The foundation of the collection was evidently already present in the 18th century in the then-existing Hamburg City Library. The librarian, Johann Christian Wolf, expanded the collection by cutting out copperplate engravings and numbering them with inventory numbers. Soon after, legacies from the brothers Heinrich and Peter Simon, as well as the extensive collection of the First Mayor Johann Georg Mönckeberg, were added. In 1840, the cloth merchant and art connoisseur Willem Te Kloot cataloged the entire collection and arranged the sheets by countries and schools of painting. This systematic arrangement and historical catalog have been preserved to this day.

All graphics in the copperplate engraving collection can be researched through the library catalog. Additionally, in the Hamburg Cultural Heritage Digital Portal, all engravings in the collection can be viewed and downloaded. The digital images and data have also been uploaded to the Graphicportal, an international art historical database for drawings and print graphics, to make them available for cross-collection research.