Foreign publications department holds 15,000 books and above 37,000 journals in all European languages on history and theory of music, musical theatre, aesthetics, philosophy, sociology of music, some books of fiction.

The most valuable part of the collection is made of books (the 15th-18th centuries) with more than 2,000 volumes. Worthy of attention are such earliest-printed books (incunabula) of the 15th century as Hugo Spechtshart's "Flores musicae" published in Strasbourg in 1488, collected works by Boetius (1492) and others. The 16th century is represented by such books (to mention but a few) as the first edition of "Il Ballarino" by M.F.Caroso, works by G.Zarlino (1588). The 17th century is featured by G.A.Bontempi's "Historia musica" (1695), M.Mersenne's "Harmonie universelle" (1636-1637), "Musicae compendium" by R.Descartes (1656), "Traite de la Viole" by Jean Rousseau (1637), "Reise Beschreibungen Bestehend in der nach Musskau und Persien" by A.Olearius, a collection of opera librettos. There are also some books of fiction 16th-20th centuries, e.g. "The Divine Comedy" by Dante (about 1525).

Musical references include: Brossard's musical dictionary (1701), encyclopedias by Thompson, Lavignac, "Music in Geschichte und Gegenwart", musical dictionaries by Grove, Riemann, Abert, Eitner and others.

All musical periodicals dating back to the late 18th century are kept in a journals section of the collection.

The department keeps catalogues and card indexes: alphabetic, systematic, subject, personalities.

Research work is continuously made to come up with a scientific description of the rare book collection of the 16-17th centuries.