Single-sheet prints and single-sheet calendars

The collection of around 20,000 single-sheet prints from the 15th to the 20th century, among them early modern flyers and over 300 single-sheet calendars with a focus of the 15th and 16th centuries, is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. It consists of the following collection parts:

• Single-sheet prints (Einbl.)
  German worldly poems before 1550 (Einbl. I)
  German worldly poems after 1550 (Einbl. II)
  German clerical poems (Einbl. III)
  Latin poems (Einbl. IV)
  History, pamphlets from the time of the 30 Years' War (Einbl. V)
  Church history (Einbl. VI)
  Clerical prose (Einbl. VII)
  Varia, book traders' advertisements (Einbl. VIII)
  Playing cards and printed sheets of playing cards (Einbl. IX)
  Single-sheet prints acquired since 2000 and not yet catalogued ones (Einbl. XI)

• Single-sheet calendars, catalogued chronologically in the order of calendar years, from the 15th to the 16th century (Einbl.Kal.)
• Bavarian ordinances from the personal papers... (Kloeckeliana)
• Zoological single-sheet prints from the collection Faust (Res/Slg.Faust)
• Journeymen's "Kundschaften" from the collection Stopp (Slg.Stopp)
• Incorporated single-sheet prints in other classification-mark groups (Rar., Res, Bavar., etc.)

The collection of single-sheet prints was started at the end of the 19th century for the single-sheet prints detached from manuscripts and incunabula and the single-sheet calendars. The collection's core is constituted by the classification-mark groups "Einbl." and "Einbl.Kal.", which prints have been entered in a repertory with an initial subject-related categorisation of the prints (Einbl. I – Einbl. IX). The collection is continuously complemented by new acquisitions and purchases in the framework of the Collection of German Prints (Sammlung Deutscher Drucke, SDD).

Scope of contents

With respect to content, these two collection parts include all kinds of topics, among them ordinances, prayer leaflets, letters of confraternities and letters of indulgence, book traders' advertisements, coin ordinances, newspapers, etc. The focus is on incunabula single-sheet prints, song prints of the 16th century, illustrated pamphlets of the 17th century and calendars of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Special collections

Approximately 1,850 further single-sheet prints are contained in the personal papers of the District Magistrate (Landrichter) Johann Joseph von Kloeckel (1773 – 1833). These represent Bavarian ordinances of the 16th to the 18th century, mandates and decrees of Bavarian rulers (Kloeckeliana).

In the 1990s, the library acquired the collection Stopp (Slg.Stopp) with around 2,000 journeymen's reports (Handwerkskundschaften) from 1750 to 1850, as well as the collection Faust (Res/Slg.Faust) with over 200 zoological single-sheet prints, showmen's handouts, sensational and educational leaflets, new newspapers (Neue Zeitungen), pamphlets, etc.

In addition, a large number of single-sheet prints can be found in individual classification groups of printed works and manuscripts, frequently forming part of collective works, in the separate collection of rare works (Rariora) and the reserve, as well as the music collection.

Cataloguing and search

In the course of the years 2000 to 2004, the early modern single-sheet prints were entered in a separate database and digitized with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG). The database was incorporated in the union catalogue and in BSB DISCOVER! in 2016. The detailed descriptions and digital images of the single-sheet prints prepared in the DFG project are linked up with the catalogue entries. This means that all single-sheet prints are searchable in BSB DISCOVER!, with a majority of them also being retrievable digitally and frequently complemented by additional information and detailed descriptions.

Search in:
BSB DISCOVER!

Repertorium der Einblattdrucke, Einblattkalender und Spielkarten der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München  (Cbm Cat. 274 a)
(Repertory of single-sheet prints, single-sheet calendars and playing cards of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)  (Cbm Cat. 274 a)
Digital Collections

Bubenik, Claudia; Niegisch, Barbara: Was lange währt, wird richtig gut: die Migration der BSB-Datenbank "Einblattdrucke der Frühen Neuzeit" (1500 – 1800) ist abgeschlossen. In: Bibliotheksforum Bayern 4 (2016), p. 234-237.

Odenbreit, Julia: Einblattdrucke des 16. Jahrhunderts in Gedächtnisorganisationen: Erfassung und Erschließung. Berlin: Institut für Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2014. Berliner Handreichungen zur Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft. 369.

Auswahlbibliographie zur Geschichte des Einblattdrucks in der Frühen Neuzeit (status of 2003)  (PDF, 1.1 MB)