In academia, a Festschrift (/ˈfɛstˌʃrɪft/; plural, Festschriften, /ˈfɛstˌʃrɪf.tən/) is a book honouring a respected academic. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication. Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ... Look up Plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ...

A Festschrift contains original contributions by the so-honoured academic's close colleagues, often including their former doctoral students. It is typically published on the occasion of the honoree's retirement, sixty-fifth birthday, or other notable anniversary in his or her career. A Festschrift can be anything from a slim volume to a work in several volumes. The essays usually relate to in some way, or reflect upon, the honoree's contributions to his or her scholarly field, but can often include important original research by the individual authors. Many Festschriften also feature a tabula gratulatoria, an extended list of academic colleagues and friends who send their best wishes to the honoree.

In the case of very prominent academics, several Festschriften might be prepared by various groups of students and colleagues, particularly if the scholar made significant contributions to several different fields. In Germany it is an honor to be designated to prepare such a collection, and being selected by a prominent academic to edit a Festschrift can symbolize the proverbial passing of the torch.

Since no English designation for such a book has been established, the German word Festschrift is widely used internationally. However, Festschriften are often titled something like Essays in honour of... or Essays presented to...

Academics who had a notable Festschrift

• B. T. S. Atkins
• Greg L. Bahnsen
• Jacques Barzun
• Jagdish Bhagwati
• Philip J. Currie — Mesozoic Vertebrate Life: New Research Inspired by the Paleontology of Philip J. Currie, — Darren H. Tanke and Keneth Carpenter, ed., Indiana University Press
• Gordon Clark
• Richard Dawkins — How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think
• Hubert Dreyfus
• Sigmund Freud
• Sir Raymond Firth — Three Festschriften in his honour
• Helen Gardner
• Joseph Goguen
• Raul Hilberg
• Richard Hofstadter
• Stephen Kleene
• Meredith G. Kline — Creator Redeemer Consummator: A Festschrift for Meredith G. Kline
• James D. McCawley
• Thomas Schaub Noonan
• John C. Reynolds — Festschrift for John C. Reynolds’s 70th birthday [1]
• Walt Rostow
• R.J. Rushdoony — A Comprehensive Faith
• Carl Sagan
• AJP Taylor
• Cornelius Van Til
• Gerhard Weinberg
• Charles Williams

Beryl T. (Sue) Atkins has been a professional lexicographer since 1966, first with Collins Publishers (now HarperCollins), where she was General Editor of the first modern English-French dictionary, the Collins-Robert English-French Dictionary, then as Lexicographic Adviser to Oxford University Press, where she pioneered methodology for the creation... Greg L. Bahnsen (September 17, 1948 – December 11, 1995) was an influential Christian philosopher, apologist, and debater. ... Jacques Martin Barzun (born November 30, 1907 - 2005) continues to be a leading voice in the fields of literature, education, and cultural history. ... Jagdish Bhagwati (born 1934) is a prominent economist noted for his defense of free trade against the critics of globalization. ... Phil Currie, formerly the head of Dinosaur Research at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta is now a researcher and prominent palaeontologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. ... Gordon Haddon Clark (August 31, 1902-April 9, 1985) was an American philosopher and Calvinist theologian. ... Clinton Richard Dawkins (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. ... Hubert Dreyfus (born 1929) is a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. ... Sigmund Freud (born Sigismund Schlomo Freud) May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939; (IPA: ) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Sir Raymond William Firth (born March 25, 1901 in Auckland; died February 22, 2002 in London) was an ethnologist from New Zealand. ... Helen Gardner (1909-1986) was an English literary critic. ... {vfd} Joseph Goguen - an independent thinker. ... Dr. Raul Hilberg Raul Hilberg (born June 2, 1926) is one of the best-known and most distinguished of the Holocaust historians. ... Richard Hofstadter (August 6, 1916 - October 24, 1970) was an American historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. ... Stephen Cole Kleene (January 5, 1909 - January 25, 1994) was an American mathematician whose work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison helped lay the foundations for theoretical computer science. ... Meredith G. Kline is an American theologian and Old Testament scholar. ... James D. McCawley (born March 30, 1938; died April 10, 1999) was an American linguist. ... Thomas Schaub Noonan (20 January 1938 – 15 June 2001) was an American historian, Slavicist and anthropologist who specialized in early Russian history and Eurasian nomad cultures. ... John C. Reynolds is a American computer scientist (born June 1, 1935). ... Walt Whitman Rostow (also known as Walt Rostow or W.W. Rostow) (October 7, 1916 - February 13, 2003) was an American economist and political thinker prominent for his staunch opposition to Communism and belief in the efficacy of capitalism and free enterprise. ... Rousas John Rushdoony (1916–2001) was the major intellectual figure of the Christian Reconstructionist theology in the United States. ... Insert non-formatted text here Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer and astrobiologist and a highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. ... A. J. P. Taylor (March 25, 1906 - September 7, 1990) (full name Alan John Percivale Taylor) was a renowned British historian of the 20th century. ... Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 4, 1895 - April 17, 1987), born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist. ... Gerhard L. Weinberg, January 2003 Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg (born January 1, 1928) is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of World War Two. ... There have been a number of notable people named Charles Williams: Sir Charles Hanbury Williams (1708–1759), a British Member of Parliament and satirist. ...

Webfestschrift

Increasingly, Festschriften are being compiled and published by electronic means. An electronic Festschrift is often called a Webfestschrift (pronounced either /vɛb-/ or /wɛb-/). Although there are many valuable collections published online, the first public use of this term corresponds to B.I Marshak's Webfestschrift, Eran ud Aneran, published online on October 2003.