A hundred years of cataloguing medieval illuminated manuscripts in Wien

Abstract

The author presents history of the Austrian National Library (ANL; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek), the collection of which goes back to the 14^th century. He discusses origins, methods, and content of the series “Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der illuminierten Handschriften in Österreich”, established by Franz Wickhoff and published since 1905, which consists of the descriptive list of illuminated manuscripts in Austria. As for cataloguing of manuscripts from the former court library (Hofbibliothek), and the ANL since 1920, initiation of the subseries “Die Illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Nationalbibliothek in Wien” by Julius Schollser and Julius Hermann was a breakthrough. 15 volumes of this subseries were published in the years 1923-1938, consisting of descriptions of more than 1500 manuscripts. After the World War II Franz Unterkircher continued these works; he published 2 volumes of this register including all (more than 5000 units) illuminated manuscripts from the ANL in the years 1957 and 1959. Otton Pächt initiated the new series “Die Illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek” which has been published since 1974. His successor Gerhard Schmidt started the project “Central European Schools - Mitteleuropäische Schulen” (MeSch), aiming at cataloguing all central European illuminated manuscripts.