You can find a detailed description of our holdings of historic books in "Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland" (1994)

Digitized texts

Manuscripts and prints that have already been digitized can be found in DigiTü and Katalog plus.

• Link to DigiTü
• Link to Katalog plus

Historic publications are routinely digitized by other libraries, with records held in the KVK (Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog).

Only available in the Manuscript Reading Room

All works from before 1851, manuscripts, historical collections, autographs, incunabula and rare books can only be used under supervision in the Manuscript Reading Room. Borrowing is not permitted.

Ordering items

• Incunabula, old prints and rare books can be ordered using Katalog plus.
• To order manuscripts and items from historical collections you need a special order form which can be obtained in the Manuscript Reading Room.
• Non-members of the university who do not have a library card should apply by e-mail to the Manuscripts / Historic Prints department.
• To research and order items from the archives please contact the University Archive.

Reproductions

Reproductions can be requested (for a fee) from the Reading Room staff. Photography is only possible on a case-by-case basis by arrangement.

This catalog system was used for all books acquired up to 1960.

The system divides the entire holdings by field into 11 main categories, labeled with the letters A-L.

Each main category is subdivided into a larger number of subcategories, which is explained below. Within each category, the books are generally organized by the date of acquisition.

More on Manuscript shelf numbers system (M)

Incunabula

The library’s collection of incunabula includes roughly 2,100 titles with a strong focus on theology, which makes up more than half of the volumes.

The incunabula are recorded in the Incunabula Catalog INKA.

A printed catalog also exists:

• Inkunabeln der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, der Fürstlich Hohenzollerschen Hofbibliothek Sigmaringen und des Evangelischen Stifts Tübingen : Ed. by Gerd Brinkhus and Ewa Dubowik-Baradoy. Assisted by Astrid Breith, Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 2014.

Rare books

Rare books include all works dated between 1501 and 1700, as well as texts that are unusual, irreplaceable or especially valuable. Almost all of them are listed in Catalog plus and can be ordered directly in the Manuscript Reading Room.

• Link to Catalog plus

The holdings of rare books now extend to about 105,000 volumes. An important focus of the collection is in the field of theological literature.

Cadastral maps

Tübingen University Library’s collection of historic cadastral maps of Württemberg consists of approximately 15,000 scrolls in 1:2,500 scale. For conservation reasons, the original documents are no longer handed out.

The cadastral maps have been digitized by the state archives and are available free of charge:

• Digitized cadastral maps of Baden-Württemberg State Archives [in German]

The necessary coordinates can be found here:

• Topographic Atlas of the Kingdom of Württemberg [in German]

Tübingen University Library’s holdings of manuscripts stretch to about 6,600 shelf numbers. A shelf number may in this case relate to one single sheet, or to several meters of shelf.

Oriental manuscripts

A key area is the Oriental manuscripts that arrived in the library as collections in the 19th and 20th centuries. Numerically the largest group is made up of Indian manuscripts with now more than 850 items. The 107 Armenian manuscripts include outstanding examples of Armenian illumination of the 12th to 19th centuries.

Occidental manuscripts

The university library holds some 350 Medieval and approximately 3000 modern Occidental manuscripts. There are also roughly 350 Medieval fragments from the 9th to 16th centuries, and as well as approx. 160 literary estates also a collection of autographs, music and deeds.

• Manuscript shelf numbers
• Manuscript catalogs

The shelf numbers used today for the manuscript stocks of Tübingen University Library date back to the reorganization of the manuscript collections carried out by Adalbert von Keller in 1840-41. Keller ordered the manuscripts primarily by philological aspects into language groups, which were each identified by a lower case letter to which could be added a Roman number as a suffix.

The online Manuscripts Catalog includes:

• German manuscripts (Md and Mh)
• Manuscript collections of Tübingen university lecturers (Mh II)
• Manuscripts relating to Tübingen University and University Library (Mh III)
• Greek manuscripts (Mb)
• Latin manuscripts (Mc)
• German manuscripts (Me)
• Spanish manuscripts (Mf III)

General catalog of manuscripts

All categories of shelf number are accessible via the general catalog of manuscripts in the Manuscript Reading Room.

The general catalog is gradually being digitized:

• Verzeichniß der Handschriften der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek in Tübingen / Adelbert von Keller (Mh III 118)

A copy of the general catalog (dated 1969) is kept together with the printed catalogs in the reference holdings in the Manuscript Reading Room.

Printed manuscript catalogs

Ma I Indian manuscripts

• Rudolf von Roth: Verzeichnis indischer Handschriften der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek zu Tübingen. 1865, 24 pages. (brief description of Ma I 1-277)
• Richard Garbe: Verzeichnis der indischen Handschriften der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek zu Tübingen (acquisitions from 1865-1899). Tübingen 1899, 144 pages, (description of Ma I 278-499 and addendum to Roth)
• Klaus Ludwig Janert et al: Indische Handschriften. T.7. Stuttgart 1985 (VOHD2.7) (description of Ma I 617-764)
• Heinz Bechert, Khin Khin Su, Tin Tin Myint: Burmese manuscripts, P.1. Wiesbaden 1979 (VOHD 23.1) (description of Ma I 591-592)

Ma III Persian manuscripts

• Wilhelm Eilers: Persische Handschriften. T. 1. Wiesbaden 1968 (VOHD 14.1)(16 manuscripts)

Ma IV Hebrew manuscripts

• Hans Striedl, Ernst Róth: Hebräische Handschriften. Wiesbaden 1965 (VOHD 6.2) (pages 392-395: Ma IV 1-5)
• Heinrich Ewald: Verzeichniss der orientalischen Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek zu Tübingen. Tübingen 1839, p. 7
• Adalbert von Keller: Die Handschriften der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek in Tübingen, Hebräische Handschriften. In: Serapeum 1, 1840, p. 142

Ma V Aramaic manuscripts

• Julius Assfalg: Syrische Handschriften. Wiesbaden 1963 (VOHD 5) (No. 37, 40, 54, 103: Ma V 1-4

Ma VI Arab manuscripts

• Heinrich Ewald: Verzeichniss der orientalischen Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek zu Tübingen. 1839 (p. 9-14: Ma VI 201-212)
• Christian Seybold: Verzeichnis der arabischen Handschriften. 1. Tübingen 1907 (Systemat.-alphabet. Hauptkatalog der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek zu Tübingen. M. Handschriften. A. Orientalische. Ma VI)(Description of Ma VI 1-46)
• Max Weisweiler: Verzeichnis der arabischen Handschriften. 2. Leipzig 1930 (Description of Ma VI 47-275)

Ma IX Ethiopian manuscripts

• Six, Veronika: Äthiopische Handschriften der UB Tübingen (Hamburg, 2000. Not released in print)
• Heinrich von Ewald: Über die äthiopischen Handschriften zu Tübingen. In: Zs. f. d. Kunde des Morgenlandes 5, 1844, p. 164-201
• Heinrich von Ewald: Über eine zweite Sammlung äthiopischer Handschriften in Tübingen. In: Zs. der Dt. Morgenländ. Ges. 1, 1847, p. 1-43

Ma XIII Armenian manuscripts

• Franz Nikolaus Finck, Levon Gjandschezian: Verzeichnis der armen. Handschriften der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen 1907, (Systematisch-alphabetischer Hauptkatalog der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek zu Tübingen. Tübingen. Ma XIII)

Mb Greek manuscripts

• Wilhelm Schmid: Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen. 1902, 88 pages. (Systematisch-alphabetischer Hauptkatalog der Königlichen Universitätsbibliothek zu Tübingen. M.b.)
• Thomas Wilhelmi: Sonderband Martin Crusius, Handschriftenverzeichnis und Bibliographie T. 2 (Greek manuscripts). Wiesbaden 2002 (Manuscript catalog of Tübingen University Library / pub. by Joachim-Felix Leonhard ; 2.2)

Mc Latin manuscripts

• Hedwig Röckelein u.a.: Die lateinischen Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen. T. 1 (Shelf nos. Mc 1 - Mc 150). Wiesbaden 1991 (Manuscript catalog of Tübingen University Library / pub. by Joachim-Felix Leonhard ; 1.1)
• Gerd Brinkhus u.a.: Die lateinischen Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen. T. 2 (Shelf nos. Mc 151 to Mc 379 as well as the Latin manuscripts to 1600 from shelf no. categories Mh, Mk and from the printed materials holdings). Wiesbaden 2001 (Manuscript catalog of Tübingen University Library / pub. by Joachim-Felix Leonhard ; 1.2)

Mg Slavic manuscripts

• Elke Matthes: Katalog der slavischen Handschriften in Bibliotheken der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Wiesbaden 1990. p. 171 (Mg 1)

Mk Music manuscripts

• Catalog of music manuscripts in Tübingen University Library, compiled by Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM), German work group, 80328 Munich, within the framework of compiling music manuscripts Series A/II / compiled by Gottfried Heinz-Kronberger. - Répertoire International des Sources Musicales, 2007.
• August Bopp: Das Musikleben in der Freien Reichsstadt Biberach unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Tätigkeit Justin Heinrich Knechts und Katalog der Kick’schen Notensammlung. Kassel 1930, p. 100-179: Katalog der ehemaligen Kick’schen Notensammlung (Holdings Mk 90). The Kick collection is available as a digital reproduction.

Today the University Library holds as many as 160 historical collections, including numerous partial and fractional collections.

Records of historical collections

You can find a summary of the historical collections held in the University Library in our

• Catalog of Historical Collections [in German]

If you want to search for historical collections and autographs in libraries throughout Germany, please refer to the Kalliope Union Catalog.
You can find historical collections in German archives in the federal archives’ database of historical collections [in German].

Portrait collection

The portrait database contains over 12,000 portraits from the holdings of the University Library, the university archive and the graphic collection of the Institute of Art History. The paintings date from the 16^th to the 20^th century.
Over the period 2009 to 2012 the collection was digitized and scientifically researched as part of a project by the Baden-Württemberg Cultural Foundation.

• Portrait database