Really early, very small, printed German literature (in the narrow sense)

If you want to look at the literary works that would have been accessible to the broadest range of people in the fifteenth century, then one place to start is with works printed in the vernacular and in smaller formats. In the vernacular, education is less of a barrier, and in the smaller formats (initially defined as broadsides, octavos, and quartos of less than 48 leaves), the economic challenge of acquiring literature is as low as it gets at the time. To look at the market for these works before printing reorganized the market for texts and the medium of the book, it makes sense to look only as late of 1480.

While I'm actually in favor of an expansive definition of literature and an inclusive approach to the objects of literary study, a narrow definition of literature is sometimes pragmatically necessary. We'll eliminate for now saints' lives and other devotional works, and pragmatic and educational texts (including history, current events, and the natural world).

Given those criteria, the resulting bibliography is quite short. It can be succinctly categorized like this:

Narrative works and literary classics
The first two clearly belong together. The Ackermann is an established part of the literary canon, but it's more similar in some ways to the humanist works below. On the other hand, the Ackermann and Pfaffe Amis have a considerable manuscript tradition, while the Pfarrer von Kahlenberg is only known in print.

• Der Stricker, Pfaffe Amis (ca. 1478, GW M4411)
• Philipp Frankfurter, Der Pfarrer von Kahlenberg (ca. 1480, GW 10287)
• Johannes von Tepl, Der Ackermann von Böhmen (1463-1477, GW 193-198)

Humanist translations
These end up being the works of just two translators: Heinrich Steinhöwel and Nikolaus von Wyle.

• Heinrch Steinhöwel/Fracesco Petrarca, Griseldis (1470-1480, GW M31576-78, M31580-81, M31583, M3158410, M31597)
• Heinrch Steinhöwel, Apollonius of Tyre (1471, GW 2273)
• Leonardus Aretinus/Nikolaus von Wyle, Guiscardus et Sigismunda (1476, GW 5643, 564210N)
• Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini/Nikolaus von Wyle, Euryalus et Lucretia (1478, GW M33548)
• Lucian/Nikolaus von Wyle, Der goldene Esel (1477-1480, GW M18985, M18988)

Hans Folz
For shorter literary works to 1480, Folz only makes it in by two years, but even in that short time he has too many titles to list.

• Sixteen titles (in seventeen editions) from 1479-80

Border cases
These are works that might be excluded as devotional or educational works under a narrow definition of literature. As I prefer a broad definition, I'll include them here.

• Die wunderbare Meerfahrt des hl. Brandan (1476, GW 5004)
• Sibyllen Weissagung (1452, 1475; GW M41981, M41983)
• Visio Fulberti (1473, GW 10422)
• Wie Arent Bosman ein Geist erschien (1479, GW 4944)