Turning the pages of Leonardo’s notebooks
Imagine my delight when I discovered (through GottaBeMobile) that the British Library (an ‘homegrown’ initiative for a change :o)) have released an online digital book application Turning the Pages 2.0 which allows us, the common people, to get up close and personal to some of the most historical and revered books in the world. Imagine my further delight when I realised one of the featured titles is nothing more than one of hero’s notebooks (Leonardo daVinci) – absolutely magnificent. Other featured titles include Mozart’s musical diary, Jane Austen’s early works and of particular interest to a Mediaeval/Islamic historian like me a 1570 Atlas of Europe and an early Mamluk Qur’an in all of its sumptuous glory.
Be warned though, Turning the Pages 2.0 is primarily primed for the new Vista platform but you are able to access the titles if you are running WinXP (with service pack 2) and .NET 3.0 framework. The screenshot above is from the lowly Shockwave version of Turning the Pages as that's the best I can run on my antiquated computers.
I’m delighted with Turning the Pages 2.0 though (even though I haven't seen it in all of it's Vista glory) because aside from giving availability of rare titles to all of us, this method of delivery negates the need to reproduce these titles in printed format. What’s more the British Library have given us a teaser of what’s possible in relation to delivery historical books electronically and if libraries all over the world start using digital book applications like this, which I’m sure they will, then all of us are in for a very special treat!!
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