5 ms·

Consulting Medieval Manuscripts Online

102 points by yarapavan 12y ago

walterbell 12y ago
Very cool. These historical images would benefit from metadata (at least time & location) annotation, to improve discovery and visualization. E.g. placing documents in the context of J.B. Spark's 4000 year Histomap. http://www.bookofjoe.com/2012/04/fromdavidrumseycomrand-mcnally-published-amateur-historian-john-b-sparks-the-histomap-four-thousand-years-of-world-histor.html http://www.bookofjoe.com/2012/04/fromdavidrumseycomrand-mcna...
- pretzel 12y ago
  I've got a project that is trying to do just this sort of thing, check out https://retred.org https://retred.org You can go to a time and place and see exactly what kind of events were happening at that point of time. I haven't opened it up to things yet, but am planning to pretty soon!
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Looks promising! The closest projects I've seen are http://pleiades.stoa.org/home http://pleiades.stoa.org/home for Ancient GIS open-data and an iOS App with a timeline database, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timeline-eons-free/id433352152?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timeline-eons-free/id4333521... Edit: David Rumsey's classic site has many historical maps & charts, e.g. http://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2012/3/28/timeline-maps http://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2012/3/28/timeline-maps
    - pretzel 12y ago
      That's really cool! The problem seems to be that for all these things the data isn't stored anywhere in an easily digestible format. It would be great if you could query something and procedurally generate any of these graphs.
      - walterbell 12y ago
        DBpedia appears to have historical data extracted from Wikipedia, not sure how usable it is: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.4138.pdf http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.4138.pdf Found a UI demo & thesis project for DBpedia GIS: http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/usecase.html http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/usecase.html & http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/FabioValsecchi-thesis.pdf http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/FabioValsecchi-the...
        pretzel 12y ago
        That's where I've got all my initial seed data from already!
        walterbell 12y ago
        Does that mean you've converted it into a more digestible format that others could use :)
        pretzel 12y ago
        I have - you can checkout https://github.com/twistedvisions/anaximander https://github.com/twistedvisions/anaximander and build it using my parser from a dbpedia dump!
  - jonnykry 12y ago
    This is fantastic, but you broke my back button!
stinos 12y ago
Highly recommended: Aztec codices, especially the ones with pictures. Looks like modern psychedelic art of some kind but is in fact made centuries ago, sometimes by their priests. For the rest: it's amazing to see how back then simply writing was way more of an art than it is now. It's no exception that the writer would use 2 or more colors even for simple text, for example just to highlight capitals. Don't think I have ever seen anyone doing that in the present. Also the maps from those days often look like sceneries from some fairytale with nicely drawn castles etc. Not like your average roadmap :P
- K2h 12y ago
  That was the first ones I went looking for. very cool. http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec
- rmc 12y ago
  Related: When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Americas, they burned just about all the Mayan books be a use they were "heretical": > In particular, all those in Yucatán were ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July of 1562. De Landa wrote: "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction." No wonder those people "regretted" it, it was newly all of their written culture being destroyed. Imagine if some aliens invaded Europe and burned all these books and all that was left was 3 books.
  - walterbell 12y ago
    European "heretics" had the benefit of more practice in book hiding.
  - alphydan 12y ago
    Unfortunately only 3 of these Mayan codices have survived (imagine inferring 1,000 years of Western civilization from a comic book, an almanac and a prayer book). Here are some of the codices which contain very accurate astronomical forecasts on Venus, Mars, eclipses and the sun: http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html or also: https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collections_Of_CODICES https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collectio...
richardwigley 12y ago
The Aberdeen Bestiary I was looking for manuscripts with pictures - but bonus get the translations as well http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ Of mice The mouse is a puny animal; its name, mus, comes from the Greek, the Latin word deriving from it. Others say mures, mice, because they are produced ex humore, from the damp soil, of the earth; for humus means earth and from that comes mus, mouse. Their liver grows bigger at full moon, like the tides rise then fall with the waning of the moon.
athenot 12y ago
Very cool! And there are more on the way: NTT Data signed in March [1] an agreement with the Vatican Library to digitize 82,000 manuscripts. [1] http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-library-and-japanese-firm-ntt-data-sign-ac http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-library-and-japanese-firm...
SergeyDruid 12y ago
Thank you for sharing! I'm part of a medieval and reinassance dance group, we study manuscripts and books about music and dance of those centuries and organize events so this link will be very useful to us!
JackC 12y ago
This is really great. By the by (and I know that this is about to sound like an ad, but I have no connection, I'm just someone who likes printing out old books scans and sticking them to my walls), if you want large-scale color prints of this stuff, I've had good luck with Shortrun Posters -- they focus on churning out one size of poster super-cheap, so the prices are way lower than I've found elsewhere. If you stick to the default options, you can get 18" x 24" posters shipped for like $4 each. http://www.shortrunposters.com/posters/18x24.html http://www.shortrunposters.com/posters/18x24.html
- motoboi 12y ago
  Thanks for the link! My first though was exactly this: print some and put on the wall.
tinkerdol 12y ago
Tangentially related: does anyone know good sources to find 3D data of old objects (e.g. old roman arches, museum objects, etc.) ?
- walterbell 12y ago
  Thingiverse has a few scans from the Met, Brooklyn, Asian Art museums.
  - tinkerdol 12y ago
    cool, thanks :)
pvorb 12y ago
I helped to create the software for the two projects from Würzburg, including the 3D bookshelf using WebGL (http://vb.uni-wuerzburg.de/ub/lskd/regal.html http://vb.uni-wuerzburg.de/ub/lskd/regal.html).
unclesaamm 12y ago
For everyone asking for metadata, I recommend the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts (link: http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/schoenberg/index.html http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/schoenberg/index.html). They have a weekly data dump, as well as a three-year overhaul underway. Wonderful, wonderful community around it, with a deep commitment to open data. If you have any suggestions for the database's future you'd like to see, I'd be happy to say it forward or put you in touch with somebody (I interned there last semester).

