In Many Languages Written

Incunabula in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences

Latin was the main language of science and communication in Europe in the 15th century, so it is not surprising that it was the language in which most of the books were printed and the language in which most of them have survived. Today, more than 21 300 editions of books in Latin have survived. There were fewer books printed in vernacular languages, but the most popular languages – German, Italian and French – each produced several thousand books. The smallest number of incunabula was printed in Greek (68), Czech (34) and Portuguese and Church Slavonic (12 each) (based on ISTC data). 

The Wroblewski Library's collection of incunabula stands out from other collections held in the memory institutions of Lithuania by its linguistic diversity. Naturally, books in Latin are the most numerous, but there are books in less common languages as well: Greek, Czech and Church Slavonic. Books in Latin are not only religious. They also include works by classical authors and works related to applied science.

LMAVB RSS I-4
ISTC ip00268000, GW M30913

Three of the incunabula are in Czech: the Czech Biblia Bohemica (the Holy Scriptures were printed in vernacular languages long before Martin Luther), as well as two books of legal documents bound together.

LMAVB RSS KJ5301 
ISTC is00706500, GW M52126

As many as two of the books are in Church Slavonic. These are liturgical books printed in Krakow. The relatively high number of these books (only twelve incunabula in Church Slavonic were printed in total) should not be too surprising – after all, it was in our region that they were used for liturgy and later, because of wear and tear, they were replaced by newer ones, although some were still kept in libraries.

LMAVB RSS I-9
ISTC ih00484300, GW 13447

There are three books: in German, Greek and Italian – one in each language. 

The book in German is the historical work entitled Chronecken der Sassen. The narrative begins, as was customary in those days, at the very beginning, with the biblical story of the creation of the world. This is naturally followed by stories of people and events that the book was created to depict.

LMAVB RSS I-16
ISTC ic00488000, GW 04963

The Italian edition is a work concerning the Christian religion by Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), the famous Florentine humanist, a luminary in the Florentine Academy.

LMAVB RSS I-14
ISTC if00151000, GW 09879

Aristophanes' Greek comedies have two titles and prefaces, not only in Greek, but also in Latin, which was the main language of scholarship at the time. Printed by the famous Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (c. 1450-1515), this book is also an excellent example of the printing of works with commentaries. The main text – more or less all of it – is printed in larger font. Around it, the commentaries are printed in a smaller font. Sometimes, if there were more than one commentator, the texts were divided according to their importance: the more important, the larger the font, and vice versa. The commentaries were always smaller than the main text.

LMAVB RSS I-35
ISTC ia00958000, GW 02333

In the 15th century, books were printed in 13 languages in total. This shows both the spread of printing and the likely social diversity of the reading public, their different educational backgrounds and the need for books in vernacular languages. Incunabula preserved in the Wroblewski Library were printed in half of the languages, seven in total.