New manuscript images available

The Roman de la Rose Digital Library has recently been updated with three new manuscripts from two German Libraries. This brings the total number of manuscripts on the site to 142! The three new manuscripts are:

  • A.B. 142 is a 14th century manuscript from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. This manuscript contains many especially nice miniatures and decorated initials.
  • Augsburg Cod. I.4.2 3 is a 14th century manuscript in the collection of the Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg. While this manuscript has only a few miniatures, it has many beautiful decorated initials.
  • Augsburg Cod. I.4.2. 4 is a 14th century manuscript fragment from the Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg.
In addition to the new manuscripts, we have corrected some typos in the transcription of Selden Supra 57. These corrections are from folio 6r.


Thierry Delcourt: in memoriam

Photo © Philippe Savouret

Thierry Delcourt: in memoriam



With profound regret we learned of the death of Thierry Delcourt, Director of the Department of Manuscripts at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, on November 22.  The cause was brain cancer; he was 52 years old.

The Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts at Johns Hopkins could not have had a better friend and collaborator than Thierry Delcourt. It is no exaggeration to say that without his vision and generosity, our site would not have the wealth of manuscripts of the Roman de la Rose it now contains.  

This is how it happened. In 2006, Winston Tabb, Dean of the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins, and I visited Thierry Delcourt, the newly appointed Director of Manuscripts, in his office on the Rue de Richelieu.  We had come to Paris in hopes of obtaining imaging rights to ten or twelve key Rose manuscripts in the BnF. When I explained our project, and showed him the site, Thierry smiled and asked if we wouldn’t rather have the image rights for all the Rose manuscripts in France!  Quickly calculating how much of a grant we would need to make this happen, we agreed that Hopkins would raise the necessary funds for the project, while the BnF would assume responsibility for the digital imaging of the 140+ publically-available Rose codices in France. And so began a wonderful collaboration born out of Thierry Delcourt’s visionary conception for the role of the BnF in the twenty-first century.

His vision grew naturally from his own training in and love for medieval French literature.  Trained as a paleographer-archivist at the prestigious École des Chartes in Paris, he specialized in manuscripts of the prose Tristan cycle, beginning with his thesis: Le Roman de Tristan en prose. Édition critique et commentaire de l’épisode du Château des Pucelles (1983). He subsequently published other books on the Prose Tristan, on Arthurian literature, bestiaries, crusade chronicles, and the tradition in France of early popular book formats.

Early in his career, Thierry Delcourt distinguished himself as an imaginative and entrepreneurial administrator both in the public and private sector. Appointed Conservator of the Audio-Visual Department at the BnF in 1983, he was recruited into the private sphere as a consultant in systems technology from 1989 to 1992, the year the BnF lured him back to his former post.  In 1995, he became director of the Municipal Library of Troyes, which, under his leadership, became one of the leading media centers in France…even, some feel, one of the most modern and innovative of its kind. In 2006, the BnF appointed him to the post he held until his death this week.  

Fate did not allow us to prolong our partnership with Thierry himself beyond five-and-a-half short, but wonderfully collegial years. With uncanny prescience, however, he leaves as a legacy an extraordinary team in the Department of Manuscripts and its Information Technology section at the BnF with whom we will continue to collaborate bien amicablement thanks to our shared memory of Thierry Delcourt.

Stephen G. Nichols                    November 25, 2011
Johns Hopkins University

Digital Philology: Call for Submissions

~ Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures ~

Call for Submissions, 2013 Open Issue

Digital Philology is a new peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of medieval vernacular texts and cultures. Founded by Stephen G. Nichols and Nadia R. Altschul, the journal aims to foster scholarship that crosses disciplines upsetting traditional fields of study, national boundaries and periodizations. Digital Philology also encourages both applied and theoretical research that engages with the digital humanities and shows why and how digital resources require new questions, new approaches, and yield radical results.

Beginning in 2012 Digital Philology will have two issues per year, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. One of the issues will be open to all submissions, while the other one will be guest-edited and revolve around a thematic axis.

Contributions may take the form of a scholarly essay or focus on the study of a particular manuscript. Articles must be written in English, follow the 3rd edition (2008) of the MLA style manual, and be between 5,000 and 7,000 words in length, including footnotes and list of works cited. Quotations in the main text in languages other than English should appear along with their English translation.

