bavarikon4UManuscripts and incunabula from the Treasury of the Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg
Although the Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg (Friedrich Alexander University Library) was not founded until the middle of the 18th century, it possesses a valuable collection of manuscripts and incunabula. With over 2,400 medieval and early modern manuscripts, it is one of the Bavarian libraries with an extensive collection of manuscripts. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this came to Erlangen from the libraries at the Heilsbronn Cistercian monastery and the Franciscan monastery Sankt Jobst near Bayreuth, the Schlossbibliothek Ansbach and the former Universitätsbibliothek Altdorf.
A selection is presented in bavarikon:
The book of hours by Margravine Wilhelmine Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (MS 144) from the middle of the 15th century is a real eye-catcher with its book illuminations and gilded initials.
The "Épitre d'Othéa" (MS 2361) was created in the middle of the 15th century at the Burgundian court and impresses with its magnificent grisaille painting. Over 100 miniatures by the Dutch illuminator Willem Vrelant (d. 1481/82) and his workshop make the piece unique from an artistic point of view.
The Kriegsbuch (war book) by the knight Ludwig von Eyb zum Hartenstein (1450-1521) is regarded as the most comprehensive work of its kind (MS.B 26). It originated around 1500 in Franconia and contains numerous drawings of fighting techniques and war machines coloured with watercolours on more than 300 sheets.
The Erlangen Haggadah (MS 1262), made in 1747 by the court painter Juda Löw Pinhas (1727-1793) from Ansbach, tells the story of the exile and the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt in carefully executed script, partly in Aramaic and Hebrew. Pen drawings illustrate the story.
Erlangen is also home to one of Bavaria's largest incunabula collections: among the approximately 2,000 pieces, there is a copy of the first Bible print in German (INC 30), which was published in 1466 by Johann Mentelin (died 1478) in Strasbourg. More than 30 copies of the incunabulum, conceived as a text edition, are known of today. The Erlangen piece is a treasure due to the rare late Gothic leather cut binding showing knights on horseback, squires, dogs, dragons and acorns with oak leaves.
The collection also includes the first volume of the 36-line Bible (INC 31), which is considerably rarer than the famous 42-line Bible by Johannes Gutenberg. It probably originated between 1459 and 1461 in Bamberg, the printer is unknown. It is disputed whether Gutenberg himself was involved in the printing.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of the Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg (Friedrich Alexander University Library).