This article analyzes the rare book collection of the P.A. Cherkasov Fundamental Library at Cherkas Global University and considers it as an independent object of library science and source-critical research. The study focuses on the formation, structure, and composition of the rare collection, which includes editions published between 1455 and 1836, i.e., from the beginning of European printing to the first third of the nineteenth century. It is shown that the chronological boundaries of the collection are determined both by the history of print culture and by the requirements of scholarly classification of book collections.
