30 March 2021 press release

Leipzig provenance:
former collections of the Leipzig Municipal Libraries are to remain in the German National Library

70 years ago, the German National Library and the German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library in Leipzig received valuable collections from the Leipzig City Library. The deposit contract now signed by the City of Leipzig and the German National Library will ensure that this collection of just under 1,100 prints and autographs dating from the 16th to the 20th century will remain in the German National Library.

When the Leipzig City Library lost its status as an academic library, it handed over to other libraries and museums in Leipzig its monographs and journals, valuable old prints dating from the 15th to the 19th century, manuscripts, modern book art and artistic book bindings. Two resolutions by the city council passed in the early 1950s formed the basis for the transfer of the collections. Among the reasons given for the transfer, the resolutions mention the compensation of war-related losses both to the German National Library (back then still named the “Deutsche Bücherei”) and the German Museum of Books and Writing, which had lost nine-tenths of its collections to the flames of World War Two.

“Thanks to the academic expertise in book history, these works – whose continued presence in our library is also a great symbol of the trust and close collaboration between the City of Leipzig and the German National Library – can also be fed into our research networks and rendered accessible via collaboration projects as part of our cataloguing and digitalisation activities”, states Stephanie Jacobs, head of the German Museum of Books and Writing.

“The deposit contract not only legally safeguards the continued presence of this valuable collection in the Library but also provides the impetus for collaborations in which the Leipzig Municipal Libraries and the German Museum of Books and Writing take joint responsibility for the collection while also reminding a wider audience of its existence. For example, we wish to jointly exhibit the collections as part of the 350th anniversary celebrations of the Leipzig Municipal Libraries in 2027”, says Susanne Metz, director of the Leipzig Municipal Libraries.

The collections entrusted to the German National Library contain important titles from the history of books and printing, including numerous early classic editions dating from the first half of the 16th century, but also prints by Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon and the first edition of Albrecht Dürer’s “Vnderweysung der Messung” dating from 1525. The 18th century is also strongly represented, e.g. with an edition of Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto dating from 1746 and a Bodoni print from 1792. The collection also includes works of book art by Ignatz Wiemeler and Erich Gruner, as well as a comprehensive bundle of letters from the estate of literary critic and author Hermann Marggraff.

The length of time it has taken to conclude a deposit contract between the City of Leipzig and the German National Library demonstrates the complexity of the topic of transferring historic collections. Not least in terms of their own mission, memory institutions have recognised the ethical and legal importance of provenance issues. Provenance research has become an intrinsic criterion of the work performed in the arena of cultural heritage. This research takes on an even greater significance when it comes to transferring collections.

Background

Leipzig Municipal Libraries

With their 16 sites and the blue mobile library, they are easy to spot in Leipzig’s cityscape. In total, the Leipzig Municipal Libraries house a collection of 770,000 media works, and offer online services such an online loans, databases, film portals, etc.. The Leipzig City Library is the central library within the metropolitan library network.

The Leipzig Municipal Libraries don’t just offer stories, but also history. By 1466, Leipzig was already home to a small municipal library with around 300 books that were predominantly used by lawyers, but also by doctors, apothecaries and a few of Leipzig’s citizens. However, the history of the Leipzig Municipal Library begins with the patronage of the barrister and treasury official Huldreich Groß (1605 – 1677). He left the city his extensive collection of valuable books and all his fortune, for the purposes of founding a public library. This became the cornerstone of a municipal institution that today is not only one of the oldest but also most heavily-frequented educational and cultural institutions in Leipzig.

Alongside manuscripts, historical prints, coloured papers and modern book art, its collections contain archive materials and estates on the history of writing and typography. Together with the world’s largest watermark collection and a host of writing implements and machines for producing books and paper, the museum’s collections facilitate an interdisciplinary approach to issues in cultural and media studies.

German Museum of Books and Writing

The book has shaped our culture and civilisation like no other medium. For centuries our knowledge about the world and its peoples has been stored in books. The task of the German Book and Writing Museum of the German National Library is to collect, exhibit and process evidence of book and media history. Founded in 1884 in Leipzig as the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum (German Book Trade Museum), it is the oldest museum in the world in the field of book culture, and also one of the most important with regard to the scope and quality of its holdings.

Alongside manuscripts, historical prints, coloured papers and modern book art, its collections contain archive materials and estates on the history of writing and typography. Together with the world’s largest watermark collection and a host of writing implements and machines for producing books and paper, the museum’s collections facilitate an interdisciplinary approach to issues in cultural and media studies.

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