Library of the DWMC

The Centre’s library – a part of the Institute of Philosophy’s impressive library – contains one of the richest collections in Europe of journals and research monographs on ancient and medieval philosophy; the library’s holdings also include a large number of microfilms and medieval manuscripts. The resources and the reputation of our library, as well as of other libraries in Leuven (e.g., theology and classics), attract many visiting scholars, who choose to spend longer and shorter periods working in Leuven.

The collection of the De Wulf–Mansion Centre

The shelf codes always start with a capital followed by a lower case letter. The capital indicates the main category, the lower case letter indicates a further subdivision.

Overview of the 12 main categories:

• A–B Reference works
• C Antiquity
• D Arabic and (Medieval) Jewish philosophy
• E Middle Ages – General
• E Middle Ages – Authors
• G Large size (editions of Ancient and Medieval authors)
• H Patristics and Gnosticism
• H Patristics - Authors
• J Byzantine Philosophy
• K Renaissance Philosophy – General
• K Renaissance Philosophy – Authors
• Series

For the most important authors (Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Seneca, Cicero, ...), there are different shelf numbers for the primary and secondary literature. For other authors, for whom the primary and secondary literature is less extensive, the same shelf number is used for the primary and the secondary literature. The primary literature is numbered consecutively from 1 to 49, after a dot behind the main number. The secondary literature has a number from 50 onwards, after a dot behind the main number. This system is used for the Arabic, Jewish and medieval authors, except for Thomas Aquinas, for whom the system is more elaborate.

Some examples: