Emm. Kriaras’ Library

Emm. Kriaras’ library numbers 7.094 titles and consists of 11.503 volumes. It was located in two of his properties in Thessaloniki, his home, on the second floor of an apartment building at 1, Aggelaki Str., and a fifth-floor apartment at 9, Kamvounion Str., which Emm. Kriaras used mainly as storeroom. The books kept in his home were set in various rooms of the apartment: in a bookcase behind his desk, where he apparently kept those books which he most often used, in smaller bookcases in the study-adjacent living-room, and in bookcases in other rooms of the apartment. The books had not been catalogued. In his apartment in Kamvounion Str., Emm. Kriaras kept various books (mostly, books of a non philological-linguistic nature) as well as unsold copies of books his wife, Aikaterini Striftou-Kriara, had written.

It was Kriaras’ expressed wish, orally communicated when he was drawing up his will, that his books be accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Given the large number of books, their diverse content, which is not strictly philological-linguistic but of wider scientific interest, and taking into account the fact that many of these books were already available at the Institute’s Library, which is a non-lending Library, the Institute’s Board of Directors decided to classify the books in three categories: (a) books of philological-linguistic interest which the Institute’s Library lacked remained at the Institute, were indexed as ‘ÂÉÂËÉÏÈÇÊÇ ÅÌÌ. ÊÑÉÁÑÁ’ and are now located at the Institute’s offices on the 4th floor of the New Building of the School of Philosophy (Room 418) of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1.579 titles, 1.766 volumes), (b) books which either the Institute’s Library was already in possession of or were of broader scientific interest but not available at the Central Library of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki were donated to it, where they were indexed as ‘[ÊÅÍÔÑÉÊÇ ÂÉÂËÉÏÈÇÊÇ Á.Ð.È.] ÂÉÂËÉÏÈÇÊÇ ÅÌÌ. ÊÑÉÁÑÁ – ÄÙÑÅÁ ÉÍÓÔÉÔÏÕÔÏÕ ÍÅÏÅËËÇÍÉÊÙÍ ÓÐÏÕÄÙÍ’ and were incorporated into its collection (4.579 titles, 7,806 volumes), (c) books which were already available at the Central Library of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki were donated to the National Library, where they were indexed as ‘ÅÈÍÉÊÇ ÂÉÂËÉÏÈÇÊÇ – ÄÙÑÅÁ ÉÍÓÔÉÔÏÕÔÏÕ ÍÅÏÅËËÇÍÉÊÙÍ ÓÐÏÕÄÙÍ’ and will be displayed in a special section, the ‘Emm. Kriaras Library’ (936 titles, 1,931 volumes). To the above 1,045 unsold copies of three books written by Emm. Kriaras’ wife, Aikaterini Striftou-Kriara, should also be added, which will be donated to libraries and other interested parties. The Institute’s Board of Directors believes that, in this manner, the donator’s wish is best fulfilled.