Scientific Library named after B.Mamraev

The Rare Books Collection of the Scientific Library of VKU was founded in 1968. Today, it holds approximately 13,000 storage units and is one of the largest historical repositories in Kazakhstan. The collection is replenished through private donations. In addition to rare books, the collection includes memorial collections, journals, newspapers, atlases, and visual materials. The collection contains two 19th-century manuscripts in Russian. The 18th-century Russian books and periodicals collection features publications from the era of Catherine II, lifetime editions of Sumarokov, publications from Novikov’s printing house, and books in foreign languages published in Russia. The 19th-century Russian publications and periodicals collection consists of several thousand volumes. Among them are books and periodicals published before 1825, books with autographs, marginalia, and ex-libris marks. Particularly notable are rare editions of the journal *Mir Bozhiy* (1896–1905); *Otechestvennye Zapiski* (1853–1861); the unique *Drawing Book of Siberia*, compiled by the Tobolsk nobleman Semyon Remezov in 1790; 25 tables from the *First General Census of the Population of the Semipalatinsk Region* (1905); a lifetime edition of Goethe’s *Faust*; as well as illustrated publications featuring artists such as Y. P. Annenkov, A. N. Benois, E. E. Lansere, and M. V. Dobuzhinsky, among many others. Among the early 20th-century publications are *Notes* and *Proceedings* of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society, as well as publications from the Resettlement Administration.