TannerRitchie Publishing - Digitizing Medieval and Early Modern History

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Example Search

This short document arose from a submission to the "Making Historical Manuscripts Computer-Readable" meeting, Monticello, February 2007.

Questions for "MAKING HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMPUTER-READABLE" meeting

TannerRitchie would clearly be very interested in any system that had the potential for rendering handwriting into text. As we have understood it, the problems inherent in the variations of the human hand were likely to render 'OCR' of handwriting virtually impossible in at least the near to medium term. We were therefore interested to hear of the presentation to be presented on February 19. Below are some examples of the problematic manuscripts we deal with. The typical manuscripts from which our printed sources were derived are daunting, to say the least. The period c.1450-1650 presents, perhaps, some of the most problematic handwriting in history for even the specialized and highly trained modern reader.

Above, mid sixteenth-century Scottish secretary hand. The detail below reads 'þe co[m]plienar wrangouslie beras' (the complainer wrongly claims) – note the use of the letter 'þ' for 'th', and the abbreviation of 'complienar' by using a horizontal line above the letter 'o'.

Above, a fifteenth-century pre-secretary hand, reading 'et im[m]ediate, d[omi]n[u]s Robert[us] de Keth[e], magist[er] ei[us]d[em]'. The letters in brackets are represented by abbreviation marks in the MS.

Please contact us:

We would welcome the chance to speak to anybody about the potential for using OCRed texts, the latest developments in the field, the best standards and software to use, and the best means of publication, either online or otherwise.

Please contact us at: www.tannerritchie.com/contactus.php

360 Torrance St., Suite 603
Burlington
Ontario
L7R 2R9
Canada
P: 905 667 8562
F: 905 667 3612

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Example Search