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Klibansky’s library
Klibansky said of libraries that they “are one of our deepest links with the past. Without our past we would not be what we are, and certainly we would not know what we are” (Tougas, 2002). His own library is such a link, at a cultural level but also to his particular intellectual biography.
Library donated to McGill University
Klibansky’s library was donated to McGill University, Montreal, in 2005, and has been catalogued and preserved there as the Raymond Klibansky Collection at McGill Library Rare Books and Special Collections.
The collection consists of some 7000 printed books dating from the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries, principally in philosophy, religion, literature and history, as well a small number of manuscripts, a collection of offprints, and some papers (the principal group of Klibansky’s papers are held at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach).
Frontispieces and preliminaries from Jakob Böhme’s Theosophia Revelata, Das Ist, Alle Göttliche Schriften Des … Jacob Böhmens (10 vols.) Netherlands, [s.l.], 1730. RKC BV5080 B7 1730. Raymond Klibansky Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University
Explore the collection
*please note that the site you are currently visiting is not a McGill website. For information about access to the Raymond Klibansky Collection, please contact McGill Library.
VISIT McGILL LIBRARY’s RESOURCES ON THIS COLLECTION:
A research grant is available for study of the collection. Information about the grant, managed by McGill Library, can be viewed on their McGill Library-Raymond Klibansky Research Travel Grant page.
The McGill records for printed books in the Raymond Klibansky Collection are publicly available and can be retrieved from McGill Library Catalogue. (Searching “Raymond Klibansky Collection” as a phrase returns 7,100 results, which can then be further refined by author, subject, etc.)
For manuscripts, archival material and the offprint collection, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections staff. Further description and details of access can also be found on the McGill Library page on Special Collections in the History of Ideas.
A research source for Klibansky’s intellectual biography, the Raymond Klibansky Collection also offers a range of material for the study of book history and the book arts:
Far left: Haec accvrata recognitio trivm voluminvm, opervm clariss. P. Nicolai Cvsae Card. … [Parisiis], 1514. (RKC, folio BX890 N485 1514 )
Left: Donato Al Senno : Con Il Cato Volgarizato : Nouamente Stampato, … Vinegia, 1554. (RKC, PA2082D66 1554)
Centre: Baudelaire, Die Blumen Des Bösen, trans. by Stefan George, Berlin, 1920. (RKC, PQ2191 F6 G4 1920)
Right: Moritz, Karl Philipp. Über Die Bildende Nachahmung Des Schönen, Heidelberg, 1924. (RKC, BH183 M6 1924)
Image credits: Raymond Klibansky Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University, Montreal.
Manuscript and other primary source material also support the study of Klibansky’s work habits, networks, and broader provenance research:
!["Der Philosophische Charakter der Historie" [The Philosophical Character of History]. First page of Klibansky's Antrittsvorlesung, Heidelberg, 1932. McGill University, RBSC, Raymond Klibansky Collection: archival holdings.](https://i0.wp.com/raymondklibansky.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/rk_philcharhist8.jpg?resize=2888%2C4503&ssl=1)
Left: From the original typescript of “Der philosophische Charakter der Historie,” Klibansky’s Antrittsvorlesung, or inaugural lecture as a Privatdozent, presented to the University of Heidelberg in 1932. (RBSC, RKC archival)
Centre: Author inscription from Edgar Wind in Phobos: Untersuchungen Über Die Platonische Kunstphilosophie. [offprint from Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft 26, no. 4.], 1932. (RBSC, RKC offprints)
Right: Inscribed poem from literary critic and friend Friedrich Gundolf, making reference to Klibansky’s research on Nicholas of Cusa. In: Pfizer, Gustav. Der Welsche Und Der Deutsche: Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pabst Pius II) Und Gregor Von Heimburg : Historisch-Poetische Bilder Aus Dem Fünfzehnten Jahrhundert. Stuttgart, 1844. (RKC, PT2445 P57 W4 1844)
Image credits: Raymond Klibansky Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University, Montreal.
Klibansky with librarian Ann Marie Holland at Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill Library, during filming of Raymond Klibansky: From Philosophy to Life, by Anne-Marie Tougas, National Film Board of Canada, 2002. Photo by Marc Gadoury.
Exhibition at BAnQ, Montreal
The Raymond Klibansky Collection formed the basis of the exhibition, Raymond Klibansky, 1905-2005: La bibliothèque d’un philosophe (Nov. 13, 2012 to Aug. 25, 2013) curated by Georges Leroux with the collaboration of McGill Library Rare Books and Special Collections, produced by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), with artistic direction by Alexis Martin. The illustrated catalogue from the exhibition (Leroux, 2013) includes a range of essays about Klibansky and his books:
Alexis Martin, “Le planétarium de Monsieur K.,” p. 19;
Georges Leroux, “Raymond Klibansky (1905-2005). La bibliothèque d’un philosophe, présentation,” p. 21-25;
Georges Leroux, “Raymond Klibansky (1905-2005). Le savant, le juste, le témoin,” p. 27-51;
Jillian Tomm, “La bibliothèque de Raymond Klibansky, une ouverture sur le monde,” p. 53-71;
Ann Marie Holland, “La collection Klibansky et l’histoire du livre. Un regard sur quelques ouvrages,” p. 73-87;
Jens Halfwassen et Georges Leroux, “Raymond Klibansky et la tradition platonicienne,” p. 89-105;
Jean-Philippe Uzel, “Sous le signe de Saturne. Raymond Klibansky et la mélancolie,” p. 107-123;
Josiane Boulad-Ayoub, “Les idéaux de la tolérance moderne,” p. 125- 139;
Désirée Park, “Humanité et tolérance chez Raymond Klibansky. Une anthologie,” p. 141-149;
Ethel Groffier, “De l’amour des livres à l’amour des bibliothèques,” p. 151-162.
Georges Leroux speaks about the library of Raymond Klibansky, on the occasion of the BAnQ exhibition “Raymond Klibansky, 1905-2005: La bibliothèque d’un philosophe” [in French]
For more on the collection, see also:
“La collection Raymond Klibansky conservée à l’Université McGill: Présentation de la bibliothèque d’un humaniste montréalais” (Tomm and Leroux, 2013).
A doctoral study of McGill’s Raymond Klibansky Collection experimented with catalogue data extraction and analysis as a way to map and trace areas of research potential in collections (Tomm, 2013). Lists produced by the study provide an index of sorts to the Raymond Klibansky Collection and its provenance evidence, and are available for researchers; please enquire from the site editor.
Reports from recipients of the Raymond Klibansky Research Travel Grant, available on the McGill Library website.
Blog posts on items and activities related to the Klibansky Collection by students and staff posted to McGill Library blogs: RBSC Blog and The Dark Room.
Please let us know of other relevant studies or events.
Klibansky surrounded by his collection in McLennan Library, McGill University, with Anne-Marie Tougas and Nicole Giguère, director and assistant director of the film Raymond Klibansky – From Philosophy to Life, National Film Board of Canada, 2002