Ex Libris Aby Warburg: Magic and Science

This collection features books covering the subjects of Magic and Science from the personal library of the Hamburg art historian and scholar Aby Warburg (1866-1929). These books formed the basis of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg, which was officially opened in 1926 and emigrated to London in 1933-1934.

As suggested by the name of the Library named after him, Warburg had wide-ranging interests in Kulturwissenschaft, a term difficult to translate, but usually rendered as ‘cultural studies’, understood in its widest, anthropological sense. It is well-illustrated here by his collection on Magic and Science (classmark F). Together with Philosophy (A) and Religion (B, G), it makes up the broader category of ‘Orientation’, which deals with man’s attempts to make sense of his place in the world.