Search our holdings of rare books
You can search our entire holdings of 500,000 books in the » Catalogue QuickSearch. Here you will find:
- Incunabula
- Books from the 16th up to and including the 19th century
- Particularly rare, valuable or collectable books from any period, and special collections such as Chinese and Japanese documents
The collection is still being expanded by donations and acquisitions and the addition of recent specialist literature. You can find some good examples of acquisitions between 1998 and 2007 » here.
The very old and precious books are kept in the State Hall of the Austrian National Library and in the department's own stacks.
Some of the holdings that are represented here by a few selected examples are itemised in closed lists such as "Cimelia Palatinae", "Rara", "Erotica", "Bindings Collection" and "Luxury Editions". Overall, the holdings of incunabula and rare and precious books reflect both the development of scientific and literary publishing in the modern European age and the importance of the former Court Library as the main library in the time of the Habsburg Monarchy.
You can find more information about where the book you have ordered can be located and borrowed in the » list of site keys. This also explains specially listed groups of holdings such as Cimelia Palatinae, Rara, Erotica, Pamphlets, Bindings Collection.
You can find a small collection of online reference works on the subject of "rare books" » here.
In recent projects, we have made some of the department's special holdings accessible via the catalogue.
» Incunabula
» "Luxury Editions" – artists' books and collectable editions from 1850 onwards
» Historic newspapers and magazines
» Literature for children and young people
» Japonica (Japanese documents)