Digitized Xylographa

Xylographa or blockbooks are books printed from wood blocks. They were produced mostly in the Netherlands and Germany in the times of Johannes Gutenberg (mid-15th century onwards). Today they are extremely rare and valuable. These richly illustrated books were used mainly for religious edification and instruction. Texts were added at first manually, later they were carved into the wood blocks as well. The leaves were printed only on one side and then glued together, the two-sided print used in incunabula was still unknown. Today 44 works are known to be extant (cf. Blockbücher des Mittelalters) of which the Herzog August Bibliothek has 8 (in 15 copies, bound together in 10 separate bindings. Shelfmark: 1-10 Xylogr.)