dexemplaires

Dexemplaires is a term used in archival, bibliographic, and digital humanities discussions to denote a grouping of exemplars that are connected by origin or function and treated as a distinct category within a collection. The term is not widely standardized; it tends to appear in specialized texts or as a neologism.

Etymology: The word appears to be a coinage built from exemplaire, meaning a copy or specimen, with a de- prefix or prepositional element signaling relation or subdivision. Because it is not part of formal standards, its precise meaning is defined by context.

Definitions and usage: In library science and digital humanities, dexemplaires may refer to a curated subset of copies that share a common origin—such as all editions derived from a master manuscript—or to sets of digital clones created from a single master file. Alternatively, dexemplaires may denote a class of copies selected for particular criteria, such as provenance, condition, or digitization status.

Examples: A library catalog might present dexemplaires for a work that include the first edition, later reprints, a translation, and a digital surrogate, all grouped under the same dexemplaire set. In a digital repository, dexemplaires could be the multiple renderings (PDF, EPUB, XML) produced from the same source file.

See also: Exemplaire, Edition, Provenance, Copy.