Collection of Manuscripts and Estates: Our services for You
Wiki Handschriften und Nachlässe
Enquiries regarding our collection
Please address your enquiries to handschriften@wlb-stuttgart.de
If you require reproductions, please first check our Digital Collection, whether the manuscript has already been digitised and whether you can access the required digital copy there. If not, or if the quality of the digital copy is not satisfactory, please email your reproduction request to handschriften@wlb-stuttgart.de
We offer the following products:
Scans for personal use (150 dpi, jpg) at a price of 0.50 euros per page, or
print-quality digital copies (min. 300 dpi, tiff) at a price of 5.00 euros per page. We charge a fee of 2.50 euros per order to cover processing and postage
Whenever you use digitised material, please quote as source:
- Stuttgart, Wuerttembergische Landesbibliothek, [shelf mark of the manuscript, sheet specification]
- e.g. Stuttgart, Wuerttembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod. hist. qt. 169, f. 1r
Please note that if you wish to use digital copies for purposes beyond private use, you must obtain a reproduction permission from us, and that a usage fee will be charged for purely commercial purposes.
You can find our product catalogue and price list here
Access to manuscripts and estates on site
Manuscripts may be consulted in the Special Reading Room by prior appointment. Access is subject to proof of a research purpose. Prior notification, either in writing or by telephone, is required at least five working days in advance.
For conservation reasons, restrictions on use may be imposed and individual items may be excluded from use.
Prior notification in writing or by telephone is required at least five working day in advance. Please contact us handschriften@wlb-stuttgart.de
Manuscripts on loan for exhibitions
Under certain conditions, it is possible to lend manuscripts to external organisations for exhibition purposes.
What should you bear in mind when making a loan enquiry?
Please submit your loan enquiry at least 6 months before the start of the exhibition to
Wuerttembergische Landesbibliothek, Direktion, for the attention of Herrn Dr. Rupert Schaab, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 10, 70173 Stuttgart,
alternatively to Frau Dr. Kerstin Losert, Head of the Manuscripts and Estates Collection, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 10, 70173 Stuttgart.
The following details should be included:
- Exhibition title
- Venue
- Duration of the exhibition and desired loan period
- Contact details, contact person for enquiries
- Exhibition concept, justification of the academic purpose of the loan request
- Facility Report (or completed questionnaire regarding the conservation facilities at the exhibition venue) (see below, with a template for printing)
- List of the requested objects, including shelf mark and sheet specification
- If already known: information regarding orders for reproductions or publication permissions
Please note the following in advance:
- The loan period is generally a maximum of 3 months.
- Should any costs arise during the preparation of the manuscript (book supports, restoration work), these will be charged to the borrower.
- The borrower is also responsible for the costs of insurance and transport (art transport, climate-controlled crate where necessary, etc.).
- Special storage and display conditions apply to particularly valuable and delicate items.
- Handwritten materials may not, under any circumstances, be hung on display.
Further information:
Please also note that different types of material (manuscripts, early printed books, music, prints and drawings, etc.) are managed within different special collections, and there may therefore be several departments responsible for them.
Questionnaire on the conditions for display and storage at the exhibition venue (Printable template, in German)
In order to process your loan enquiry, please send us your Facility Report in advance or, alternatively, answer the following questions:
1. What safety measures are in place to prevent risks at the exhibition venue?
a) against fire
b) against water
c) against burglary
2. Are there any differences between daytime and night-time in the security measures mentioned?
3. Does your institution have a restoration department? Is there a contact person on site for conservation-related enquiries?
4. What type of display case is intended for exhibiting the items from our institution? (airtight climate-controlled display case, lockable, alarm-protected…?)
5. Are there plans to place any objects other than those from the WLB in a display case?
6. How can you ensure compliance with the following mandatory conditions regarding lighting?
a) no direct incidence of daylight
b) maximum illuminance of 50 lux
c) cool, UV-free light (e.g. fibre-optic and LED light sources with low thermal load)
d) no lighting outside opening hours (or: display cases to be covered)
7. What are the climatic conditions (temperature, relative humidity) in the exhibition space? How significant are the daily fluctuations?
8. How can you ensure that the following values are maintained with regard to climatic conditions? (For particularly sensitive items, item-specific climate monitoring with the recording of measurement data may be required (data logger))
a) a constant display case temperature between 18 and a maximum of 21°C
b) a constant relative humidity between 52% RH and 56% RH