The old collections of the University of Valencia are similar to the collections of the rest of the Spanish historical universities, since the constitution of their collections has followed a common path, with the difference that, in Valencia, the collections from the expelled Jesuits passed on to the Archbishop’s palace.

The collection is encyclopedic, mainly composed of humanistic disciplines that reflect the diversity of their origins and the different tastes and professions of its many donors.

The library has several books which are very valuable due to their rarity or cultural interest, such as the lifes of Saint Onuphrius and Saint Vicente Ferrer, printed by Juan Joffré in 1502 and by Jorge Costilla in 1510, respectively. It also has a large representation of local juridical, historical and literary works: different editions of the “Furs” (the laws of the Kingdom of Valencia during most of Middle Ages and Early modern Europe), histories of the Kingdom of Valencia (Beuter, Escolano, Viciana, …), works by distinguished Valencian people such as Vives, Palmireno, Juan de Celaya (16th century), Hipólito de Samper, Juan Bautista de Valda, Tomás Vicente Tosca, Juan Bautista Trobat (17th century), Gregorio Mayans, Jorge Juan, Antonio José Cavanilles, Juan Sala and Juan Bautista Muñoz (18th century), etc.

The Valencian printing press is largely represented: 16th-century works by Cristòfor Cofman, Juan Joffré, Juan de Mey, Pedro Huete, etc; 17th-century works by Pedro Patricio and Felipe Mey, Jaume de Bordazar, Claudio Macé, etc.; 18th-century works by José Esteban Dolz, José and Tomás de Orga, Salvador Faulí and the magnificient editions by Benito Monfort, etc.

In the Pérez Bayer Room you can consult a manual card index for each century. There are printed catalogues for the 16th and 17th centuries, which you can also consult in our digital catalogue, “Trobes”. Moreover, a great part of the 16th and 17th-century collections are part of the Collective Catalogue of Valencia’s Bibliographic Heritage and in the Collective Catalogue of Spain's Bibliographic Heritage. Currently, the collections from the 18th century are being input in our digital catalogue. The old collections are also being digitised.