The Digital Imaging and Collation of Early Printed Books in the British Library

在多次访问伦敦的大英图书馆讨论合作研究之后，2002年3月，我们在大英图书馆成功地将卡克斯顿的《坎特伯雷故事集》第一版(1476)和第二版(1483)的所有页面数字化。我们还与BL的工作人员进行了联合研究，以设计最合适的方法来处理生成的图像，并特别考虑到互联网传输的优化。此外，我们还与德蒙福特大学目前正在进行的坎特伯雷故事集项目进行了联合研究，将坎特伯雷故事集的数字数据放在CD-ROM上。完成的数字传真件随后用于文本比较和校对。这使我们能够有一个重要的发现：我们确定了威廉·卡克斯顿使用的以前未知的类型。此外，利用所有Caxton类型的高分辨率数字图像，我们开发了一种用于早期印刷书籍的OCR转录的方法，其中每种单独的类型都通过模式匹配来识别。这项技术被用来创建一个试行版本。为了与早期的印刷书籍进行比较，我们还在庆应义乌大学图书馆制作了15世纪印刷书籍和中世纪晚期手稿的数字复制品，并用于书目研究。聚焦于同一时期的早期印刷书籍和手稿，我们使用LaTeX进行了高分辨率数字图像的外交转录。这些抄本准确地记录了原始材料中发现的原始布局、文本和字体多样性，然后在网络上提供，以便独立于平台访问。总而言之，我们成功地完成了(1)与大英图书馆和英国其他机构的合作研究；(2)早期印刷书籍的数字化；(3)文本的数字比较和校对；(4)使用数字传真创建数字内容。

Following several visits to the British Library (BL) in London for discussions on collaborative research, in March 2002 we succeeded in digitizing all pages of the first (1476) and second (1483) editions of Caxton's Canterbury Tales at the BL. We also engaged in joint research with BL staff to devise the most appropriate method for processing the resulting images, giving special consideration to optimization for Internet delivery. In addition, we also conducted joint research with the Canterbury Tales Project currently under way at De Montfort University, making available digital data for The Canterbury Tales on CD-ROM. The completed digital facsimiles were then used for textual comparison and collation. This enabled us to make an important discovery: we identified previously unknown type that had been used by William Caxton. Furthermore, using high-resolution digital images of all of Caxton's type, we developed a method for the OCR transcription of early printed books in which each individual type is identified through pattern matching. This technique was implemented to create a pilot edition. For comparison with the early printed books in the BL, we also created digital facsimiles of the 15th-century printed books and late medieval manuscripts in Keio University Library; these were then used for bibliographical research. Focusing on the early printed books and manuscripts of the same period, we performed diplomatic transcriptions from high-resolution digital images using LaTeX. These transcriptions - which accurately record the original layout, text and font diversity found in the source materials - were then made available on a network for platform-independent access. In summary, we successfully completed (1) collaborative research with the British Library and other UK institutions; (2) the digitization of early printed books; (3) the digital comparison and collation of texts; and (4) digital content creation using digital facsimiles.