Autographs

Contact autographs

For more specific requests please contact the Division Literary Archives and Autographs.

Online inquiry serviceOnline form
Phone+49 89 28638-2263
+49 89 28638-2265
In the libraryReading Room for Manuscripts and Rare Books  (2nd floor)


In 1858 Karl Halm introduced the additional category of "autographs" for single, mostly handwritten sources. At present, the collection amounts to about 36,000 autographs. With regard to the historical and geographical origins as well as the subject matter of the documents, it is similarly broad in scope as the collection of personal papers.

The majority of authors included in the autograph collection are not identical with those giving names to personal papers. The authors of autographs may however be included as correspondence partners among the papers of other eminent persons.

The autographs are arranged in alphabetical sequence. Individual authors may be represented by more than one autograph. As types of material, letters are predominant, but other texts may also occur, such as poems or shorter statements on certain topics.

The majority of autographs are recorded in the database Kalliope.

Kalliope

The authors not mentioned there can be searched in the list of uncatalogued autographs.

List of uncatalogued autographs  (PDF, 1.3 MB)

A selection of more than 600 autographs of eminent persons can be searched in BSB DISCOVER! by the shelfmark "Autogr.Cim." or by the author’s name.

BSB DISCOVER!

Reproductions of original autographs may be viewed online under "Briefe und Einzeldokumente berühmter Persönlichkeiten (Autogr.Cim.)" (letters and individual sources of eminent persons) in the digital collections of the Munich Digitization Center.

Digitale Sammlungen  (Digital Collections)

Literature

Secondary literature to the autograph collection may also be found among the secondary literature listed under "Personal papers".
Literature to the personal papers

Dachs, Karl: Autographen. In: Keysers Kunst- und Antiquitätenbuch. Volume 3. München, 1967. p. 133-167.

Brosche, Günter; Dachs, Karl (ed.): Richard Strauss: Autographen in München und Wien: Verzeichnis. Richard-Strauss-Gesellschaft (München). Tutzing: Schneider, 1979. Veröffentlichungen der Richard-Strauss-Gesellschaft. 3.

Moisy, Sigrid von: Aus den Anfängen der Autographensammlung der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek. In: Ex armariis et cistis: Karl Dachs zum 65. Geburtstag. In: Bibliotheksforum Bayern 22 (1994), p. 7-25.

Spuren des Märchenkönigs: Ludwig II. und die Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: Ausstellung Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, 27. September bis 11. Dezember 2011. Katalog und Ausstellung: Cornelia Jahn. Autoren: Friederike Berger ... Regensburg: Pustet, 2011. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Ausstellungskataloge. 84.
See pp. 29-34: Rückert, Ingrid: Schenkung von drei amerikanischen Autographen durch Ludwig II. an die Hofbibliothek; Einzelbeschreibung der Autographen von William Penn, Benjamin Franklin und George Washington sowie des Manuskriptes von Joseph von Fraunhofer: Versuche über die Ursachen des Anlaufens und Mattwerdens des Glases und die Mittel denselben zuvorzukommen. München 1817 – 1819.

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