UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Provenance research

What are provenances?

All references that provide information about the origin (provenance) of a book, e.g: book covers, handwritten entries, marginalia, dedications, initials, stamps, ex-libris, accession records, file entries, auction and exhibition catalogues

Why provenance research?

Many books in our historical holdings belonged to persons and/or institutions before they came into our possession. Handwritten ownership entries, ex-libris, stamps, supralibros and other features have often been preserved. The research and cataloguing of these provenances (from Latin provenire "to come") is the task of provenance research. Provenance research enables us to retrace paths of ownership and knowledge transfer. The knowledge about the previous owner contributes, for example, to proving stocks during the secularisation of dissolved monastery and convent libraries. Books from private libraries provide references to (scientific) networks and collecting interests. The decoding and documentation of former book owners not only serves our library history, but also opens up a new field for the history of art, culture, science, law and local history and is part of the history of the city and university.