Rare Books

Extent

• Approximately 65,000 volumes and monographs
• Approximately 10,000 journal volumes

Holdings

• Incunabula (fifteenth century)
• Old and rare books (sixteenth to the early twentieth century)
• Journals (seventeenth to the early twentieth century)

Relevance of research and Public

ETH Library's Rare Books comprise over 75,000 valuable books, illustrated volumes and journals from the second half of the fifteenth to the early twentieth century, specialising in mathematics, technology, architecture and the natural sciences.

Current activities, projects

• The holdings are being digitized systematically and rendered accessible to both researchers and the general public.
• Running and refining the online platforms external page e-rara.ch and ETHorama
• External exhibition in cooperation with cultural institutions in Switzerland and abroad

Use of the archive / online presence

• Holdings can be searched on ETH Library's Search Portal
• Over 12,000 titles can be accessed online via external page e-rara.ch.
• Over 11,000 images from old and rare books can be accessed in E-Pics Rare Books.
• Documents with geographical ties to Switzerland can be searched via the platform ETHorama.
• Apart from a few exceptions, works yet to be digitized are available for consultation in the Collections and Archives reading room.