Abstract:
The article presents an overview of personal books of the members of the Vilnius academic
community of the XVIII century - the beginning of the XIX century (up to the date Lithuania
was annexed by the Czarist Russia and Vilnius University was closed), belonging to the collection „Bibliotheca
Academiae Vilnensis" of the Rare Book Department of the Vilnius University Library. The
article is boosted by the ideas of W. Zanders about the role of special collections in the context of
the library history of Latvia, by the research of the Polish scientist L. Kowkiel concerning personal
libraries of the XIX century in the area of Grodno (in Belarus) and by some significant initiatives of
the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. The aim of the article is to define the subject by
illuminating a range of problems related to the study and to the survival of the historical collection
„Bibliotheca Academiae Vilnensis" - a remarkable piece of the European culture heritage. [...]
