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The collections of early printed books hold about 30,000 items of printed matter (books, periodicals, maps etc) in all fields of knowledge, covering all subjects and areas of study. The collections hold quite a number of unique and rare publications i.e. incunabulas, several Elseviers and numerous prints from the 16th to 18th centuries, also books with unique parchment and leather bindings.The oldest part of the collections is the library of St. Olaf’s Church, founded in 1552, which served in 16th century as a public library and contained books from all subjects and areas. Although belonging to the church it served as an urban public library.
In the 19th the library was transferred to the General Estonian Public Library, situated in Tallinn and founded in 1825 by scholars and students (Fraternitas Revaliensis). 20 years later the Estländische Literärische Gesellschaft (ELG, Estonian Literary Society) took charge of the library. The aim of ELG was to promote and expand science and learning, especially studying Estonian history and nature. The first priority was Baltica-literature, books concerned with Estonia and its neighbouring territories and books printed in the Baltic countries. During the 19th-20th centuries libraries of several establishments and organizations in Tallinn were incorporated into the former St. Olaf’s library e.g. the Cathedral School Library (Domschule), one part of the Library of the Town Council, collections of the German Society in Estonia (Estländischer Deutscher Verein) etc. During its existence the library has incorporated a number of the finest collections of scholarly literature in Tallinn. As a result, the Academic Library of Tallinn University boasts a collection of the Baltica noted for its comprehensiveness and rarity.
The file includes 9,694 records from electronical catalogue ESTER (ELNET Consortium), available at http://tallinn.ester.ee/search.
Records are entered according to Estonian cataloguing rules based on ISBD(A), with some local amendments. All records have been catalogued book in hand. Names in author indexes are entered for authors, editors, translators, illustrators, printers and publishers. Places of printing are included both in the form that appears in book as well as in a standardised place name format. Uniform titles are used (e.g. for the Bible). Information on binding is included in many records.