Parker Library on the Web is a multi-year undertaking of

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

, the

Stanford University Libraries The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. Sev ...

and the

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

, to produce a high-resolution

digital copy A digital copy is a commercially distributed computer file containing a media product such as a film or music album. The term contrasts this computer file with the physical copy (typically a DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, or Ultra HD Blu-ray disc) with ...

of every imageable page in the 538 manuscripts described in

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

''Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the

Parker Library, Corpus Christi College The Parker Library is a library within Corpus Christi College, Cambridge which contains rare books and manuscripts. It is known throughout the world due to its invaluable collection of over 600 manuscripts, particularly medieval texts, the ...

'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1912), along with manuscripts acquired after the James ''Catalogue'' was completed. From 2009 to January 2018, the results were placed on a subscription-only interactive web application in which the manuscript page images can be used by scholars and students in the context of editions, translations and secondary sources. With the launch of Parker on the Web 2.0 in January 2018, the site became available to the public. The 538 items numbered and catalogued by James exist as 546 physical volumes. A very small number of these are printed books, mistakenly catalogued as manuscripts in the 18th century, and so were excluded. Additionally, there are a few manuscripts with paper pages which are badly damaged by moisture, or those with very fragile bindings, which at present cannot be successfully imaged in their totality. Exterior images were made of the present bindings of each manuscript. The project is of major importance for creating and preserving quality images of unique materials.

External links

Parker Library on the Web

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Stanford University Libraries

Cambridge University Library
{{Authority control Digital library projects Stanford University libraries Manuscripts of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge