• the first and second editions of Geoffrey Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales, printed byWilliam Caxton in 1476/1477 and 1483
• TheRecuyell of the Historyes of Troye, printed in Bruges or Ghent in 1473, the first book printed in English
• two copies theGutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz around 1455

Most of the British Library's incunabula are described in detail in 'BMC', the Catalogue of books printed in the XVth Century now in the British Museum (London: British Museum. Department of Printed Books, 1908-2007). Printed copies of the BMC are on open shelves in the Rare Books & Music Reading Room at shelfmark RAR 093.016 ENG.

The BMC numbered volumes cover the areas of printing activity below (click on the link to access a word-searchable electronic facsimile):

1. Xylographica and books printed with types at Mainz, Strassburg, Bamberg and Cologne
2. Germany: Eltvil Trier
3. Germany: Leipzig-Pforzheim. German-speaking Switzerland and Austria-Hungary
4. Italy: Subiaco and Rome
5. Venice
6. Italy: Foligno. Ferrara, Florence, Milan, Bologna, Naples, Perugia and Treviso
7. Italy: Genoa-Unassigned. Addenda
8. France, French, French-speaking Switzerland 
9. Holland, Belgium
10. Spain, Portugal
11. England
12. Italy (supplement)
13. Hebraica

Books printed in the 16th century

A substantial number of our 16th-century printed books came into the Library with the large foundation collections, and we have added to the collections through regular acquisitions. Our printed books cover every possible subject, including religion, literature, editions of the Classics, editions of the Bible, grammars and dictionaries, and medical and scientific books.

Some highlights include:

• a copy ofWilliam Tyndale'sNew Testament, printed in Worms in 1526
• the first edition ofThomas More'sUtopia, published in Louvain in 1516
• An Introduction for to Learne to Swimme, the first printed book on any kind of sport in the English language, printed in London in 1595.

The detailed Directory of Western printed heritage collections at the British Library provides more information about early printed items including:

• background to the collections
• major named Collections of rare books
• surveys of Early and Rare Books by Place of Origin
• surveys of Special Collections by Format
• thematic and subject composition 
• distinguishing features
• provenance
• specialist catalogues 
• current shelfmarks
• bibliographical references

What is available online?

All our incunabula are catalogued in the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC). Our 16th century British books are all catalogued in the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) and in Explore the British Library. A number of the Library's 16th century books have been microfilmed, and digitised copies of the microfilms are available via the subscription databases Early English Books Online (EEBO) and JISC Historic Texts.

What is available in our Reading Rooms?

All incunabula and 16th-century printed books can be accessed in the Rare Books and Music Reading Room at St Pancras. A small number of books is restricted and requires curatorial approval. For further information contactrare-books@bl.uk