place called Stolpe in Pomerania (possibly Pomerania-Stolp or Landkreis Stolp) in 1579 at age 16. He became a Lutheran minister in Vessin in 1598.[1]
Bolduanus published three bibliographies between 1614 and 1622: Bibliotheca theologica (1614), Bibliotheca philosophica (1616), and Bibliotheca historica (1620). The first two were published in Jena and the latter in Leipzig.[2][3] He may also have written genealogies of Pomeranian nobles.[4]
Bibliotheca philosophica, which Archer Taylor calls the "third large general subject-index to be compiled",[5] is a selective bibliography of philosophical texts. It covers "all subjects other than theology, law, and medicine".[6] It contains extensive discussion of works associated with Ramism. Bolduanus's sources for Bibliotheca philosophica may have included Nomenclator scriptorum philosophicorum atque philologicorum, a bibliography by Israel Spach; and catalogues of books at the Frankfurt Book Fair.[7] Its index is organized by the trivium and quadrivium.[8]
In the 18th century, Bolduanus's reputation was mixed. Johann Albert Fabricius favoured Bolduanus; Burkhard Gotthelf Struve did not.[9]