Robbins Library Notes

Over the course of its over one hundred years of existence, Robbins Library has acquired several special collections. One of the more interesting of these collections contains approximately two hundred volumes of primary and secondary sources by and about Søren Kierkegaard.

In addition to works by and about Kierkegaard, this collection also includes several works by people connected with him. From Rasmus Nielsen, for example, we have, e.g., Religionsphilosophie (1869) and Mag. S. Kierkegaards „Johannes Climacus” og Dr H. Martensens „Christelige Dogmatik”: En undersøgende Unmeldese (1849). From H.L. Martensen, for another, we have an English translation of his Christelige Dogmatik (Christian Dogmatics, 1871).

In general, the collection is comprised mainly of books, but there are also several photocopies of articles by Harald Höffding, a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher and scholar of Kierkegaard. Overall, the items range in date from the 1840s to the 1960s. The primary works include the complete published writings of Kierkegaard, along with his Journals and Papers, in Danish. Additionally, there are various German, Spanish, and English* translations of a number of his individual works. The secondary literature is in Danish, German, French, and English. It is our understanding, after consulting with those versed in the literature on Kierkegaard, that this part of the collection contains a number of important secondary works, some of which influenced the young Martin Heidegger in his own studies of Kierkegaard.

All of the materials in the Kierkegaard collection have been cataloged and can be found via HOLLIS at http://discovery.lib.harvard.edu. These items will have the notation “Kierk” before the call number.

If you are interested in looking at the Kierkegaard materials, please contact me at pannone [at] fas [d0t] harvard [d0t] edu, to set up an appointment.

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*The English translations are mostly, but not entirely, those of Walter Lowrie.