Incunabula

The first typographic prints are called incunabula or cradle books. However, incunabula include only prints that appeared up to the year 1500; after that, one speaks of early prints. The expression “incunabula” in itself is, to be sure, quite a bit older and came about first at the end of the 18th century. The terms “incunabula” and “cradle book” (lat. incunabula = cradle) can be explained by the fact that these are the earliest book printings in which the letters are still moveable. For this reason, incunabula comprise the link between manuscripts and printed book art. Because of incunabula, the development of the book can be traced accurately, because the printer still understood himself as an indepently creative master artist. Later, this artistic creation of a work was replaced by a craftmanlike operation that standardized many things in order to be able to print more in a shorter period of time. Among the most important and well-known incunabula is the Gutenberg Bible of 1455. Famous incunabula printers are among others Albrecht Pfisterer in Bamberg, Günter Zainer in Augsburg and Johannes Mentelin in Strasbourg. In total, approximately 40,000 different cradle books are registered of a total number of about one-half million. In graphic art, single-page woodcuts as well as early prints of copper engravings, etchings and lithographs are also considered to be incunabula.

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