This bibliographic collection is made up of works whose topics encompass all areas of human knowledge: Portuguese and foreign literature, history, religion, politics, philosophy, the sciences and so on, together with reference works like dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

It comprises 16,000 monographs, 60,000 volumes of old books, which include an important collection of 190 incunabula and a collection of rare books with around 500 titles, some of which are unique, and around 9,000 Portuguese and foreign leaflets from the 16th to the 20th centuries. It also has around 11.000 periodicals, with 1,700 titles from Portugal and abroad.
We should also note the books on military and civil architecture, with about 2,500 items by authors like Luís Serrão Pimentel, André Paladio, Vitrúvio, and Georgio Vasari, among others.

Reference works:

• Os Incunábulos nas Bibliotecas Portuguesas: inventário do Património Cultural Móvel / Coordinated by Maria Valentina Sul Mendes