A very prominent collection in the DRL is the Ragusina collection, which currently (2021) holds over 14.000 titles of books printed from the early 16th century onwards, 380 titles of local periodicals, as well as collections of audio-visual and electronic materials, posters and ephemera. Ragusina collects library materials from the area of the former Dubrovnik Republic (including the island of Korčula). When the collection was first formed in the 1950s, many books from the then accumulated donations and legates which had belonged to collections Collegium Ragusinum or Antiqua, were moved to Ragusina as their authors or content were of local origin.
The collection constantly increases in size by acquiring relevant new titles, along with frequent purchases of old and rare books by Ragusan authors or related to Dubrovnik. The oldest book in Ragusina was for many years a work by Jakov Bunić (Iacobi Boni Racusaei “De vita et gestis Christi “..., Romae, 1526.), until a recent purchase of “Epistola Michaelis Bocignoli Ragusei ad Gerardu<m> Plania<m>” ... printed most likely in Rome in 1524.
The most valuable part of the collection are 24 16th-century books, among which are four titles from the renowned Aldo Manuzio’s printing shop in Venice: Governo della famiglia, 1589.; Discorsi della penitenza..., 1589.; Dello stato delle republiche secondo la mente di Aristotele ..., 1591, all by Nikola Gučetić, and Rime amorose, e pastorali, et satire, 1589., by Sabo B. Mišetić.
Other rarities include the first edition of Serafino Razzi’s La storia di Raugia, printed in Lucca in 1595, an astronomical work by N. Nalješković Dialogo sopra la sfera del mondo, In Venetia, 1579, and a book on navigation by Nikola Sagroević, one of Croatian most significant nautical experts: Ragionamenti sopra la varieta' dei flussi et riflussi del mare Oceano Occidentale, In Venetia, 1574.
Among 17th-century books the most prominent are books by Marin Getaldić Non nullae propositiones de parabola, Romae, 1603, and De resolutione et Compositione Mathematica, libri quinque, Romae, 1630, ; Mavra Orbini’s Il Regno degli Slavi, Pesaro, 1601, Bartol Kašić’s Zarcalo navkka karstyanskoga, U Rymu, 1631. Other rare editions are the first and second part (printed in Viennna 1649 and Madrid 1652) of the chronicle of Ottoman emperors entitled Chronica dell'origine, e progressi della casa Ottomanacomposta da Saidinio Turco ecellentissimo Historico inlingua Turca, translated from Turkish into Italian by Vicko Brautović.
A medical textbook Opera omnia medico-practica, et anatomica by Gjuro Baglivi from 1804 stands out among 18th-century books. It is a compendium of Baglivi’s most important medical works which would subsequently be published many times around Europe and have a significant influence on the development of medicine in that period. The book contains the author’s autographed dedication to his guardian.
Ragusina also contains numerous works by Josip Ruđer Bošković, printed during his lifetime in Rome, London, Paris, Vienna. DRL has all of the most significant works by this versatile scientist from all areas of sciences that he practised. There are also works by Croatian Latin poets Ignjat Đurđević, Đuro Ferić, Bernard Zamanja, Rajmund Kunić, Benedikt Stay and others.
The Collection has many editions printed by Dubrovnik printers: Carlo Antonio Occhi (18th century), Andrea Trevisan (18th/19th century) and Petar Franjo Martecchini (19th century).
The Ragusina collection of periodicals keeps over 380 titles of newspapers and magazines who used to be published or are still published in the Dubrovnik area. The oldest newspapers are Rimembranze della settimana and L’Avvenire from 1848. Almost all units of the Ragusina collection can be found in the Online catalogue of the Dubrovnik Research Library and the Croatian Union Library Catalogue CROLIST. Furthermore, many of the older newspapers have been digitized and are available on the ZDUR digital platform.