Links
Compete Digital Facsimile Collections

Early Manuscripts at Oxford University High resolution images of complete manuscripts, only to be attempted with a fast connection and plenty of RAM. There is more information about copyright than about the manuscripts.

Codices Electronici Ecclesiae Coloniensis This is a true research resource with digitised images in a great range of magnifications of a large number of complete medieval manuscripts in the Cathedral Library of Cologne. They are presented in a database interface with good catalogue information. There are also texts of printed books about the Cathedral Library. If this became the standard for digital presentation of medieval manuscripts, it would be possible to do real research over the internet. A peek into the future of history?

Irish Script on Screen This site displays digital reproductions of complete manuscripts, not all medieval, from various Irish institutions. There is commentary and catalogue information. Modest sized, but quite readable, images are available to all and specialist users may register to see enlargements.

National Library of Wales: Digital Mirror An increasing selection of treasures from the library, not all medieval but there are some fascinating representatives, with some complete manuscripts and basic commentary. There is also a selection of monastic charters.

The Royal Library, Copenhagen, ELEKTRA - e-manuscripts A series of complete manuscripts is displayed in good quality images, large enough to read. There are brief notes on this site, but more detailed notes are provided for some manuscripts on Late Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts on the Web.

St Laurentius Digital Manuscript Library Lund University Library, Sweden is digitising and making accessible its collection of medieval manuscripts. 65 complete volumes are presented in large clear jpegs with brief catalogue information and a search facility.

Catalonian Manuscripts Digital facsimiles with description and background information in a user friendly database format. Includes both books and document collections.

Manuscriptorium From the National Library of the Czech Republic, this bilingual Czech/English site provides catalogue information in a database interface on manuscripts in various Czech repositories. There are some complete digitised manuscripts, but full access requires a paid subscription.

Digital Manuscript Library from the Research Library in Olomouc This Czech language site features around 50 fully digitised medieval manuscripts in resolutions up to high quality legible. The material can also be obtained on CD-ROM, if you know how to fill out online forms in Czech, otherwise click on the obvious places and just look.

Manuscripta Mediaevalia A German language site that is the beginning of a project to digitise complete medieval manuscripts in German libraries. It continues to develop, now with colour reproductions as well as black and white, in a good database style interface with catalogue information.

Digitalisierung Spaetmittelalterlicher Bildhandschriften aus der Biblioteca Palatina OK, so German language sites tend to have long titles and long URLs, but they are well ahead of the rest in providing digitised images of complete manuscript works. This also has a substantial commentary in German on each of the works presented.

Verzeichnis der Handschriftenfragmente der Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg This German language site provides full reproductions of fragments of medieval manuscripts which have been used as pastedowns, bindings or similar, from the university library of Salzburg. There are high quality images and catalogue information. As they say themselves "Fragments of manuscripts relate the histories of vanished books."

Digitisation of Middle English Manuscripts: The Hunterian Collection From Glasgow University Library, mainly a statement of intention to produce digital facsimiles and transcripts of manuscripts in the library. A pilot project The Romaunt of the Rose, an English translation of the famous French poem possibly by Geoffrey Chaucer, is available.

Digital Archive of Medieval Music This site contains information about a project for archiving high resolution digital images of existing fragments of medieval music. Lower resolution images of some manuscripts are available online if you fill in a form and (wait for it ...) POST it in by snail mail to get a password. It is claimed that this is the only way they can ensure that you don't misuse the images. (!!)

Abbey Library of St Gall Online It doesn't get any better than this. The world's oldest monastic library collection housed in its original site is going online with complete digital facsimiles of excellent quality and a range of resolutions, with catalogue descriptions in a database. It now contains 130 complete manuscripts and rising. You will not find such a massive collection of pre-1000 AD manuscripts accessible anywhere else. Descriptive pages are in several languages, but the catalogue is in German.

Valenciennes - Microfilms en Ligne This contains digitised microfilms of a large set of medieval and later manuscripts in the municiapl library of Valenciennes, some black and white and some in colour, derived from 500 microfilms and 20,000 slides. The French have a bit of a propensity for burying their treasures in complex municipal websites, so if the direct link doesn't work, go to the Valenciennes home page and type "fonds virtuels" into the search box.

Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image From the University of Pennsylvania Library, high quality images with very large reproductions of details from a large number of books, some of which are medieval manuscripts.

Bibliotheca Corviniana Digitalis A virtual reconstruction of the Renaissance library of King Matthias of Hundary, with full digital facsimiles. It is supposedly in four languages, but this feature does not seem to be fully operational. Click on the Corvinák link to pull up a list of shelfmarks and go from there. There are English catalogue notes on individual manuscripts.

Manuscrits de la mystique rhénane From the University of Strasbourg, a large set of complete digitised manuscripts which can be seen at very great enlargement.

Digital Library of Illuminated Manuscripts Complete digital facsimiles, but without transcripts or extensive notes, from several American University libraries.

The Stair Society - Manuscripts Full digital facsimiles of two manuscripts in the National Archives of Scotland, both with significance for Scottish legal history.

Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore di Firenze: Corali Complete digital facsimiles of a large number of liturgical music manuscripts from Florence Cathedral.

e-codices: Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland Full digital editions with high quality images and full catalogue descriptions of a large number of manuscripts from several libraries in Switzerland.

Tammelahandskrifterna From Finland, this site provides complete digital reproductions of three liturgical manuscripts with large images. The site is in Finnish, but as there is no detailed commentary, just click on the obvious links and look.

Cirsfid, Progetto Irnerio This site from the University of Bologna seems a little odd, as it provides complete digitised images from a very large number of manuscripts, but they are of fairly poor quality and too low a reslution to actually read. Perhaps if the English language link button had been working when I checked it out, I might have found an explanation.

DSpace at Cambridge: Scriptorium: Medieval and early Modern Manuscripts Online A digital archive of commonplace books and miscellanies from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Now there's an interesting topic to research. You need to register to use this site.

 

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This site is created and maintained by Dr Dianne Tillotson, freelance researcher and compulsive multimedia and web author. Comments are welcome. Material on this web site is copyright, but some parts more so than others. Please check here for copyright status and usage before you start making free with it. This page last modified 13/1/2008.