Redrawing and publishing the graphics in Wittgenstein’s Nachlass

Abstract In 2022 – 2024, on the initiative of the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen, a project was undertaken to digitally remake all the drawings in the Nachlass . The objective was to “normalise” them in a way similar to that in which text is normalised when transcribing and editing a manuscript for publication. Thanks to a cooperation between the directors of the WAB and two graphic artists, with further input from many experts, the approximately 1000 drawings were copied from facsimiles of Wittgenstein’s manuscripts and typescripts as high-quality vector images. Before and during this process, discussions were had about technical choices as well as the philosophical role of individual items, the interpretation of which affected the way they were redrawn. The resulting visuals were embedded in the WAB’s transcriptions of the Nachlass ; moreover, a dedicated Wittgenstein Nachlass Graphics website was built to make the new, freely-licenced drawings available to browse, download and search by taxonomical tags. This paper aims to give an account of the project’s history and editorial approach and to provide technical guidance on how to use the graphic files and the website through which they are made available.