Editing Incunable (section)

{{Short description|Works printed in Europe before 1501}}
{{Redirect|Incunabula}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}

[[File:Inkunabel.ValMax.001.jpg|thumb|Page from [[Valerius Maximus]], ''Facta et dicta memorabilia'', printed in red and black by [[Peter Schöffer]] ([[Mainz]], 1471). The page exhibits a [[Rubrication|rubricated]] initial letter "U" and decorations, [[marginalia]], and ownership stamps of the "Bibliotheca Gymnasii Altonani" ([[Hamburg]]).]]
[[File:Prohemium..JPG|thumb|Illumination with doodles and drawings (marginalia), including an open-mouthed human profile, with multiple tongues sticking out. Copulata, "De Anima", f. 2a. HMD Collection, WZ 230 M772c 1485]]
[[File:Phisicorum ca. 1485 ..JPG|thumb|Image of two facing pages from "Phisicorum", fols. 57b and 58a, with doodles and drawings. HMD Collection, WZ 230 M772c 1485]]
An '''incunable''' or '''incunabulum''' ({{plural form}}: '''incunables''' or '''incunabula''', respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or [[broadside (printing)|broadside]] that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greenfield |first=Jane |title=ABC of bookbinding: a unique glossary with over 700 illustrations for collectors and librarians |date=2002 |publisher=Oak Knoll press The Plough press |isbn=978-1-884718-41-0 |location=New Castle (Del.) Nottingham (GB) |pages=37}}</ref> The specific date is essentially arbitrary, but the number of printed book editions exploded in the following century, so that all incunabula, produced before the [[printing press]] became [[Global spread of the printing press#Europe|widespread in Europe]], are rare, where even some early 16th-century books are relatively common.  

They are distinct from [[manuscripts]], which are documents written by hand.  Some authorities on the [[history of printing]] include [[block books]] from the same time period as incunabula, whereas others limit the term to works printed using [[movable type]].

{{As of|2021|post=,}} there are about 30,000 distinct incunable [[Edition (book)|edition]]s known.<ref>The [[British Library]] [http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/index.html Incunabula Short Title Catalogue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312185857/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/index.html |date=12 March 2011 }} (retrieved 16 August 2021) gives 30,518 editions, though this includes some which have been re-dated to the early 16th century.</ref> The probable number of surviving individual copies is much higher, estimated at 125,000 in Germany alone.<ref>According to Bettina Wagner: "Das Second-Life der Wiegendrucke. Die Inkunabelsammlung der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek", in Griebel, Rolf; Ceynowa, Klaus (eds.): "Information, Innovation, Inspiration. 450 Jahre Bayerische Staatsbibliothek", K G Saur, Munich 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-598-11772-5}}, pp. 207–224 (207f.) the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue lists 30,375 titles published before 1501.</ref> Through statistical analysis, it is estimated that the number of [[Lost literary work|lost editions]] is at least 20,000.<ref>J. Green, F. McIntyre, P. Needham (2011), "The Shape of Incunable Survival and Statistical Estimation of Lost Editions", ''Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America'' 105 (2), {{pp.|141|175}}. doi:https://doi.org/10.1086/680773</ref> Around 550,000 copies of around 27,500 different works have been preserved worldwide.<ref>[https://www.blb-karlsruhe.de/sammlungen/inkunabeln/ Badische Landes-Bibliothek] (in German)</ref>