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Among them are elaborate atlases, travel accounts and other works of a geographical nature which were apparently collected with great fervour by several ecclesiatical institutions in Metz, as well as works on history, secular literature, natural history and medicine.

This general collection would not be complete without the works of regional (Lotharingica) or local (Mettensia) interest. Sources for the history of Metz and, naturally, of Lorraine are to be found here in ample quantities, both in printed and in manuscript form. This is largely due to the “nouveau fonds” (new collection), also known as the “fonds de l’hotel de ville” (town hall collection), where chronicles and other handwritten documents on the history of the town are kept. In addition, the library has set its sights on assembling a collection of the typographic products of Metz from the end of the 15th century (the first book printed in Metz, the Ammoniciones ad spiritualem vitam utiles, the beginning of the Imitatio Iesu Christi, dates to the year 1482) to the present.