# What is an incunable (library item)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-incunable-library-item/442166>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 21, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-incunable-library-item/442166 "2008-03-21T00:41:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-incunable-library-item/442166/1 "2008-03-21T00:41:05Z")

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In “Lords and Ladies” the librarian–Oook!–resisted travel to Lancre until he was told that the library there had “incunables.” Huh?

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-incunable-library-item/442166/2 "2008-03-21T00:45:12Z")

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Incunabula. An early book.

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**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-incunable-library-item/442166/3 "2008-03-21T00:45:18Z")

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[Incunable](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/incunable).

> [@](#):
>
> in·cu·na·ble  
> n.  
> An incunabulum.

Hope that helps! 😃

More seriously:

> [@](#):
>
> in·cu·nab·u·lum  
> n. pl. in·cu·nab·u·la (-l)
> 
> 1. A book printed before 1501; an incunable.
> 2. An artifact of an early period.

So, really old books, basically.

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**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-incunable-library-item/442166/4 "2008-03-21T01:04:32Z")

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Comes from the term for a cradle-- it’s the “infancy” of printing specifically (not manuscripts). So stuff generally from1425-1475 or 1500.