Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 516.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 11:25:15 +0000
From: Stephen Miller <Stephen.Miller@assoc.oeaw.ac.at>
Subject: Re: 16.509 data modelling for a history of the book?
>[snip]
>
>But at this stage what is the next step beyond the justaposed image and
>descriptive text? Do we, for example, image-map the visual object to attach
>hypertextual commentary? Do we record the location of objects (such as
>marginalia, doodles, typographic devices etc.) within the book-opening so
>that we may compute with them? Or is all this vanity and a vexation of the
>spirit?
One answer:
"I am inclined to think there is more in the flyleaf of a book than one
would at first expect. If one picks up at an old book-stall a relic "E
libris Joh. Smith," it certainly is not a very great treasure for its
owner's sake, but if the name be not quite so common, if it be that of a
great man or of a semi-great man, the volume commands a higher price for
the autograph... But the value becomes increased if there be, besides the
name, an ink-note in the same hand, letting you know some private feeling,
or some little circumstance, connected with the former possessor. If the
owner were not a great man, at least he will have been a reading man; and
thus, if one does not gain the pleasure of holding converse with a
master-spirit of the past, at any rate there is before him the type of a
class by no means uninfluential in bygone days. He gains a nearer insight
into the every-day life of our ancestors, and a minuter acquaintance with
their habits."
J.T. Jeffcock, "MS. Initial Book-Notes." Notes & Queries. 12 (1855):298-99.
Stephen Miller
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