The old books collection

The library has a rich old books collection, which has been continuously completed over the years. This documentary collection consists mainly of books, engravings, newspapers and old catalogs dating from the XVIII^th, XIX^th and early XX^th century. It also includes some prestigious volumes of the XVII^th and XVIII^th centuries, as the 35 volumes of the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Diderot and Alembert (1751-1780) or the second edition of De Architectura Vitruvius (1572).

Like the contemporary collection, the topics are the tools, techniques, crafts and writings of workers and farmers. You will thus be able to find the majority of the old reference manuals on trades, as the Roret manuals.

These volumes are classified in 4 major thematic: Professions and Techniques, Social History, Training, Culture.

You can consult our catalog of the ancient collection on the site of the multimedia library of Troyes   :