The Borgia Map being recorded with the Selene PSS © Images Supplied by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Factum Foundation’s team set up the system over the course of a week and completed test scans of a variety of items from the Library’s collection, including a 4000-year-old cuneiform tablet showing a temple floor plan with measurements; the earliest dated European woodblock print; illuminated manuscript pages, and the Borgia Map, a 15th-century map of the world.
Imaging Manager James Robinson and Senior Photographers Tony Richards and Jo Castle were trained to operate the system by Factum’s Jorge Cano and Carlos Sanjuan. As a member of the Selene Circle, the John Rylands Library will be part of a close-knit network that will tailor the Selene and its software to the Library’s needs, with plans to integrate open-source data visualisation tools from the ARCHIOx project.
Objects from the collection are currently being recorded and explored in high resolution. The objects include Cuneiform tablets, inscriptions on bone and palm leaves, early maps, manuscripts, bindings, copperplate and woodblock prints and pasted-down watermarks.
Jorge Cano and the John Rylands team during training © Images Supplied by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