Digital Philology is welcoming submissions for its 2013 open issue. Inquiries and submissions (as a Word document attachment) should be sent to dph@jhu.edu, addressed to the Managing Editor (Albert Lloret). Digital Philology will also publish manuscript studies and reviews of books and digital projects. Correspondence regarding manuscript studies may be addressed to Jeanette Patterson at jpatterson09@gmail.com. Correspondence regarding digital projects and publications for review may be addressed to Timothy Stinson at tlstinson@gmail.com.

Editors and Editorial Board

Albert Lloret, Managing Editor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Jeanette Patterson, Manuscript Studies Editor, Johns Hopkins University
Timothy Stinson, Review Editor, North Carolina State University
Nadia R. Altschul, Executive Editor, Johns Hopkins University

Stephen G. Nichols and Nadia R. Altschul, Founding Editors, Johns Hopkins University

Editorial Board

Tracy Adams, Auckland University
Benjamin Albritton, Stanford University
Nadia R. Altschul, Johns Hopkins University
R. Howard Bloch, Yale University
Kevin Brownlee, University of Pennsylvania
Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet, University of Paris, Sorbonne – Paris IV
Suzanne Conklin Akbari, University of Toronto
Lucie Dolezalova, Charles University, Prague
Alexandra Gillespie, University of Toronto
Jeffrey Hamburger, Harvard University
Daniel Heller-Roazen, Princeton University
Sharon Kinoshita, University of California, Santa Cruz
Joachim Küpper, Free University of Berlin
Deborah McGrady, University of Virginia
Christine McWebb, University of Waterloo
Stephen G. Nichols, Johns Hopkins University
Timothy Stinson, North Carolina State University
Lori Walters, Florida State University

Manuscript images temporarily unavailable

Due to a problem with the storage system, manuscript images are unavailable for viewing right now and have only been partially available for the last day.  The site is otherwise working.

We apologize for the downtime and hope to have images available again soon. Updates will be added to this post.

Update 1pm: Most ms images are available. Images from recently added ms should be available later today.

Update 4pm: The remaining images will be available in the next few hours.

Site update

Additions:

  • Bibliography entry added for fr. 2438, fr. 1565, fr. 24391, fr. 1573, fr.1569, fr. 1561, and Dijon 526.
  • French translation of fr. 12595 added

Corrections:

  • fr. 12595 and Cox Macro manuscript descriptions had some small issues fixed.
  • fr. 12595 character Covoitise incorrectly identified as Cortoisie in image tagging of 2v.
  • French translation of Douce 195 description fixed.
  • Fixed dimensions in collection data spreadsheet for fr. 12595.
  • Added missing number of illustrations to a text in fr. 378.

Bug fixes:

  •  The smaller and larger buttons now work in the image browser view.

Usage statistics, May 2011

Following are usage statistics for the Roman de la Rose Digital Library for both the current month and cumulative statistics since September 2008.

Usage statistics for the period May 1-31, 2011:
1,738 visits from 71 different countries or territories
The top five countries represented (in order): United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy
1,213 absolute unique visitors
41% of these visitors have returned to the site
76 of these visitors have used the site 9-14 times
64 of these visitors have used the site 15-25 times
95 of these visitors have used the site 26-50 times
64 of these visitors have used the site 51-100 times
38 of these visitors have used the site 101-200 times
26 of these visitors have used the site more than 200 times
151 of these visits lasted between 10-30 minutes
144 of these visits lasted over 30 minutes

Since the launch of the site on September 2008 through May 31, 2011, the Rose team has noted the following usage statistics:
53,696 visits from 153 different countries or territories
The top five countries represented (in order): United States, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Canada
35,936 absolute unique visitors
34% of these visitors have returned to the site
1,614 of these visitors have used the site 9-14 times
1,469 of these visitors have used the site 15-25 times
1,272 of these visitors have used the site 26-50 times
1,096 of these visitors have used the site 51-100 times
1,090 of these visitors have used the site 101-200 times
1,401 of these visitors have used the site more than 200 times
3,933 of these visits lasted between 10-30 minutes
2,816 of these visits lasted over 30 minutes

Usage statistics, April 2011

Following are usage statistics for the Roman de la Rose Digital Library for both the current month and cumulative statistics since September 2008.

