RIYADH: There are now 1.3 million books at the King Abdul Aziz Public Library in Riyadh, with 32,500 going back to the beginning of printing in Europe. The list of rare books includes a collection of old European publications, with 78 covering the Prophet's biography and 113 translated into different European languages on the interpretation and meanings of the Holy Qur'an. The library also includes a collection of rare heritage publications including scientific and history references published in Arabic in Europe over the last 10 years of the 16th century, the most significant of which are the “Law Book” authored by Ibn Sina (the Persian physician and philosopher known in the West as Avicenna); the “Secrets of Rhetoric” by Abdul Gadier Al-Jerjani and revised by H. Righter; in addition to 1,560 rare books in English and French. Apart from this, there are more than 8,300 rare Arabic books which have already been classified, indexed and entered into the library's database for researchers and post graduate students. The list includes rare books bought by the library from owners of private and personal libraries such as the American Orientalist George Rants. The library includes a large number of rare manuscripts and documentaries including 3,200 books in foreign languages recording the most important political and historical events in the Kingdom and the Arabian Gulf.
