Illuminated Incunabula in the ÖNB (ANL) 1450-1475

The project is part of a larger enterprise that has been successfully pursued in Vienna for more than a hundred years and seeks to catalogue all illuminated manuscripts and incunabula in Austrian collections. The aim of the proposed project is to provide a systematic, art historical analysis of all illuminated incunabula in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library; ÖNB) that were produced in the German-speaking area (ca. 1450 - 1475). Internationally this will be the first large-scale cataloguing project that concentrates exclusively on the illuminated incunabula of a major collection. Building on its predecessor (FWF P 19684-G08), the proposed project will create an art historical catalogue for the 236 incunabula that were made in Central Europe before 1475 (Austria, Germany, Switzerland). The book culture of the incunabula period clearly reflected changes in the media landscape, which were brought about by technological advances in book production. Various aspects of this shift can be observed in the holdings addressed by this project (print editions with standardised layouts, printed graphics and secondary decoration, mass production and serial decoration of books). 135 volumes show decoration with high quality opaque painting: 12 of these have more than 2 scenic representations; 5 volumes have extensive pictorial cycles with more than 5 scenic representations. 101 volumes are decorated only with pen drawings, pen-flourishing, or marginal decoration. The largest groups of works can be assigned to Austria (particularly Vienna/Lower Austria and Salzburg) and South Germany (particularly Augsburg). Focal points include the works of Ulrich Schreier, the Meister des Friedrichsbreviers, Johannes Bämler, and the so-called Augsburg-Salzburger Missalienwerkstatt; the texts of the illuminated incunabula are largely of a theological and legal nature. It is intended to adapt the established system of the Viennese art-historical manuscript catalogues (with full description, short description, and a list of codices with limited decoration) to the specifics of the incunabula concerned (including bibliographical information on the print editions); a suitable descriptive system will be developed for larger groups of work with serial decoration. The publication of a printed catalogue will be supplemented by internet presentation: a short entry for each codex will appear in open access format on the online database of Vienna University, PHAIDRA, where a link will be created with online catalogues of the ÖNB that contain the objects in fully digitalised form. The interdisciplinary aspects of research on illumination within the changing media landscape of the incunabula period (mass production, book trade, book illustration) will produce much relevant material for various disciplines in the historical humanities. The preparatory work already carried out and the manageable quantity of objects should allow the completion of the cataloguing work by the time the project expires.

The invention of printing facilitated the transfer of written information exceedingly. All over Europe the holdings of monastic and secular libraries augmented considerably within a short period of time. The appearance of the first printed books (incunabula), however, was shaped to match the traditional expectations of a clientele accustomed to manuscripts. Approximately one fifth to a quarter of incunabula was therefore decorated with book painting. The art historical methods of classifying, localizing and dating those book decorations offer a new approach to the understanding of the developing new book culture after 1450. The period dating from the Gutenberg Bible and the first printed Bible in German until the first serial decoration comprising the entire edition of a Latin Encyclopaedia was characterized by experiments and innovation by printers, decorators, editors and dealers of books. Based on the rich and representative holdings of the ÖNB, the project was the first comprehensive investigation of the role of book painters in the German speaking regions for the production and trade of incunabula in the two decades after the invention of printing. The research results were continuously presented to the international scientific community and the greater public in exhibitions, publications and talks. A printed catalogue of the ÖNB Incunabula projected for 2018 will summarize the findings on different aspects of the projects research.