Incunabula from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek collection

The incunabula collection at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is not only the largest in Germany, with almost 10,000 editions in over 20,000 copies, but also the largest in the world in terms of the number of copies.

15th century printed literature is represented in all its thematic diversity and breadth. Works by German and Italian printers dominate. German literature in the vernacular represents a share of almost one tenth. The collection also includes the world's largest collection of single-sheet incunabula prints.

Among the most prominent works are the Gutenberg Bible with the "Tabula rubricarum", only two copies of which have survived, the 36-line Bible, the "Türkenkalender" (Turkish calendar) – a one-off like the Munich "Leiden Christi" (Christ's Suffering) (Stöger Passion, Inc.s.a. 104 m(1) -, the "Psalterium Benedictinum " from 1459 as well as Hartmann Schedel's illustrated handwritten copy of his world chronicle (2 Inc.c.a. 622-1,1), enriched with appendages such as Etzlaub's Map of Roads to Rome (Rar. 287#Beibd.4.)

• The Incunabula from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek collection on bavarikon

>> This collection is part of the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library).

To the collections by signature group of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek