Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) is said to be the last polymath. This is reflected by his diverse and mostly unpublished work. Until today, there is no complete edition which forced researchers to rely on deficient partial editions from the 19th century. The project aims at a complete edition of G. W. Leibniz’ writings and of his letters. The handwritten literary remains are to a large extend stored at the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz library in Hannover. It contains approx. 100,000 sheets, including approx. 20,000 letters (including all letters from Leibniz to approx. 1,300 correspondents).

Around half of this corpus was printed in the academy edition so far. The extent of the historical-critical complete edition, which is structured in eight series, is estimated at 130 volumes and partial volumes. The Leibniz-Archive in Hannover publishes the series I (general, political and historical correspondence), III (mathematical, scientific and technical correspondence), and VII (mathematical writings). The series II (philosophical correspondence) and VI (philosophical writings) are published by the Leibniz-Research Centre in Münster. The Leibniz-Editorial Centre Potsdam publishes the series IV (political writings) and V (historical writings). The series VIII (scientific, medical and technical writings) is published by the Leibniz-Editorial Centre in Berlin.

Additional to the printed version, the edition volumes are accessible via Open Access. Furthermore, on the web pages of the research institutions and on the joint homepage (www.leibnizedition.de), provisional editions and transcriptions as well as some useful digital tools and research results are available, for example the working catalogue (“Ritterkatalog”), the persons and correspondence database (Leibniz-Connection), accumulated register data, and the Briefportal Leibniz (web portal for letters).

Persons

  • Prof. Dr. Eberhard Knobloch (Project Leader)
  • Prof. Dr. Michael Kempe (Office Site Leader)
  • PD Dr. Harald Siebert (Office Site Leader)
  • Prof. Dr. Wenchao Li (Office Site Leader)
  • Dr. Malte-Ludolf Babin (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Dimitri Bayuk
  • Dr. Friedrich Beiderbeck (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Nora Gädeke (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Stefan Luckscheiter (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Uwe Mayer (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Monika Meier (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Siegmund Probst (Research Associate)
  • Dr. des. Katja Reetz (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Paolo Rubini (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Sebastian W. Stork (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Regina Stuber (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Achim Trunk (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Charlotte Wahl (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Stephan Waldhoff (Research Associate)
  • Renate Essi (Official in Charge)
  • Isolde Hein M. A. (Official in Charge)
  • Manuela Mirasch-Müller (Official in Charge)
  • Prof. Dr. Thomas Leinkauf (Research Associate)
  • Prof. Dr. Stephan Meier-Oeser (Research Associate)
  • Gerhard Biller M.A. (Research Associate)
  • Stefan Jenschke (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Herma Kliege-Biller (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Stefan Lorenz (Research Associate)
  • Lucia Oliveri (Research Associate)
  • Prof. Dr. Heinrich Schepers (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Henrik Wels (Research Associate)
  • Jörg Dieckhoff
  • Manon Dutz
  • Angelika Rüter (Research Associate)

Contact

Prof. Dr. Wenchao Li
📧 li[at]bbaw.de
Acronym
LEd
Running time
2001-2055
Project type
Edition

Contact person for the academies' programme

Sebastian Zwies M.A.

Geschäftsstelle Mainz
Union der deutschen Akademien der Wissenschaften
Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 2
55131 Mainz

Tel: 06131/218 528-17
E-Mail: sebastian.zwies@akademienunion.de