Here you will find a selection of the museum's old and rare Greek and foreign books which have been preserved and studied, both in terms of their content and their technical and aesthetic aspects: the manuscript poetry collection in Farsi of the 18th century, the Qur’an, which is estimated before 1800, international and Cretan publications and newspapers covering historical events, stamps, etc.
There are also two volumes-atlases dating from 1887, by the Russian philhellene Petrov, namely the “Atlas of the Great Island of Crete” and the “Atlas of the holy struggle of the Greeks for Independence (1821-1828)”.
The “Decrees” by Gregory IX, printed in Lyon, France, in the 16th century, which was donated by the Dutch collaborator and former typographer Cornelius Schenk, is also on display, together with a 17th century publication by Giovanni Battista Giraldi, that was believed to have been Shakespeare’s inspiration for his plays “Othello” and “Measure for Measure”, donated by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania.
