Historical Library

The Foundation’s Historical Library is a “library of libraries”. Established in 2013, it collects, preserves and highlights the libraries of eminent figures in literature, arts and sciences. It contains a vast array of literature, mainly of Greek interest, with the aim to provide accessibility to researchers and the general public alike.

The collections that make up the Historical Library maintain their unity, reflecting the research interests or collector focus of the former owners, and each collection is catalogued independently. All catalogued collections are accessible through the online catalogue of the Historical Library opac.laskaridisfoundation.org.

Reading room

583.132

books

General subjects

Ancient Greece and Byzantium

Within our collections, readers can discover a near-complete corpus of ancient Greek and Byzantine literature in various editions, ranging from early printed books (15th-16th century) to standard critical editions. The original sources are complemented by various studies on the ancient and Byzantine world, primarily of philological, historical, and archaeological interest.

Modern and Contemporary Greece

Travellers' accounts

Literature

Shipping and the Sea

Other arts and sciences

Old and Rare material

Incunables

Early printed books

Manuscripts

Maps

Greek publications of the 19th century

Early illustrated editions

Named Collections

The Historical Library's Collections owners

Coming Soon

Digital Library

Digitized rare material from the Historical Library's Collections

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Conservation Lab

The modern laboratory for the conservation of library and archival material operates with the aim of preserving, restoring and protecting the Foundation's collections.

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Digital Humanities

The Foundation's digital projects, with free access for anyone interested, give a new dimension to historical, anthropological and sociological research.

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General subjects

Ancient Greece and Byzantium

Modern and Contemporary Greece

Several collections shed light on aspects of Greece’s recent history: the Modern Greek Enlightenment, the history of the Macedonian and Cypriot issues, topics related to education and the development of the Greek language, as well as the history of books and literature.

Travellers' accounts

One of the most important and complete collections of travel and historical literature of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Greek world in general. It counts in total over 3,000 items and treasures publications from the late 15th century to the early 20th.

Literature

Shipping and the Sea

Many of the Historical Library’s collections include a wealth of material relating to the sea in many ways: fishing, maritime law, contemporary reference literature on Lord Nelson, as well as more recent periodicals. All these are an invaluable research source for students of maritime disciplines.

Other arts and sciences

The subjects of the Historical Library are dominated by the humanities and social sciences. Important collections are also devoted to the legal and political sciences, while STEM and medical sciences are represented to a lesser extent.

Old and Rare material

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Conservation Lab

Digital Humanities

Collaborations

CERL

Gennadius Library, ASCSA

Oxford University