Detail of rubble and remains of printed material in water after the fire of the National Library

In the early morning of May 10, 1943, a voracious fire consumed much of the building and the collections of the then National Library of Peru.
Some of the material destroyed by the fire, including manuscripts and books, were sold to paper factories. Another group of affected materials were attempted to be recovered. Some collections survived the catastrophe, including the Paz Soldán archive and the Zegarra collection. In the management of the library, among others, the first five books printed in Lima -incunables- by Antonio Ricardo were preserved.