Usage statistics for the period April 1-30, 2011:
1,882 visits from 66 different countries or territories
The top five countries represented (in order): United States, France, United Kingdom, Russia, Spain
1,194 absolute unique visitors
45% of these visitors have returned to the site
64 of these visitors have used the site 9-14 times
99 of these visitors have used the site 15-25 times
111 of these visitors have used the site 26-50 times
31 of these visitors have used the site 51-100 times
163 of these visitors have used the site 101-200 times
41 of these visitors have used the site more than 200 times
143 of these visits lasted between 10-30 minutes
131 of these visits lasted over 30 minutes

Since the launch of the site on September 2008 through April 30, 2011, the Rose team has noted the following usage statistics:
51,958 visits from 149 different countries or territories
The top five countries represented (in order): United States, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Canada
34,887 absolute unique visitors
33% of these visitors have returned to the site
1,538 of these visitors have used the site 9-14 times
1,405 of these visitors have used the site 15-25 times
1,177 of these visitors have used the site 26-50 times
1,032 of these visitors have used the site 51-100 times
1,052 of these visitors have used the site 101-200 times
1,375 of these visitors have used the site more than 200 times
3,782 of these visits lasted between 10-30 minutes
2,672 of these visits lasted over 30 minutes

Usage statistics, March 2011

Following are usage statistics for the Roman de la Rose Digital Library for both the current month and cumulative statistics since September 2008.

Usage statistics for the period March 1-31, 2011:
2,304 visits from 66 different countries or territories
The top five countries represented (in order): United States, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain
1,533 absolute unique visitors
42% of these visitors have returned to the site
87 of these visitors have used the site 9-14 times
95 of these visitors have used the site 15-25 times
114 of these visitors have used the site 26-50 times
170of these visitors have used the site 51-100 times
77 of these visitors have used the site 101-200 times
15 of these visitors have used the site more than 200 times
185 of these visits lasted between 10-30 minutes
167 of these visits lasted over 30 minutes

Since the launch of the site on September 2008 through March 31, 2011, the Rose team has noted the following usage statistics:
50,076 visits from 149 different countries or territories
The top five countries represented (in order): United States, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Canada
33,842 absolute unique visitors
33% of these visitors have returned to the site
1,474 of these visitors have used the site 9-14 times
1,306 of these visitors have used the site 15-25 times
1,066 of these visitors have used the site 26-50 times
1,001 of these visitors have used the site 51-100 times
889 of these visitors have used the site 101-200 times
1,334 of these visitors have used the site more than 200 times
3,639 of these visits lasted between 10-30 minutes
2,541 of these visits lasted over 30 minutes

Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures

Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures

Call for Submissions

Digital Philology is a new peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of medieval vernacular texts and cultures. Founded by Stephen G. Nichols and Nadia R. Altschul, the journal aims to foster scholarship that crosses disciplines upsetting traditional fields of study, national boundaries, and periodizations. Digital Philology also encourages both applied and theoretical research that engages with the digital humanities and shows why and how digital resources require new questions, new approaches, and yield radical results.

Digital Philology will have two issues per year, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. One of the issues will be open to all submissions, while the other one will be guest-edited and revolve around a thematic axis.

Contributions may take the form of a scholarly essay or focus on the study of a particular manuscript. Articles must be written in English, follow the 3rd edition (2008) of the MLA style manual, and be between 5,000 and 9,000 words in length, including footnotes and list of works cited. Quotations in the main text in languages other than English should appear along with their English translation.

Digital Philology welcomes submissions for the 2012 and 2013 open issues. Inquiries and submissions (as a Word document attachment) should be sent to dph@jhu.edu, addressed to the Editor (Albert Lloret) and Managing Editor (Jeanette Patterson). Digital Philology will also publish reviews of books and digital projects. Correspondence regarding digital projects and publications for review may be addressed to Timothy Stinson at tlstinson@gmail.com.

Editorial Board

Tracy Adams (Auckland University)
Benjamin Albritton (Stanford University)
Nadia R. Altschul (Johns Hopkins University)
R. Howard Bloch (Yale University)
Kevin Brownlee (University of Pennsylvania)
Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet (Université Paris Sorbonne – Paris IV)
Suzanne Conklin Akbari (University of Toronto)
Lucie Dolezalova (Charles University, Prague)
Alexandra Gillespie (University of Toronto)
Jeffrey Hamburger (Harvard University)
Daniel Heller-Roazen (Princeton University)
Sharon Kinoshita (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Joachim Küpper (Freie University of Berlin)
Deborah McGrady (University of Virginia)
Christine McWebb (University of Waterloo)
Stephen G. Nichols (Johns Hopkins University)
Timothy Stinson (North Carolina State University)
Lori Walters (Florida State University)