José María Lafragua Historical Library, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla

The "José María Lafragua" Historical Library, assigned to the Academic Vice Chancellor of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) —higher education public institution— is in charge of the custody of an important collection of books, documents, newspapers and other heritage objects of cultural value compiled over a long period of more than four centuries. This library has been substantially linked to the work of educational institutions since the 16th-century when the Jesuit Company founded in 1587 the College of the Holy Spirit, and it ends with the actual university known as Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. The bibliographic collection at the Lafragua’s library reaches 90’000 volumes approximately; it is composed of more than 55,000 printed books of the 15th to the 18th-centuries, with 17 incunabula and European editions on various topics; "princeps" editions, monumental book of great beauty and testimonial importance, etc. The collection also includes a large number of remarkable books of the 19th-century as well as eight Mexican printed books from the 16th century, such as the ‘Opera Medicinalia’, the first medical book printed in America and the only complete copy which has survived up-to-date.