102 points by yarapavan 12y ago

Very cool. These historical images would benefit from metadata (at least time & location) annotation, to improve discovery and visualization. E.g. placing documents in the context of J.B. Spark's 4000 year Histomap. http://www.bookofjoe.com/2012/04/fromdavidrumseycomrand-mcnally-published-amateur-historian-john-b-sparks-the-histomap-four-thousand-years-of-world-histor.html http://www.bookofjoe.com/2012/04/fromdavidrumseycomrand-mcna...

pretzel 12y ago
I've got a project that is trying to do just this sort of thing, check out https://retred.org https://retred.org You can go to a time and place and see exactly what kind of events were happening at that point of time. I haven't opened it up to things yet, but am planning to pretty soon!
- walterbell 12y ago
  Looks promising! The closest projects I've seen are http://pleiades.stoa.org/home http://pleiades.stoa.org/home for Ancient GIS open-data and an iOS App with a timeline database, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timeline-eons-free/id433352152?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timeline-eons-free/id4333521... Edit: David Rumsey's classic site has many historical maps & charts, e.g. http://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2012/3/28/timeline-maps http://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2012/3/28/timeline-maps
  - pretzel 12y ago
    That's really cool! The problem seems to be that for all these things the data isn't stored anywhere in an easily digestible format. It would be great if you could query something and procedurally generate any of these graphs.
    - walterbell 12y ago
      DBpedia appears to have historical data extracted from Wikipedia, not sure how usable it is: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.4138.pdf http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.4138.pdf Found a UI demo & thesis project for DBpedia GIS: http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/usecase.html http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/usecase.html & http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/FabioValsecchi-thesis.pdf http://latemar.science.unitn.it/spacetime/FabioValsecchi-the...
      - pretzel 12y ago
        That's where I've got all my initial seed data from already!
        walterbell 12y ago
        Does that mean you've converted it into a more digestible format that others could use :)
        pretzel 12y ago
        I have - you can checkout https://github.com/twistedvisions/anaximander https://github.com/twistedvisions/anaximander and build it using my parser from a dbpedia dump!
- jonnykry 12y ago
  This is fantastic, but you broke my back button!

