Special Collections Collections

The Bibliotheca Palatina, the Palatinate State Library, is the most important collection of manuscripts and prints, which originated in Heidelberg at the end of the 14th century. From the holdings of the university, the collegiate library and the book collection of the Heidelberg electors, which consisted mainly of vernacular books, a library arose that was famous far beyond the borders of Germany by the early 17th century. As a result of the Thirty Years' War, the books are now distributed between two locations: the Heidelberg University Library and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. The manuscripts are catalogued in modern inventories, and the prints can be researched using the OPAC HEIDI.

The Codex Manesse, the largest surviving collection of Middle High German lyric poetry and proverbs, is the most famous manuscript in the collection of Heidelberg University Library. In May 2023, this magnificently illustrated work was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

The Codices Salemitani are the largest collection of manuscripts and printed books at Heidelberg University Library. Its incunabula (early prints up to 1500) and books printed up to the 19th century form the core of its historical collection. In 1826, the University of Heidelberg acquired not only the printed works but also 442 medieval and early modern manuscripts that originally came from the monastery libraries of Salem on Lake Constance and Petershausen, now a district of Constance.

The collection of the Heidelberger Handschriften (Heidelberg manuscripts; shelfmark: Heid. Hs.) comprises over 4,200 units. In addition to a few medieval manuscripts, it also contains many modern manuscripts. It includes more than 100 collections of written legacy, some of which contain extensive correspondence from Heidelberg professors and other individuals from the 19th and 20th centuries. The majority of the personal writings and autographs can be researched using the Kalliope database.

The Trübner Collection includes 154 manuscripts (Cod. Trübner) that belonged to the Heidelberg-born bookseller Nikolaus Trübner (1817–1884), who worked in London. In addition to illuminated prayer books and psalters of Dutch and French origin, some of which date back to the Middle Ages, the collection includes numerous Oriental codices. The Orientalia are catalogued in a location catalogue that can be used in the manuscript reading room (LSH).

The Heidelberg collection of oriental manuscripts (Cod. Heid. Orient.) comprises a total of 526 items. It contains manuscripts in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, Hebrew, Samaritan, Syrian, Ethiopian, Coptic and other languages. The manuscripts are catalogued in an alphabetical catalogue, a location catalogue and a language index, all of which can be consulted in the manuscript reading room (LSH). A large part of this collection can be researched using the database of oriental manuscript collections in Germany, Qalamos. In addition to shelfmarks, authors and titles, the previous owners of the manuscripts are also listed here.

Heidelberg University Library holds over 4,500 charters, which are distributed among six collections. The oldest pieces date from the 10th century, about half of them date from the 17th and 18th centuries. The formal spectrum ranges from papal bulls to imperial and royal charters to charters of the nobility, the clergy, the cities and their citizens. Geographically, the focus is on the Palatinate and the Electoral Palatinate and Alsace.

The library's collection of incunabula, which largely comes from dissolved monasteries, comprises around 1,850 works including fragments from the period between 1454 and 1500. There are numerous examples from printing locations in the German-speaking southwest and south and from the Rhenish areas around Cologne, Mainz and Speyer. The collection also includes many titles from the European centres of book printing, such as Venice and Paris. The results of the incunabula cataloguing can be searched, among other places, in the Incunabula Catalogue of German Libraries (INKA).

More than 100,000 old prints are kept in the Special Collections on the basis of their age or their value. They have the additional shelfmark RES, can only be used in the manuscript reading room (LSH) and cannot be borrowed. The collection of old prints also includes several scholars' libraries of considerable value that came into the library in the 19th century.

The Heidelberg University Library does not have a separate collection of maps as a single holding. Old and valuable maps can be viewed in the manuscript reading room. These are mainly items from the ‘Heidelberg Maps’ holdings and ‘Rothe Map Collection’.

The Collection of Prints and Drawings at Heidelberg University Library contains over 4,000 items. These are mainly portraits, views, maps and plans, which have been handed down in the form of woodcuts, copper and steel engravings, etchings, lithographs and drawings, but also as photographs. The collection includes portraits of Heidelberg professors dating back to the early days of the university. Maps and city plans mainly cover the Electoral Palatinate and the surrounding area. More than 3,500 portraits and views have been digitised and are available for research in the Heidelberg object and multimedia repository heidICON.