- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Ex-Libris Stamp, circa 1973-2019
Collection Overview
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
This collection comprises correspondence, postcards, and ephemera related to the Collège de 'Pataphysique, collected by Guy Warzawski. The Collège de 'Pataphysique was founded in Paris in 1948 and is dedicated to the furtherment of pataphysics, a parodistic "science of imaginary solutions" invented by French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry. Notable members have included Marcel Duchamp, Raymond Queneau, Boris Vian, Eugène Ionesco, Joan Miró, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Roger Shattuck, the brothers Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx; and the Oulipo group (founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais, and eventually included Georges Perec, Italo Calvino and Marcel Bénabou) began as a subcommittee of the Collège.
Materials in the collection include Warzawski's correspondence with fellow members Paul Gayot, Philippe Cathé, and Thieri Foulc, mostly concerning the subscriptions and various publications of the Collège and also mentioning the Belgian review Temps Mélés. There are also over 250 postcards, many of which contain illustrations published in the Collège's journal, Revue Viris Candela, and ephemera including circulars, announcements, invitations, subscription materials, and Warzawski's ex-libris stamp, which echoes Jarry's Gidouille spiral image (the official insignia of the Collège), along with a crocodile's head.
Collection History
- Archival Appraisal Information:
At the time of aquisition, these materials were separated from a collection of Revue Virus Candela journals and other internal Collège de 'Pataphysique publications that are cataloged as part of the Rare Books collection. No additional materials were separated from the collection during 2022 processing.
- Sponsorship:
Processing of this collection was sponsored by the Delafield fund.
Access & Use
- Access Restrictions:
This collection is open for research use.
- Conditions for Reproduction and Use:
Single copies may be made for research purposes. No further duplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to Special Collections Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Researchers should take care when handling the stamp around other materials as there is still some ink residue on it.
- Credit this material:
Ex-Libris Stamp; Guy Warszawski Correspondence, Postcards, and Ephemera Related to the Collège de 'Pataphysique, C1714, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box L-000033
Find More
- Names:
- Collège de 'pataphysique
