bavarikon4UTreasures in the Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg
The highlights presented from the Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg (Augsburg State and City Library) represent the history and diverse holdings of this institution, which emerged from the municipal library established in 1537. Soon after its foundation with the book holdings from the dissolved Carmelite convent of St. Anna, it became one of the Empire's most important collections due to the purchase of around 100 Greek manuscripts, continuous new acquisitions and books from Markus Welser's estate (1558-1614) later on. The secularisation and mediatisation of the imperial city of Augsburg had a deep impact on the library. Almost all the manuscripts and many rare prints had to be handed over to the Münchner Hofbibliothek (Munich Court Library) in 1806. In return, the library received books from secularised Augsburg and Swabian monasteries, including large parts of the outstanding collection from the humanist Konrad Peutinger (1465-1547) from the former Jesuit college. The Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg, which has been known as such since 1941 and was initially managed by the City of Augsburg with state subsidies, came under state ownership in 2012.
It acts as the regional library for Augsburg and Bavarian Swabia and the research library for the imperial city of Augsburg, Bavarian Swabia and the Early Modern period's history of knowledge. Other focal points are the collections on Mozart, Brecht and suicide. The library also has special collections of pamphlets, biographical documents, dissertations, graphic sheets with portrait collections and an important collection of bindings.
The selection of the treasures presented here begins in the 15th century with a four-volume incunabulum edition produced in Venice from the possession of the Augsburg Carmelite convent of St. Anna and extends to the year 1919, from which a letter from Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) to his childhood sweetheart Paula Banholzer originates. In between there are 14 other cimelia, all of which tell an exciting story - for example, a manuscript of the Rule of Benedict from the monastery of St. Ulrich and Afra (16th century), a scholarly writing from the Orient (17th century), book covers made of silver or bronze glazed paper (18th century) or a handwritten version of the Christmas carol "Ihr Kinderlein kommet" (originally "Die Kinder bey der Krippe") by its "inventor" Christoph von Schmid (1768-1854).
>> The collection is part of the holdings of the Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg (Augsburg State and City Library).