The catalogue comprises 98,000 cards, including c. 5,000 reference cards. It is divided into
a Chinese Alphabet (c. 55,000 cards international size)
a Japanese Alphabet (c. 40,000 cards), and
a Korean Alphabet (c. 3,000 cards).
Each division contains authors and titles; all the works are in the original language. The Collection of Chinese literature is considered as one of the largest in Europe. It comprises c. 28,000 titles. As the collection is based on purchases made as early as in the first half of the 19th century, it contains numerous rare books, unique copies, pold prints. The following collections amongst others are included: Neumann, Martucci, Quatremère, Reismüller, Hentze, furthermore, the microfilm copies of Peiping Rare Books.
The Old Chinese comprises c. 8,000 titles, it is especially strong in works of classical Chinese literature, religion (Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism), rare South chinese folk printings, art, achaeology, as well as classical natural science and medicine.
The Japanese (c. 20,000 titles with 300 prints from Pre-Meiji-Times) and the Korean (c. 1,200 titles with over 200 rare prints) Collections emphasize similar topics. The single titles of some Japanese serials (e.g. Gunsho ruiju) are also catalogued. There are valuable publications on Buddhism.
The transcriptions of the Far Eastern languages follows Wade-Giles, Hepburn, and McCune-Reischauer. Most entries are supplied with annotations. The catalogue is a helpful guide for the German and the international lending. The rarity of the listed titles provides an important source of information for every scholar inthe fild of the Far Eastern studies.