From the British Library Reader Bulletin:
The British Library has launched a ground-breaking ‘eBook Treasures’ series which will allow iPad users to download entire ancient manuscripts. Starting with Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Arundel (1478-1518), users will now be able to hold rare, unique and original manuscripts in their hands and explore them in depth and spectacular high-definition.
Over the coming months, users will be able to download other Library Treasures in HD, including:
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‘Literature’ – Alice’s Adventures Underground (1862-64), Carroll’s handwritten and illustrated original of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, William Blake’s notebook (1700s) and Jane Austen’s The History of England (1791)
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‘Sacred Texts’ – The Tyndale Bible (1526), the first English language Bible to appear in print and Sultan Baybars’ Quran (1304-6), the epitome of sumptuous Arabic calligraphy
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‘Music’ – Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (1741) and Beethoven’s Pastoral Sketchbook (1808).
75 titles will be available over the next two years, either in their entirety or as a selection of highlights, allowing unprecedented access to some of the British Library’s most precious manuscripts. First to launch will be the Codex Arundel and Mercator’s Atlas which is available for download globally in Apple iBookstore. More information can be found at http://www.bl.uk/ebooktreasures/
Post by: Sarah Pittaway
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