International conference: "An Experimental Phase in the History of Early Printing:
Fifteenth-century Blockbooks"

Sponsored by:
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
Bodleian Libraries Oxford

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
Friedrich-von-Gärtner-Saal
16 - 17 February 2012

In the context of a project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (http://www.dfg.de/index.jsp), the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in cooperation with the Centre for the Study of the Book of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/csb/) is organizing this international conference.

Blockbooks (xylographs) are books with a comparatively small number of pages which were produced in the fifteenth century from woodcuts and represent a form of transition between hand illuminated manuscripts and illustrated printed books. They count among the rarest and most precious items collected by libraries. They raise questions for bibliographical, art historical and philological research. Until recently, the problematic state of conservation of many blockbooks has severely hindered their scholarly examination. While cataloguing projects abroad, most recently in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, have produced important new insights regarding blockbooks, a systematic analysis of the xylographic holdings of German libraries is still outstanding.

Since 2009, all of the approximately 90 copies of blockbooks owned by Bavarian institutions have been digitized after restoration of the damaged copies in the course of a project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The watermarks in the paper were documented with a newly developed technology (thermography or infra-red photography). The project thus constitutes an organic continuation of the projects funded by the DFG for digitizing the incunabula and 16th-century books printed in German territories held at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. The digital reproductions of all blockbooks are accessible on the website of the Bayerische Landesbibliothek Online:
http://www.bayerische-landesbibliothek-online.de/blockbooks=20

Alongside digitization, scholarly descriptions of the blockbooks are created which aim at a high bibliographic standard equivalent to the more recent international catalogues which reflects the importance of the items. After the end of the project, the descriptions will be made accessible in electronic form via the internet as well as in a printed catalogue.

The conference will provide an opportunity to discuss the results achieved by the project so far with representatives of various academic disciplines. The first day will focus on questions with regard to the materiality of the blockbooks, while the second will be devoted to questions of content, function and reception relating to a selection of examples.

Prospective participants are asked to register by 31 January 2012 online:
http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/Veranstaltungen-fuer-Fachpublikum.339.0.html
Participation in the conference is free.

During the conference, an exhibition "From the ABC to the Apocalypse. Life, Faith and Death in Late Mediaeval Blockbooks" will be opened which will be on show until 6 May 2012 in the treasure room of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.

Conference programme:
http://www.bayerische-landesbibliothek-online.de/xylographa-tagung