The Vernon Manuscript

This is a scholarly digital facsimile edition of the Middle English Vernon Manuscript, preserved in the illuminated manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library Eng. Poets 1, perhaps the most important surviving manuscript of Middle English poetry (certainly the largest!); it will be published in the 'Bodleian Digital Texts Series' in 2010. This project is under the direction of Professor Wendy Scase of The University of Birmingham. It will have features and an appearance and functionality similar to the other titles in the series, MS Junius 11 and Terence's Six Latin Comedies, allowing of course for further developments during the years leading up to its publication.

This digital facsimile edition will include the following features:

Viewing the Manuscript and Images

• Full-colour high resolution images of the entire manuscript
• High magnification of each image, allowing detailed viewing
• Simultaneous view of entire page and selected detail of the page
• Life-like magnifier, movable across the page, activated by clicking on the facsimile
• Images of the exterior of the manuscript
• Thumbnail views of the entire manuscript at a glance

Reading and Searching the Text

• Complete, hyperlinked transcription of the entire text of the manuscript
• Translation of each poem with hyperlinks to transcription and manuscript images
• Introductory essay, art-historical commentary, analysis of the scholia, and textual notes
• Global text-search facility, covering transcription, translation, introduction, bibliography and notes
• Search results linked to manuscript pages and transcription simultaneously