Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books

The first volumes of manuscripts in the patrimony of the Romanian Academy Library were supplied by donations and legates, more and more frequent after 1870. The first donation to the Romanian Academy was the collection of manuscripts and rare books of the Bishop of Buzau, Dionisie Romano, offered in 1873.
In 1876 it was followed by Ion Ghica’s donation, made up of manuscripts of the historian and revolutionary Nicolae Balcescu, and by that of the Moldavian bibliophile Dimitrie C. Sturdza Scheianul, by other numerous donations from Dimitrie A. Sturdza, Titu Maiorescu, Barbu Bellu, Rosetti-Rosnovanu, Mihail Kogalniceanu, Alexandru Odobescu, Liviu Rebreanu, Cezar Petrescu, containing manuscripts, historical documents, archive, correspondence, old Romanian books and foreign books.
The history of these holdings is connected to the library of the Saint Sava Monastery and to that of the library of the Metropolitan Church in Bucharest, as well as to the famous library of the Mavrocordats and to innumerable monastic libraries.

The general collections of the Department of manuscripts-rare books are organized in four great sections: