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Estimating Editions on the Basis of Survivals: Printed Programmes of Jesuit Plays in the "Provincia Flandro-Belgica" before 1773, with a Note on the "Book Historical Law"

Is it possible to estimate the total number of editions of a corpus of published work that have ever been produced on the basis of surviv ing copies? That is the question this contribution deals with. This issue will be explained by means of a concrete case-study: the printed theatre programmes of the Jesuits in the Provincia Flandro-Belgica before the suppression of the order in 1773. In general terms, the present article offers a mathematical method of estimating the total production of multi copy artifacts on the basis of surviving copies.