e-rara.ch is a Swiss digital library

Digital library

A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks...

 dedicated to providing free online access to rare antique Swiss books and prints. It opened to the public in March 2010, and aims to make more than 10,000 works available by the end of 2011.

Project

The e-rara.ch project is part of the e-lib.ch initiative of the Swiss universities. It is hosted by the ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....

's library and also includes works held by the university libraries of Basel

University of Basel

The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...

 and Bern, the Bibliothèque de Genève

Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire (Geneva)

The Library of Geneva , known until 2006 under the name Public and University Library , is one of the oldest university libraries of Switzerland...

 and the Zentralbibliothek Zürich

Zentralbibliothek Zürich

Zentralbibliothek Zürich is the main library of both the city and the University of Zürich, housed in the Predigerkloster, the former Black Friars' abbey, in the old town's Rathaus quarter....

.

The library's principal aim is to make the Swiss cultural heritage more widely available and to assist researchers, who would otherwise have to consult the rare works in situ.

Collection

The library's initial focus is on prints of the 16th century. That century is considered the golden age of Swiss book printing on account of the many notable bibles, ceremonial prints, research treatises and writings related to the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 printed in Switzerland at that time, including works by such luminaries as Vesalius

Vesalius

Andreas Vesalius was a Flemish anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica . Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. Vesalius is the Latinized form of Andries van Wesel...

, Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Paracelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....

, Zwingli and Calvin

John Calvin

John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...

. Exceptional works from that era include the first full Latin translation of the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

 (1543). Works from other eras, notably incunables (pre-1501 prints) and 17th century prints, are scheduled to be digitized and added to the library at a later time.

The scanned works are made available in 300 dpi

Dots per inch

Dots per inch is a measure of spatial printing or video dot density, in particular the number of individual dots that can be placed in a line within the span of 1 inch . The DPI value tends to correlate with image resolution, but is related only indirectly.- DPI measurement in monitor...

 resolution as downloadable PDF files or as individual images through a web browser gallery.