A page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strasbourg by J.R. Grueninger. The coloured chapter initials were hand written after the page was printed.

An incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe. These are usually very rare and fragile items whose nature can only be verified by experts. The origin of the word is the Latin incunabula for "swaddling clothes", used by extension for the infancy or early stages of something. The first recorded use of incunabula as a printing term is in a pamphlet by Bernard von Mallinckrodt, De ortu et progressu artis typographicae ("Of the rise and progress of the typographic art"), published in Cologne in 1639, which includes the phrase prima typographicae incunabula, "the first infancy of printing". The term came to denote the printed books themselves from the late 17th century. The plural is incunabula and the word is sometimes Anglicized to incunable. A former term is fifteener, referring to the 15th century. Download high resolution version (600x819, 152 KB)Photograph of a page from a rare Blackletter bible (1497) printed in Strassburg by J.R.Grueninger. ... Download high resolution version (600x819, 152 KB)Photograph of a page from a rare Blackletter bible (1497) printed in Strassburg by J.R.Grueninger. ... Blackletter in a Latin Bible of AD 1407, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ... The Gutenberg Bible owned by the United States Library of Congress The Bible (Hebrew: תנ״ך tanakh, Greek: η Βίβλος hÄ“ biblos) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Work of God, The Word, The Good Book or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βίβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the name used by Jews and Christians for their... 1497 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Alsace Département Bas-Rhin (67) Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Land area 78. ... Initial P in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire Detail from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strasbourg by J.R.Grueninger. ... Look up book in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... 1501 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Cologne (German: ; Kölsch: Kölle) is Germanys fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich and is the largest city both in the German Federal District of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the largest European metropolitan areas with over 12 million... Events January 14 - Connecticuts first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ...

There are two types of incunabula: the xylographic (made from a single carved or sculpted block for each page) and the typographic (made with movable type on a printing press in the style of Johann Gutenberg). Many authors reserve the term incunabulum for the typographic ones only. The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ...

The end date for identifying a book as an incunabulum is convenient, but was chosen arbitrarily. It does not reflect any notable developments in the printing process around the year 1500. Incunabula usually refers to the earliest printed books, completed at a time when some books were still being hand-copied.

The gradual spread of printing ensured that there was great variety in the texts chosen for printing and the styles in which they appeared. Many early typefaces were modelled on local forms of writing or derived from the various European forms of Gothic script, but there were also some derived from documentary scripts (such as most of Caxton's types), and, particularly in Italy, types modelled on humanistic hands. These humanistic typefaces are often used today, barely modified, in digital form. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Representation of the Gothic alphabet surrounding its inventor Ulfilas The Gothic alphabet is an alphabetic writing system attributed to Wulfila used exclusively for writing the ancient Gothic language. ... William Caxton (c. ...

Printers tended to congregate in urban centres where there were scholars, ecclesiastics, lawyers, nobles and professionals who formed their major customer-base. Standard works in Latin inherited from the medieval tradition formed the bulk of the earliest printing, but as books became cheaper, works in the various vernaculars (or translations of standard works) began to appear. A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline, perhaps receiving financial support through a scholarship. ... This article is about the Christian buildings of worship. ... For information on the type of fish called Lawyer, see the article on Burbot. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... A profession is an occupation that requires extensive training and the study and mastery of specialized knowledge, and usually has a professional association, ethical code and process of certification or licensing. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The vernacular is the native language of a country or locality. ...

Famous incunabula include the Gutenberg Bible of 1455 and the Liber Chronicarum of Hartmann Schedel, printed by Anton Koberger in 1493. Other well-known incunabula printers were Albrecht Pfister of Bamberg, Günther Zainer of Augsburg, Johann Mentelin of Strasbourg and William Caxton of Bruges and London. The Gutenberg bible owned by the U.S. Library of Congress The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, and as the Mazarin Bible) is a print of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible that was printed by its namesake, Johann Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany. ... ... no changes . ... Depiction of God creating the world Juvenal The Nuremberg Chronicle is one of the best documented early printed books. ... Hartmann Schedel, a german humanist and historian (* February 13, 1440 in Nuremberg, † November 28, 1514 in Nuremberg), was one of the first cartographers to make use of the printing press. ... 1493 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bamberg is a town in Bavaria, Germany. ... Augsburg is a city in south-central Germany. ... City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Alsace Département Bas-Rhin (67) Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Land area 78. ... William Caxton (c. ... Sometimes referred to as the Venice of the North, Bruges has many waterways that run through the city. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ...

The tally of editions and titles issued before 1500 runs into thousands, and the most authoritative listing is in the German catalogue, the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke which is still being compiled at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The British Library has compiled the Incunabula Short-Title Catalogue which includes the holdings of most libraries world-wide. Other smaller catalogs were started in the 19th century and are still used as reference points (Hain, Copinger, etc.) // Staatsbibliothek The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage) Short history: Founded in 1661 During the World War II the entire holdings (at the time some three million books and other materials)were hidden to safety in 30 monasteries, castles and disused mines. ... British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The largest collections, with the approximate numbers of incunabula held, include:

• Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich (18,550)
• British Library (12,500)
• Bibliothèque nationale de France (12,000)
• Vatican Library (8,000)
• Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (8,000)
• Russian National Library, St Petersburg (7,000)
• Stuttgart Landesbibliothek (7,000)
• Huntington Library (5,600)
• Library of Congress (5,600)
• Bodleian Library (5,500)
• Russian State Library, Moscow (5,300)
• Cambridge University Library (4,600)
• John Rylands Library (4,500)
• Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (4,400)
• Harvard University (3,600)
• Yale University (Beinecke 3,100, others 425)
• Koninklijke Bibliotheek (2,000)
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1,130)

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (right) on Ludwigstraße, Munich The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (English: Bavarian State Library), located in Munich, is the central library of the German state of Bavaria and one of the largest libraries in the German-speaking world. ... British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ... The new buildings of the library. ... The Vatican Library (Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. ... The main entrance on Heldenplatz The Österreichische Nationalbibliothek is the Austrian national library, and, with 7. ... Visit of Alexander I to the library in 1812. ... The Huntington Library is an educational and research institution established by Henry Huntington in San Marino, California. ... The Great Hall interior. ... Entrance to the Library, with the coats-of-arms of several Oxford colleges The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England is second in size only to the British Library. ... The Russian State Library is the national library of Russia, located in Moscow. ... Cambridge University Library The 12-storey tower is used as storage and has no reader access Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of the University of Cambridge in England. ... The John Rylands Library (inaugurated October 1899) is a collection of historic books and manuscripts in Manchester, England. ... // Staatsbibliothek The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage) Short history: Founded in 1661 During the World War II the entire holdings (at the time some three million books and other materials)were hidden to safety in 30 monasteries, castles and disused mines. ... Harvard University campus (old map) Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Yale redirects here. ... The Dutch Royal Library (in Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek or KB) is the national library of The Netherlands in The Hague. ... The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also known as UIUC and the U of I (the officially preferred abbreviation), is the flagship campus in the University of Illinois system. ...

See also

• History
• Library
• Book collecting
• Blockbooks

For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ... A modern-style library in Chambéry In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ... Book collecting is what it sounds like, the collecting of books. ... It has been suggested that Block printing be merged into this article or section. ...

External links

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Category:Incunabula

• UIUC Rare Book & Manuscript Library

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