In the present volume "Old High German Reader," the author and professor of German language and literature Wilhelm Braune (1850-1926) presents Old High German prose, poetic masterpieces, Old Low German pieces, and more. Old High German refers to the oldest documented form of the High German language, existing approximately from 750 to 1050. Since Old High German was a group of closely related dialects and there was no unified written language in the early Middle Ages, the surviving textual evidence can be assigned to the individual Old High German languages. The first Old High German text is the Abrogans, a Latin-Old High German glossary. Generally, the Old High German tradition consists largely of religious texts (prayers, baptismal vows, Bible translations); only occasionally are there secular poems (Hildebrandslied, Ludwigslied).