stinos 12y ago

Highly recommended: Aztec codices, especially the ones with pictures. Looks like modern psychedelic art of some kind but is in fact made centuries ago, sometimes by their priests. For the rest: it's amazing to see how back then simply writing was way more of an art than it is now. It's no exception that the writer would use 2 or more colors even for simple text, for example just to highlight capitals. Don't think I have ever seen anyone doing that in the present. Also the maps from those days often look like sceneries from some fairytale with nicely drawn castles etc. Not like your average roadmap :P

K2h 12y ago
That was the first ones I went looking for. very cool. http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec
rmc 12y ago
Related: When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Americas, they burned just about all the Mayan books be a use they were "heretical": > In particular, all those in Yucatán were ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July of 1562. De Landa wrote: "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction." No wonder those people "regretted" it, it was newly all of their written culture being destroyed. Imagine if some aliens invaded Europe and burned all these books and all that was left was 3 books.
- walterbell 12y ago
  European "heretics" had the benefit of more practice in book hiding.
- alphydan 12y ago
  Unfortunately only 3 of these Mayan codices have survived (imagine inferring 1,000 years of Western civilization from a comic book, an almanac and a prayer book). Here are some of the codices which contain very accurate astronomical forecasts on Venus, Mars, eclipses and the sun: http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html or also: https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collections_Of_CODICES https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collectio...

richardwigley 12y ago

The Aberdeen Bestiary I was looking for manuscripts with pictures - but bonus get the translations as well http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ Of mice The mouse is a puny animal; its name, mus, comes from the Greek, the Latin word deriving from it. Others say mures, mice, because they are produced ex humore, from the damp soil, of the earth; for humus means earth and from that comes mus, mouse. Their liver grows bigger at full moon, like the tides rise then fall with the waning of the moon.

athenot 12y ago

Very cool! And there are more on the way: NTT Data signed in March [1] an agreement with the Vatican Library to digitize 82,000 manuscripts. [1] http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-library-and-japanese-firm-ntt-data-sign-ac http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-library-and-japanese-firm...

SergeyDruid 12y ago

Thank you for sharing! I'm part of a medieval and reinassance dance group, we study manuscripts and books about music and dance of those centuries and organize events so this link will be very useful to us!

JackC 12y ago

This is really great. By the by (and I know that this is about to sound like an ad, but I have no connection, I'm just someone who likes printing out old books scans and sticking them to my walls), if you want large-scale color prints of this stuff, I've had good luck with Shortrun Posters -- they focus on churning out one size of poster super-cheap, so the prices are way lower than I've found elsewhere. If you stick to the default options, you can get 18" x 24" posters shipped for like $4 each. http://www.shortrunposters.com/posters/18x24.html http://www.shortrunposters.com/posters/18x24.html

motoboi 12y ago
Thanks for the link! My first though was exactly this: print some and put on the wall.

tinkerdol 12y ago

Tangentially related: does anyone know good sources to find 3D data of old objects (e.g. old roman arches, museum objects, etc.) ?

walterbell 12y ago
Thingiverse has a few scans from the Met, Brooklyn, Asian Art museums.
- tinkerdol 12y ago
  cool, thanks :)

pvorb 12y ago

I helped to create the software for the two projects from Würzburg, including the 3D bookshelf using WebGL (http://vb.uni-wuerzburg.de/ub/lskd/regal.html http://vb.uni-wuerzburg.de/ub/lskd/regal.html).

unclesaamm 12y ago

For everyone asking for metadata, I recommend the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts (link: http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/schoenberg/index.html http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/schoenberg/index.html). They have a weekly data dump, as well as a three-year overhaul underway. Wonderful, wonderful community around it, with a deep commitment to open data. If you have any suggestions for the database's future you'd like to see, I'd be happy to say it forward or put you in touch with somebody (I interned there last semester).