Only parts of the approximately 5000 broadsides were originally collected as such. Many single sheet calendars and many letters of indulgence were formerly used as waste paper for bindings. Some types of non-fiction literature have been preserved exclusively in this form, such as the temporal and spiritual monody, the scientific and medical sheets and the booksellers' advertisements. New purchases broadened the holdings of the "Neue Zeitung" of the 17th century, which was illustrated in the copperplate engraving technique, as well as the collection of topographically illustrated journeymen's letters of the 18th and 19th century, now comprising about 1,800 broadsides.