Wittgensteins Nachlass contents

The Wittgenstein Nachlass collection includes all of Ludwig Wittgenstein's unpublished manuscripts, typescripts, dictations, and most of his notebooks.

On his death in 1951, Ludwig Wittgenstein left behind a philosophical Nachlass of some 20,000 pages. Apart from the Tractatus, these papers were at that point unpublished and largely unknown.

The collection was catalogued by G. H. von Wright in his The Wittgenstein Papers from 1969, and later published as a chapter in his book Wittgenstein from 1982.

In talking of Wittgenstein’s Nachlass one usually means the texts listed in von Wright’s catalogue - in other words, the philosophical papers.

The approximately 20,000 pages are divided into three numbered groups depending on format and not in chronological order:

• numbers 101-182 refer to manuscripts (texts in Wittgenstein’s hand, primarily notebooks and bound volumes);
• numbers 201-245 refer to typescripts (usually dictated by Wittgenstein directly from his manuscripts);
• numbers 301-311 refer to dictations (to friends and students, e.g. in connection with lectures and seminars).

In the introduction to Wittgensteins Nachlass you can read about the history of the catalogue, the structure and numbering system.