Contents and Arrangement Expanded View
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Collection Overview

Creator:
Derrida, Jacques
Title:
The Library of Jacques Derrida, Studio Series
Repository:
Rare Book Division
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/vq27zr16f
Dates:
1686-2010
Size:
327 boxes, 1 folder, and 6 items
Storage Note:
  • This is stored in multiple locations.
  • Firestone Library (scaex): Boxes B-000107 to B-000109, B-000114, B-000133, B-000136, B-000138, B-000140 to B-000241, B-000243 to B-000244, B-000247 to B-000249, B-000252 to B-000262, B-000265, B-000269 to B-000274, B-000281 to B-000323, B-000368, B-000429, B-000610, B-000613, B-000621 to B-000622, B-000629 to B-000637, P-000019
  • ReCAP (scarcpxr): Boxes 113, 146, 150, 155, 158, 163, 165, 167, 169 to 170, 174, 176, 185, 190 to 191, 193, 195, 197, 200, 202, 205, 208, 211, 232, 239, 244, 246, 248, 250 to 251, 253, 255, 258, 260, 263, 265, 268, 273, 276, 278, 280, 282, 284, 287, 289, 291 to 292, 294, 297, 299, 301, 303, 306, 311, 313, 317, 319, 324, 326, 328, 330, 332, 334, 338, 340 to 341, 343 to 344, 348, 350 to 351, 354, 358, 360 to 361, 363 to 364, 366, 368, 371, 374, 376, 381, 498, 61, 63, 783, 858, 903, 93
Language:
Undetermined

Abstract

Consists of the personal library of French philosopher Jacques Derrida and members of his household.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

The Library of Jacques Derrida comprises the library of the Derrida household, including Jacques Derrida's working library as well as books belonging, jointly or separately, to Jacques and Marguerite Derrida and, to some degree, their two sons, Jean and Pierre. It consists of volumes, serial issues, offprints, clippings, and papers accumulated in the course of Jacques and Marguerite's professional activities as well as books representing the family's far-reaching interests and leisure reading.

The thematic scope of the collection is expansive and polyglot, spanning some twenty languages and topics ranging, among many others, from capital punishment to photography, comparative law to James Joyce, the history of Algeria to animal rights, psychoanalysis to Iceland, mourning to Jewelry factories in Russia, Bushisms, and Asterix.

Jacques Derrida's working library is the result of decades of acquisitions of a scholar who preferred to work from home. Shelfmarks from an inventory conducted in 2011, with the workspace largely untouched in the seven intervening years since Derrida's passing, allow the virtual reconstruction of the contextual placement of works on his Studio shelves. Multiple copies of works, some with different sets of annotations, bear witness to a practice of re-reading as well as obtaining additional copies when those already owned were unavailable. A run of books received as gifts, several thousand items strong and including a number of volumes with uncut pages or still in their original shrinkwrap, offers evidence of Derrida's famous refusal to discard any books. Insertions related by subject offer a fascinating glimpse of an alternate use of the Library as an ad-hoc topical filing system.

The Library includes items added by Marguerite Derrida after Jacques Derrida's death. Also included are individual items bearing owner's marks of or inscriptions to Marguerite Derrida and Marguerite and Jacques Derrida's sons, Pierre and Jean.

Dealer notes regarding annotations employ a numeric scale from 0-3, with "0" denoting the absence of annotations, "1" the presence of some markings (typically underlines or vertical lines marking a phrase), "2" the presence of more substantive markings, and "3" heavy markings and marginalia.

Arrangement

Arrangement is by studio and rest of the house and follows the original placement of items on the shelves, or packing order where original arrangement was no longer discernible.

Collection Creator Biography:

Derrida, Jacques

Jacques Derrida (July 15, 1930 – October 9, 2004) was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. Derrida is best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida)

Collection History

Acquisition:

Acquired 2015.

Processing Information

Processed based on dealer data using a database and XQuery workflow by Regine Heberlein and Donald Thornbury. Data entry and other invaluable assistance provided by Nick Williams '15 and Donald Thermesi.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Credit this material:

The Library of Jacques Derrida, Studio Series; Rare Book Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/vq27zr16f
Location:
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
(609) 258-3184
Storage Note:
  • This is stored in multiple locations.
  • Firestone Library (scaex): Boxes B-000107 to B-000109, B-000114, B-000133, B-000136, B-000138, B-000140 to B-000241, B-000243 to B-000244, B-000247 to B-000249, B-000252 to B-000262, B-000265, B-000269 to B-000274, B-000281 to B-000323, B-000368, B-000429, B-000610, B-000613, B-000621 to B-000622, B-000629 to B-000637, P-000019
  • ReCAP (scarcpxr): Boxes 113, 146, 150, 155, 158, 163, 165, 167, 169 to 170, 174, 176, 185, 190 to 191, 193, 195, 197, 200, 202, 205, 208, 211, 232, 239, 244, 246, 248, 250 to 251, 253, 255, 258, 260, 263, 265, 268, 273, 276, 278, 280, 282, 284, 287, 289, 291 to 292, 294, 297, 299, 301, 303, 306, 311, 313, 317, 319, 324, 326, 328, 330, 332, 334, 338, 340 to 341, 343 to 344, 348, 350 to 351, 354, 358, 360 to 361, 363 to 364, 366, 368, 371, 374, 376, 381, 498, 61, 63, 783, 858, 903, 93

Find More

Related Materials

The bulk of Jacques Derrida's papers, including his student work, documents relating to his teaching, publications, and conference activities, and audio and video recordings are housed at the University of California Irvine as part of the Critical Theory Archive. For the online finding aid to the Jacques Derrida Papers at Irvine, click here.

A duplicate set of the manuscripts housed at Irvine is available under the collection name Fonds Jacques Derrida at the Institut mémoires de l'édition contemporaine. For the online finding aid at IMEC, click here.

Other Finding Aids

Click here to access the full inventory of the House series.

Separated Materials

At the time of acquisition, inserted material had been systematically removed from a subset of volumes and placed in a number of subject-based boxes and envelopes. Notes received by PUL from the dealer reflect this and are quoted in this finding aid in the interest of making the history of the collection's custodial interventions fully transparent.

All separated insertions received by PUL were re-inserted upon receipt of the collection in an effort to preserve archival context and service the collection as close as possible to its working state.

A small number of separated insertions were not received by PUL and are so identified in the finding aid.

Subject Terms:
Alferi, Pierre
Deconstruction
Derrida, Jacques -- Library
Derrida, Jean
Derrida, Marguerite -- Library
Philosophers -- France -- 20th century
Philosophy, French -- 20th century -- Sources
Philosophy, Modern -- 20th century
Genre Terms:
Private libraries