The Hellenic Library accumulates books mainly relating to the publishing and printing history of the Greeks from the first days of printing in the 15th century to the mid-20th century. The collection contains more than 4,500 titles, among them incunables and early printed books, examples of early book typography, liturgical books from the 16th century, and rare publications from printing houses with short-lived activity. The collection preserves literary texts, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and various philological, historical, archaeological, educational, and encyclopedic interest studies from the early Renaissance to the late Enlightenment period. Furthermore, the collection contains newer editions from the 19th and 20th centuries, where one can explore aspects of modern Greek literature and history, from the post-independence period to the era of Axis occupation and the Civil War. In order to determine the wider subject area to which each book belongs, the titles of the Hellenic Library are classified into subject categories.
Among the treasures of the Hellenic Library are significant works of history and culture, such as the first editions of the Homeric epics (“Iliad” and “Odyssey”), the “Nuremberg Chronicle” printed in 1493, the first edition of the “Etymologicum Magnum” by Zacharias Kalliergis, one of the most important dictionaries of the Greek language published in 1499 by a Greek printing house in Venice, microform editions (pocketbooks) of Aldus Manutius from the 15th and 16th centuries, the original French “Encyclopédie” co-edited by Dennis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alambert, one of the few copies of “Hellenic Nomarchy,” the most radical book before the 1821 Greek War of Independence, etc.
The Travel Accounts Book Collection consists of some 3,000 volumes written by various Western European travelers, describing the Mediterranean and South-Eastern Europe from the 16th to the 20th centuries. These written testimonies encompass a valuable treasure of knowledge in scientific fields, such as folklore, archaeology, sociology, and geography. Among the rich bibliographic material of the Travel Accounts books, notable works include Strabo’s “Geographica,” which is one of the first-ever world geographical atlases; the renowned work “Οικουμένης περιήγησις” (i.e., Description of the then-known world) by Dionysius Periegetes (aka Dionysius of Alexandria), a meticulous geographical treatise that was very popular in antiquity and served as an educational textbook; and the “Description of Egypt” («Description de l’Égypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’armée française, publié par les ordres de Sa Majesté l’Empereur Napoléon le Grand») with detailed descriptions of the architecture, geography, history, art, and other aspects of Egypt. The collection also hosts multi-volume works by well-known European travelers such as Edward D. Clarke, Richard Pococke, François Pouqueville, Edward Dodwell, George Wheler, and Vincenzo Maria Coronelli.
Aristotle Onassis’ Personal Library consists of 1,300 volumes, which adorned his private study in Monte Carlo, covering a wide range of subjects, from shipping and business to history and literature. A large part of Onassis’ Personal Library comprises historical and maritime studies, encyclopedias, dictionaries, Greek and European literature, travel accounts, and books on painting and architecture. This collection mainly includes editions from the 19th and 20th centuries, many of them with handwritten dedications to Aristotle Onassis and his family members from notable political and intellectual figures of the time.
The Historical & Literary Archive consists of some 500 archival items (manuscripts, printed, and typewritten documents) of important Greek political, military, and intellectual personalities. It mainly covers the period from the early 19th to the last decades of the 20th century. The handwritten documents in the Archive include letters, military reports and accounts, diaries, literary and philological texts, and manuscripts of poems from significant figures in the political, military, and intellectual spheres of Greece, such as Georgios Karaiskakis, Theodoros Kolokotronis, Alexandros Mavrokordatos, Kostis Palamas, Giorgos Seferis, and others. The printed materials category consists of various single-page, two-page, and pamphlet publications, as well as newspaper sheets, with announcements, proclamations, political, military texts, and literary texts, primarily from the pre-Independence period, the early years of the newly established Greek state, and the period of the Axis occupation in Greece.
The Cavafy Archive, consisting of more than 2,000 items, includes manuscripts of his poems, hand-compiled self-published printed editions, prose literary texts, personal items, essays, and studies on his work, as well as notes by the eminent Alexandrian poet. The Onassis Foundation proceeded with the digitization and complete documentation of the poet’s archive in 2019, as well as his library in 2024, with the aim of their free dissemination to the public. The poet’s archive, the Cavafy library, and the collection of his personal objects and works of art with reference to the poet are permanently housed in a specially designed space of the Cavafy Archive at 16 Frynichou Street in Plaka.
The Onassis Archive comprises more than 1,500,000 items and covers the entire period of Aristotle Onassis’ entrepreneurial activity (1924–1975), as well as the Foundation’s operations from 1975 to 2009. As part of a research project that the Onassis Foundation commissioned to the Centre of Maritime History at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies/Foundation for Research and Technology―Hellas (2017–2021), the flagship publication on the business history of Aristotle Onassis, titled “Onassis Business History, 1924–1975,” was created in 2023. The research and enrichment of the Onassis Archive continues.