New Libraries on the DMMapp!
It’s spring, the sun is shining, and the DMMapp has more links than ever thanks to the following additions:
2017¶
IIIF - The digitized manuscripts revolution we've all been waiting for!
We created the DMMapp to make it easier for you to find collections of digitized manuscripts - and IIIF is making it easier for you to view, study, and compare manuscripts. In this post we are going to tell you all about why it’s awesome!
In 2011, a group of international libraries and universities (Stanford University, The British Library, Bodleian Libraries, The Bibliothèque nationale de France, the National Library of Norway, Cornell University, and Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library) set up the International Image Interoperability Framework, or, in short, IIIF (pronounced as triple-I-F).
100 newly digitized manuscripts online
There is no way we could have come up with a better title. The British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France have just digitized 100 manuscripts, all dated between 700CE and 1200CE, and made them available online! The news is so awesome that as soon as we saw it on Twitter we decided we would write this post.
100 pre-1200 manuscripts have been added to the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site. Get the list at https://t.co/GZkK4TtD0m pic.twitter.com/FhrQrB19at
— Medieval Manuscripts (@BLMedieval) March 16, 2017
The digitized manuscripts of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
The Laurentian Library, in context
Florence is a beautiful city. The kind of city many people from Rome like myself would like to move to; so similar is it to the Capital: full of art, culture, history… but without the broken roads, the traffic, and a bit more calm. Florence is also home to the Laurentian Library, or, as it's called in Italian: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, or more simply "La Laurenziana". One of the greatest libraries in the world; one of the places that you have to visit. If you can't get there, you can view their digitized manuscripts on their recently launched new interface!
But how did the Laurentian Library come to be? The history of the library is extremely long; so let's go back to the beginning: it's 1519 and you are Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici. You are a powerful Cardinal that will be pope just four years later. You want a library. Who do you call? Well, Michelangelo, of course! You spare no expense.
What's next?
There is so much to do! We have succesfully migrated the articles from the DMMapp blog to the Sexy Codicology blog; HTTPS is here too. Plus, we recently posted the article about the humanistic script. It is part of our "Medieval Scripts" section. Facebook is doing nice!