Digitized Incunabula
Address
Rare Books and Manuscripts Dept.
Boston Public Library
Boylston St. Building, 3rd Floor
700 Boylston St.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Contact info
Rarebooks@bpl.libanswers.com
617.536.5400
Rare Books Department website
Searching and Browsing
Records for BPL incunabula can be found in either of the online catalogs, though researchers are strongly advised to use the research catalog. Some useful search strategies are outlined below.
General Searches
To explore the basics of the incunabula collection, try the following searches (click each link to view the results):
Title: Incunabula collection of distinction
This search will retrieve everything in the collection, including leaf books, later editions bound with incunables, and books formerly thought to have been printed before 1501, but that have been more recently ascribed to later dates
Title: Incunabula collection of distinction AND genre: incunabula
This search will retrieve only those items in the collection that were printed before 1501, including leaf books
Title: Incunabula collection of distinction AND genre: incunabula NOT genre: leaf books
This search will retrieve only those items in the collection that were printed before 1501, excluding leaf books
By Country
To search for incunabula by country of origin, do a subject search for Incunabula plus the name of the country, limiting to genre: incunabula. The results will inevitably include a few items not printed specifically in the country you are searching, but they will provide a very good idea of the library's holdings.
Subject: Incunabula Italy AND genre: incunabula
This search will primarily return examples of incunabula printed in Italy.
Subject: Incunabula Germany AND genre: incunabula
This search will primarily return examples of incunabula printed in Germany.
Subject: Incunabula France AND genre: incunabula
This search will primarily return examples of incunabula printed in France.
By Physical Features
We describe our collections so that researchers can search and browse based on a wide variety of physical properties. Researchers can use our catalog to locate books bound in specific kinds of leather, or to find copies that have been illuminated, or which contain marginalia.
Title: Incunabula collection of distinction AND genre: incunabula AND genre: [illuminations, inscriptions, marginalia, manuscript waste, etc.]
This search will retrieve only those items in the collection that were printed before 1501 that have been cataloged with reference to whatever specific "genre" heading has been entered as a search term.
Genre headings
Significant material characteristics of fully-described incunabula have been indexed in the catalog via the use of genre headings. The inclusion of genre headings in catalog records facilitates browsing and searching based primarily on similarity of physical characteristics. Common genre headings in the incunabula collection include:
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Incunabula [by country], e.g. Incunabula Italy |
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Bibliographic format (see below) |
Fully-cataloged incunabula have also been indexed for bibliographic format and paper size. Indexed format headings that can be searched for or clicked on include:
Intermediary sizes (super-royal, super-median, and super-chancery) are only indexed as royal, median, and chancery. However, keyword searches will still retrieve records for editions printed on intermediary sizes.
Image at top: Q.404.80. Dat boeck vanden leuen ons liefs heren ihesu cristi anderweruen gheprint. Zwolle: Peter van Os, 1495