25 The Memmingen Book Network
abstract
This paper uses book provenance information from the town of Memmingen in southern Germany as a basis for discovering its book trade history. It brings together this information with that of some earlier writers to throw light on the scholarly book network that grew in the town, the book buyers and owners, and the book producers with their supporting trades, in Memmingen in the second half of the fifteenth century. It will look at who the buyers were, what they bought, how books were traded, from where their books had come, and, where possible, how much the books cost. The prices of books are put into context of known living costs of the period.
Keywords: Books trade • Costs • Incunabula • Memmingen • 15th-century printing • Owners • Scholarly network