Academic Centre
In 2005 the Library received a unique donation from Professor Alberts Varslavāns (1929-2010), which was a collection of miniature editions.
A large part of the professor’s life was connected to the UL and In 1958 he graduated from the extramural department of the Faculty of History with excellence then, in 1963, started to work in the UL. He delivered lectures to students of the History program and held various positions: Head of the Department (1964-1968); (1984-1994), Dean of the Faculty of History and Philosophy (1974-1984), Prorector of Sciences (1974-1984), corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Latvia.
The collection of small books was a hobby for A. Varslavāns and on each business trip he made he tried to find and bring home, a miniature book of each country. When collecting these books, the main consideration was not their content, but their size.
The biggest value of this donation is its original format. The dimensions of the editions correspond to those respected by miniature edition collectors. The dimensions of the smallest book in the collection is just 40x30 mm. The collection of A. Varslavāns consists of 163 books and represents a broad spectrum of genres and topics.
The donation is held in the Repository of the Library.
