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Albert the Great (ca. 1200 – 1280) is one of the most important medieval philosophers and theologians, yet his thought remains as a whole relatively understudied. This can be explained by a variety of philosophical and historical reasons, but purely « material » factors are also at play. There is indeed no truly complete edition of his works, and the age and the rarity of the most complete one (Opera omnia, ed. A. Borgnet, Paris, 1890-1899, itself based on Opera omnia, ed. P. Jammy, Lyon, 1651) render it hard to access for many scholars. The new critical edition (sometimes called Editio Coloniensis), begun in 1951 and very competently led by the Albertus-Magnus-Institut of Bonn, offers a much more reliable text but will not be completed before many more decades and its high cost means that not all university libraries — including in North America and in Western Europe — can afford a subscription to it. In addition, the impressive number of Albert’s works, as well as the huge size of many of them, lead one quickly to dream of the day when the critical edition will be completed and made available electronically. (One can also dream, perhaps unrealistically, that the equivalent of the Corpus Thomisticum will one day exist for Albert the Great, thus enabling anyone with access to the internet to consult the best available editions of his works for free.)

Albert the Great (ca. 1200 – 1280) is one of the most important medieval philosophers and theologians, yet his thought remains as a whole relatively understudied. This can be explained by a variety of philosophical and historical reasons, but purely « material » factors are also at play. There is indeed no truly complete edition of his works, and the age and the rarity of the most complete one (Opera omnia, ed. A. Borgnet, Paris, 1890-1899, itself based on Opera omnia, ed. P. Jammy, Lyon, 1651) render it hard to access for many scholars. The new critical edition (sometimes called Editio Coloniensis), begun in 1951 and very competently led by the Albertus-Magnus-Institut of Bonn, offers a much more reliable text but will not be completed before many more decades and its high cost means that not all university libraries — including in North America and in Western Europe — can afford a subscription to it. In addition, the impressive number of Albert’s works, as well as the huge size of many of them, lead one quickly to dream of the day when the critical edition will be completed and made available electronically. (One can also dream, perhaps unrealistically, that the equivalent of the Corpus Thomisticum will one day exist for Albert the Great, thus enabling anyone with access to the internet to consult the best available editions of his works for free.)