Manuscripts
Manuscripts

Manuscripts holdings is one of the world's richest collections of written landmarks of national and world culture from ancient Egyptian papyri to autographs of our contemporaries. The manuscripts held by the National Library of Russia comprise of over 1400 private archives and collections that today number more than 450 000 valuable items for all periods and countries.
Rare Books
Rare Books

The library's stock of rare books contains more than 70 000 volumes. An appreciable portion of those are incunabula (books printed before 1501): about 7 000 works. The library has no rival for its stock of early Russian printed books and Slavonic incunabula, it also holds a large amount of West European publications from the 16th and 17th century. The most remarkable among collections are Aldine editions of the 15th - 16th centuries and Elseviers produced by the celebrated 17th/century Dutch family firm. The Rare Books Department can boast Voltaire's Library, the unique monument of 18th century culture, that is one of some well surviving private libraries of that time.
Maps
Maps

The National Library's collection of printed maps and atlases is the second largest in the country, comprising more than 180,000 items printed in Russia and abroad from the sixteenth century to the present. It incudes maps, atlases, reproductions of manuscripts, globes, electronic cartographic publications.
Graphic Materials
Graphic Materials

The prints collections today number more than 1.26 million items. These include: albums, books, Ex Libris, photographs, posters, postcards, Russian and West European Prints
Photographs
Photographs

A unique photographic collection of the Prints Department is a true chronicle of the life of Russia since the second half of the 19th . It includes portraits from the 1850s, photographic views of cities and other places since the 1850s, photos on various subjects from the 1860s, photographic reproductions of works of art.
- Leningrad during World War II
- ALL EXHIBITIONS
Books
Books

The exhibitions presents material from several collections:
Russian Books
Foreign Books
Russian Periodicals
Literature of Asian and African Countries
Literature of the Peoples the Russian Federation
"Plekhanov House".
Search

Rare Books

Home Page > Rare Books

Rare Books

The library's stock of rare books contains more than 70 000 volumes. It covers books published from 1451 to the 19th century. An appreciable portion of those are incunabula (books printed before 1501): about 7 000 works.
The library has no rival for its stock of early Russian and Slavonic books which make up 21.5% of the total number of rare items. This are books printed in Cyrillic from 1491 to 1800.
Publications from the Era of Peter the Great were brought together in a single large collection, it is a foundation collection of the union catalogue created by the five country's largest libraries.
The holdings include Russia's first printed newspaper Vedomosti. It was the official gazette of the Crown established by Tsar Peter the Great on 16 December 1702. The first editions of the Vedomosti was printed in Early Cyrillic. In 1708 the Old Church Slavonic alphabet was modernized into a simplified secular script.
The Rare Books Department also holds a large amount of West European publications from the 16th and 17th century. The most remarkable among collections are Aldine editions of the 15th - 16th centuries and Elseviers produced by the celebrated 17th-century Dutch family firm. The Rare Books Department can boast Voltaire's Library, the unique monument of 18th century culture, is one of some well surviving private libraries of that time.
A collection of French material from the 1871 Paris Commune, produced in France during the first half of the year 1871, covers both pro-and anti-Commune publications. It contains almost all Paris newspapers and magazines of the time (about 2 thousand issues).

Learn more...

Exhibitions