WEBSITE: The Charterhouse of Buxheim and its Library
The website www.buxheimlibrary.org is the continuation of a project begun back in 1998 at Yale University. The original site is no longer available except as an archived file, and so this will eventually serve as a replacement. The Carthusian monastery at Buxheim in southwestern Germany was founded in 1402 and over the years established a library that in the late Middle Ages and early modern period was one of the largest in Europe, with over 500 manuscripts and more than 500 incunables, along with up to 20,000 other volumes. The monastery was secularized in the early nineteenth century and when the Waldbott-Bassenheim estate could no longer manage its debt, the library along with the choir stall and other furnishings were sold in 1883. Although Ludwig Rosenthal managed to secure many of the volumes for his own antiquarian business in Munich, the library was spread throughout Europe, and its volumes can currently be found in many public and university libraries as well as in private hands. This site will eventually make available several historical catalogs of the library as well as provide information on its history and those personalities that contributed to its growth and care.