Welcome to the Bruce Lee Library Research Project. This site is the product of two decades of research into the personal library of Bruce Lee. The site was created for the public as a resource to encourage further study on the books and other media that inspired Lee.

Within this site you will find a record of the books, booklets and pamphlets, magazines, films, audio recordings, and documents known to have been personally owned or studied by the late martial arts icon.

Background

The development of this list began in 2001. The first iteration contained 412 titles and was developed by myself with additional assistance from the late Doug Klinger of Vancouver, Canada and Marcos Ocaña of Madrid, Spain. That version of the list was published in my 2004 book, Bruce Lee: Dynamic Becoming.

The second iteration of this list was an expansion by Marcos Ocaña, whose continued research added 315 more items to the list. The updated list was published in 2015 in the magazine Bruce Lee Mania, volume 8, issue 14. In 2022, I began revisiting the list and added more discoveries. By the end of that year, I had added 695 more – bringing the total to 1,422.

In early 2023, the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle Washington, the permanent repository for Bruce Lee’s personal library, released a list of their own. That list yielded 853 additional titles that were not already included in my list. With those additions, this brings my current list to 2,275 individual items.

Exploring the Archive

This archive can be explored in a variety of ways. You can browse the archive in its entirety, browse by specific format, by exhibit, or via keyword search. Each item in the archive has basic information about the item, such as title, author, and publication year. Most items also have an image of the item itself, while some have multiple images. Where copyright allows, entire copies of the item may be included for review. In addition, some items may have videos describing their importance to Bruce Lee and his development of Jeet Kune Do.

About the Archivist

My name is James Bishop and I am the principal archivist and creator of this site and its contents. This site is part of my ongoing research into the writings and ideas of Bruce Lee. If you have any questions about the site, please feel free to reach out to me on social media: @jamescbishopphd

James Bishop, Ph.D.