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The use of punctuation in German incunabula is often described as arbitrary, irregular, and unsystematic (cf. Masalon 2014: 54–56). This concerns the inventory, frequency, and function of punctuation marks as well as pragmatic aspects such as how typesetters treated punctuation in their respective target texts. In this paper, punctuation is not seen as an independent linguistic subsystem, but as a means of text segmentation that – along with other measures (e. g. capital letters, pilcrows, and white space) – was used to structure a text with respect to its formal appearance, helping the reader to decode information. This case study is based on a corpus of German pamphlets written by the Bohemian astrologer Wenzel Faber and printed annually beginning in 1481 at various print shops, principally in Leipzig and Nuremberg. The analysis finds significant changes in the editions before and after 1490. These changes include an increasing consistency in the intensity of text segmentation, and a use of capital letters and punctuation marks developed from a polyfunctional to a monofunctional approach. Finally, different types of text segmentation are proposed, each characterized by a specific relationship between its frequency and its function. Despite this overall tendency, one must still take into account that typesetters followed individual punctuation practices in their search for suitable forms of text segmentation.

In the 15th century, at a time when codification via dictionaries and grammars had not yet taken effect, printers, editors, and compositors were already producing pamphlets and books that had to meet the new requirements of the letterpress, especially as regards the arrangement of white space and uniform line justification (even-margined on the left and right). The following analysis investigates five German editions of the Mirabilia Romae (Marvels of the City of Rome), a well-known pilgrim guide, all printed in 1500 for the contemporaneous Jubilee year and thus for short-term sale. The results show that compositors used different means for text alignment: In addition to deviations in line counts and the repositioning of lines, they chose extended or contracted spelling variants, predominantly on the second half of the page. The most frequent variants are abbreviations in the form of tildes. However, just a few spelling patterns with tildes were used. With respect to explanatory processes in a historical perspective, the results call for a closer consideration of page format, text layout (mise-en-page) and line justification when evaluating spelling variation in early book printing.

Die Kärntner Landesbibliothek ist eine Informationseinrichtung im südlichsten Teil Österreichs, in Kärnten. Sie dient zur Literaturversorgung und Informationsvermittlung in unserem Bundesland. Der Sammlungsbestand umfasst ca. 150 000 Medieneinheiten, darunter 21 Inkunabeln. Besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Sammlung der Carinthiaca, also der Literatur aus und über Kärnten. The regional library of Carinthia is an information centre in the southern part of Austria. It is responsible for the literature provision and information dissemination in our country. The library collection includes about 150.000 items, for example 21 incunabula. Special focus is the Carinthiaca-Collection, literature from and above Carinthia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The singularity of Francesc Alegre's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses into Catalan has been associated with its dependence on the Latin poem in contrast to the other versions of this text that circulated in print prior to 1500. This article argues that the Catalan translation is the work of a learned author who places himself in relation to the Italian tradition and draws on different sources to complete a work influenced by humanist ideas. Moreover, the evidence strongly supports the impact of Giovanni Bonsignori's Ovidio Metamorphoseos Vulgare (c. 1375-1377) throughout the fifteen books of Alegre's translation and in his allegorical interpretations in the second part of the work. I also contend that he may have known the Expositio and the Allegorie written by Giovanni del Virgilio (1322-1323). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Im Rahmen des BMBF-geförderten Projekts KALLIMACHOS an der Universität Würzburg soll unter anderem die Textgrundlage für digitale Editionen per OCR gewonnen werden. Das Bearbeitungskorpus besteht aus deutschen, französischen und lateinischen Inkunabeln. Dieser Artikel zeigt, wie man mit bereits heute existierenden Methoden und Programmen den Problemen bei der OCR von Inkunabeln entgegentreten kann. Hierzu wurde an der Universitätsbibliothek Würzburg ein Verfahren erprobt, mit dem auf ausgewählten Werken einer Druckerwerkstatt bereits Zeichengenauigkeiten von bis zu 95 Prozent und Wortgenauigkeiten von bis zu 73 Prozent erzielt werden. In the context of the Kallimachos project at the University of Würzburg, the textual base for digital editions of incunabula is obtained via OCR. The corpus of texts to be worked on consists of German, French, and Latin opera. This article shows how problems with OCR of incunabula can be tackled with already existing methods and programs. The developed method focuses on setting up a type-specific OCR training to be reused with different medieval printings from one printshop. Following this method we achieved letter accuracies of up to 95 percent and word accuracies of up to 73 percent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 29 June to 1 July 2015, the Wolfenbuettel Research Group for Library, Book and Media History held a workshop on 'Incunabula and Transmission History'. The lectures focused on fundamental problems in the field of incunabula research as well as on in-depth studies regarding individual aspects of transmission history. The discussion included topics such as the use of scientific methods and marketing strategies of some early printers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article first describes the old book and manuscript collection at the university library in Munich, Germany and then presents the results of a questionnaire to library visitors on their use of the materials in the collection. Resulting suggestions for wider circulation of those materials included longer hours of operation, deemed to be unjustifiable financially, and the ability to cancel orders electronically.

The article discusses a microfilm collection of handwriting and incunabla at the Bavarian State Library, with examples of manuscripts and illuminations dating back to the Middle Ages, largely from the British Library and libraries at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. With new "catalogue enrichment" technology the microfilm collection can be more easily searched.

The article offers information on Bayerische Staatsbibliothek collections. It states that it is known as the world's richest incunabula collection which is made up of an estimate of 19,900 copies of 9,680 editions. It adds that the collections covers the digitization of one copy of each incunabula edition and have German Research Foundation as their financial supporter. It also has a music collection that includes the 34 volumes of the Carl Alexander edition, "The Musical Works of Franz Liszt."