Transcript
Page 1: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 2: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Petition by Adam Pinkhurst rel. to his lands in Surrey and Sussex, c. 1400: The National Archives, SC8/134/6633

Page 3: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 4: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 5: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 6: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 7: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 8: The Digitisation of Chaucer

William Schipper, 'Dry-Point Compilation Notes in the Benedictional of St Æthelwold', British Library Journal, 20 (1994),

17-34

Page 9: The Digitisation of Chaucer

The dry point note ‘In’ illustrated by Schipper is not readily visible in this ‘vanilla’ digitisation of f. 27v of the Benedictional of St Æthelwold. Ideally we need a series of images exploring

different aspects of this folio.

Page 10: The Digitisation of Chaucer

A.S.G. Edwards, ‘Back to the Real’, Times Literary Supplement, 7 June 2013

• Digital surrogates more expensive version of microfilm

• Make it difficult to assess material characteristics• Discourage engagement with originals and

provide excuse for libraries to restrict access• Expensive activity which diverts resources from

more pressing priorities such as training in palaeography and conservation of originals

Page 11: The Digitisation of Chaucer

A.S.G. Edwards, ‘Back to the Real’, Times Literary Supplement, 7 June 2013

“Is it worth it? Do the ends justify the unquantifiable cost of the means? Digitization appears to be proceeding unchecked and unfocused, deflecting students into a virtual world and leaving them unequipped to deal responsibly with real rare materials. I suspect that the combination of poorly prepared students and reductions in library staffing levels will make real manuscripts ever more difficult to access directly”.

Page 12: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Edwards: The Codex Sinaiticus is an interesting test case for apologists of digitization. Last year I was told that the Codex Sinaiticus site got about 10,000 hits a month. That might seem a strong justification for digitization. But it seems doubtful whether even a small fraction of that number have the appropriate training – codicological, linguistic and textual – to approach the work in an informed way. If my audience analysis is even broadly correct, the British Library is investing heavily not in scholarship, but in a new branch of the entertainment industry.

Page 13: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Lost leaves from Codex Sinaiticus found in St Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt in 1976

Page 14: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Text of Mark 1:1 in the British Library portion of the Codex Sinaiticus under standard light, showing corrections including insertion of the phrase ‘Son of God’.

Page 15: The Digitisation of Chaucer

The same section of Mark 1:1 under raking light, with transcription and translation

Page 16: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 17: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Imaging of the Beowulf manuscript using fibre optic backlighting to reveal letters and words concealed by nineteenth-century conservation work:

Page 18: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Two sets of transcripts made for the Danish antiquary Thorkelin, now in the Royal Library Copenhagen, compared with the original manuscript

Page 19: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 20: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 21: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 22: The Digitisation of Chaucer
Page 23: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Micro CT scan of the internal structure of a papyrus roll burnt at Herculaneum. The imaging was undertaken as

part of a project directed by Professor Brent Seales, University of Kentucky

Page 24: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Kathryn Rudy, ' Dirty books : Quantifying patterns of use in medieval manuscripts using a densitometer ' Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art , vol 2 (2010) , no. 1-2 , pp. 1-26

Page 25: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Using the Diamond Light Source to Recover Palimpsest Text

Page 26: The Digitisation of Chaucer

Top Related