{{other uses}} {{refimprove|date=April 2016}} [[File:Opera Omnia.jpg|thumb|Title page from a 1739 volume of the ''Opera Omnia'' of Bernardino Ramazzini]] The '''complete works''' of an artist, writer, musician, group, etc., is a collection of all of their cultural works. For example, ''Complete Works of Shakespeare'' is an edition containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. A ''Complete Works'' published edition of a text corpus is normally accompanied with additional information and critical apparatus. It may include notes, introduction, a biographical sketch, and may pay attention to textual variants.
Similarly, the term '''body of work''' may be used to describe the entirety of the creative or academic output produced by a particular individual or unit.
==Terminology== Complete works may be titled by a single word, "Works".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Using Uniform Titles: Collective Titles |url=http://www.unl.edu/libr/libs/music/tutorial/07.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528044348/http://www.unl.edu/libr/libs/music/tutorial/07.shtml |archive-date=2010-05-28 |website= University of Nebraska–Lincoln Comprehensive Research Library}}</ref> "Collected works" is often treated as a synonym. A distinction began to be seen clearly in the second half of the 18th century.<ref name="new perspectives">{{cite book |last1=Braber |first1=Dr H. van den |last2=Delft |first2=Dr M. van |last3=Dijk |first3=Dr N. van |last4=Glas |first4=Dr F. de |last5=Keblusek |first5=Dr M. |title=New Perspectives in Book History: Contributions from the Low Country |date=2006 |publisher=Uitgeversmaatschappij Walburg Pers |isbn=9789057304316 |pages=67–68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-JGAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |language=en}}</ref>
The Latin language equivalent ''Opera Omnia'' is still used in English, for example, to refer to the works of Galen or Leonhard Euler.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Galen|first1=Claudius|title=Opera Omnia|date=1828|publisher=Carl Cnobloch|location=Leipzig|url=https://archive.org/details/operaomnia00assmgoog}}</ref><ref name="series ii done"/> German usage distinguishes :de:Gesamtwerk as a complete corpus, :de:Gesamtausgabe for a published edition of the works, and ''Gesammelte Werke'' or collected works that may be selective in some way. A contrasting term is "selected works", which is a collection of works chosen according to some criterion, e.g., by prominence, or as a representative selection.
==Examples== *The first literary author to have "complete works" published, in the modern sense, has been identified as Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero, in 1637/8.<ref name="new perspectives"/> *The first critical complete edition of a musical composer's works has been identified as ''Joh. Seb. Bach's Werke'' (of Johann Sebastian Bach) published 1851 to 1926 by the Bach Gesellschaft at Leipzig, in 46 volumes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Apel |first1=Willi |author-link1=Willi Apel |title=The Harvard Dictionary of Music |date=2003 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674011632 |page=281 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02rFSecPhEsC&pg=PA281 |language=en}}</ref> *The ''Opera Omnia Leonhard Euler'', a compilation of the works of the mathematician Leonhard Euler, began publication in 1911 and volumes were still being compiled for publication {{As of |2022|lc=y}}.<ref name="series ii done">{{cite web |title=The works |url=https://bernoulli-euler-gesellschaft.ch/en/opera_omnia |website=Bernoulli-Euler Society |access-date=11 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911182123/https://bernoulli-euler-gesellschaft.ch/en/opera_omnia |archive-date=11 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunham |first1=William |author-link1=William Dunham (mathematician) |title=Euler: The Master of Us All |date=1999 |publisher=Mathematical Association of America |isbn=9780883853283 |page=175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7p4tCPPuXoC&pg=PA175 |language=en}}</ref> *The Iwanami Shoten complete works of Natsume Sōseki, new edition, set up a Japanese model for complete works of other authors.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buckley |first1=Sandra |title=The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture |date=2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780415481526 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wtkm3O3nWXkC&pg=PA223 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} {{works series}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Complete Works}} Category:Publications Category:Authority Category:Works based on multiple works Category:Complete works {{lit-stub}}