A collection containing 2000 lithography and 100 manuscript books was transferred to Iran from The Netherlands

Tehran, 31 May 2006 (CHN) -- A collection of ancient books including 2000 lithography books and 100 manuscripts brought from private collection owners has been transferred to Iran from the Netherlands after four months of negotiations between the experts of Iran’s National Library and the owners of the collection. Categorizing this collection has been started by experts of the National Library, where the books will be kept in.

“Three Iranian collection owners residing abroad collected numerous precious manuscripts from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Central Asia for 12 years and since one of these three people leaves in the Netherlands, the entire collection was sent to him by the other two to be kept in a single place. Last year they proposed to Iran’s National Library to submit this collection to this center so that it may be kept inside Iran,” said Habibollah Azimi, director of handwritten and rare manuscripts of National Library of Iran.

According to Azimi, by the effort made by Iran’s National Library after a few months’ negations with the owners of the collection, the books were bought by the National Library for some 100,000 US dollars. “The suggested price made by the owners of the collection was five times more than this; however, due to the nationalistic feelings of the owners of the collection, they agreed to sell them for a lower price so that they may be kept in their home country,” explained Azimi

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