Holy Digital Grail: A Medieval Book on the Internet

362 Pages·2022·11.911 MB·English

by  Michelle R. Warren

i
A SMALL NEW WORLD
H O LY D I G I T A L G R A I L
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STANFORD
T E X T T E C H N O L O G I E S
Series Editors
Ruth Ahnert
Elaine Treharne
Editorial Board
Benjamin Albritton
Lori Emerson
Alan Liu
Elena Pierazzo
Andrew Prescott
Matthew Rubery
Kate Sweetapple
Heather Wolfe
ii
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Holy Digital Grail
A Medieval Book on the Internet
MICHELLE R. WARREN
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
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Stanford UniverSity PreSS
Stanford, California
© 2022 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission
of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free, archival- quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Warren, Michelle R., 1967- author.
Title: Holy digital grail : a medieval book on the internet / Michelle R. Warren.
Other titles: Text technologies.
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2022. |
Series: Stanford text technologies | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021050032 (print) | LCCN 2021050033 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781503608009 (cloth) | ISBN 9781503631168 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781503631175 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Manuscripts, Medieval—Digitization. | Arthurian romances—
Manuscripts—Digitization. | Codicology—Technological innovations. |
Literature and technology. | Digital humanities.
Classification: LCC Z110.R4 W37 2022 (print) | LCC Z110.R4 (ebook) |
DDC 091.0285—dc23/eng/20211109
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021050032
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021050033
Cover design: Kevin Barrett Kane
Typeset by Kevin Barrett Kane in 10/15 Spectral
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CONTENTS
Illustrations vii
Abbreviations ix
Preface xi
INTRODUCTION
Medieval Literature in the Digital Dark Ages 1
1 Translating Arthur: Books, Texts, Machines 42
2 Performing Community: Merchants, Chivalry, Data 79
3 Marking Manuscripts: Makers, Users, Coders 113
4 Cataloguing Libraries: History, Romance, Website 151
5 Editing Romance: Poetry, Print, Platform 193
6 Reproducing Books: Binding, Microfilm, Digital 238
CONCLUSION
Indexing the Grail, Romancing the Internet 272
Acknowledgments 281
References 287
Index 325
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iLLUSTRATiONS
Figure 1. MS 80, folio 1r, Parker Library on the Web 2.0 (2018–21) 33
Figure 2. MS 80, folio 117v compared with Bodleian, Douce MS 178, folio 181v 52
Figure 3. MS 80, folio 123r compared with Bodleian, Douce MS 178, folio 189v 52
Figure 4. MS 80, folios 153v- 54r, with spaces for illustrations and three
“pageant” rubrics 54
Figure 5. MS 80, folio 171v, with Henry Lovelich’s name in a Latin cryptogram 73
Figure 6. MS 80, folio 68v, with John Cok’s annotations 129
Figure 7. MS 80, folio 127r, with annotations, corrections, and other marks 137
Figure 8. MS 80, folio 200v, with digital annotation, Parker Library on the
Web 2.0 (2018–21) 147
Figure 9. MS 80, with information overlay from Mirador 2.0, Parker Library on
the Web 2.0 (2018–21) 149
Figure 10. MS 575, p. 66, list of books “on the ground under B” 157
Figure 11. MS 80 in M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the
Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (1912) 167
vii
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viii iLLUSTRATiONS
Figure 12. MS 80 description, Parker Library on the Web 1.0 (2009– 17) 170
Figure 13. MS 80 description, Parker Library on the Web 2.0 (2018– 21) 175
Figure 14. Home page, Parker Library on the Web 1.0 (2009– 17) 184
Figure 15. Home page, Parker Library on the Web 2.0 (2018–21) 186
Figure 16. Home page, showing image sources, Parker Library on the Web 1.0
(2009–17) 187
Figure 17. MS 80 edition in seven volumes, Early English Text Society,
Dartmouth College Library (2019) 224
Figure 18. Scanned pages, left reversed to right and mismatched sizes in History
of the Holy Grail (Archive.org) 227
Figure 19. Scanned pages, pixilated handprint in History of the Holy Grail
(Archive.org) 232
Figure 20. Erased pixelated handprint in print-on-demand edition of History of
the Holy Grail 233
Figure 21. Covers from three print- on- demand editions of Dorothy Kempe’s
Legend of the Holy Grail 234
Figure 22. Covers from three print- on- demand editions of The History of the Holy
Graal, Roxburghe Club edition 234
Figure 23. MS 80 on the shelf in the vault at Parker Library (2018) 243
Figure 24. MS 80’s rebinding note on 1950s paper 243
Figure 25. Letterhead of the Pilgrim Trust, 1952 244
Figure 26. Microfilm of MS 80 on a computer monitor (2018) 252
Figure 27. Two sections of José Clemente Orozco’s mural, The Epic of American
Civilization, Dartmouth College (1932– 34) 254
Figure 28. MS 80, folio 1r, uncropped thumbnail, Parker Library on the Web 2.0
(2018–21) 264
Figure 29. MS 80 on a table next to a laptop, Wilkins room, Parker Library
(2018) 274
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ABBREViATiONS
BL British Library
BNF Bibliothèque Nationale de France
CCCA Corpus Christi College Archives, Location OA 6E
CCCC Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: Parker Library
EEBO Early English Books Online, Chadwyck- Healey
and Proquest.com
EETS ES Early English Text Society, Extra Series
EETS OS Early English Text Society, Original Series
f. folio
Grail Lovelich 1874– 78. Note: Grail references have Roman
numeral chapters (I to LVI) followed by Arabic
numeral lines.
JSTOR Journal Storage Project, ITHAKA.org
LMA London Metropolitan Archives
MED Middle English Dictionary, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/
middle-english-dictionary
Merlin Lovelich 1904–3 2. Note: Merlin references have continuous
Arabic numeral lines (1– 27852).
NA National Archives, United Kingdom
ix
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