Summa Theologica Project

Dates of Project

2013-2015

Project Abstract

This project is focused on the creation of a digital studio for the optical and chemical analysis of manuscripts and printed books. In this start-up project, we will capture images of a 1472 guide for priests written in Latin by a Florentine archbishop and printed in Strasbourg using moveable type. We will image selected pages from this book at specific frequencies in the ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectrum. We will also conduct spot-level densitometry and Raman spectroscopy on elements in this book. The resulting data from these images will then allow us to create a digital studio that will include interactive tutorials and demonstrations explaining the principles of optical and chemical analysis to students, scholars, and life-long learners in the humanities. This digital studio will also allow users to browse and compare the images and spectroscopic data to form their own understanding of the book's production process and reception history.

Results

A detailed book history of all four volumes of the Summa theologica:
http://daedalus.umkc.edu/codices/papers/HowToWriteAHistoryoftheBook.CodicesPaper2.2015.pdf

A tutorial for undergraduate and graduate students about how to write book histories:
http://daedalus.umkc.edu/codices/papers/SummaTheologicaBookHistory.CodicesPaper1.2015.pdf

An image gallery containing images taken in the visible light spectrum for the four volumes:
http://daedalus.umkc.edu/codices/SummaTheologica/summa_v1.html

Student Projects

Plamen Doynov, doctoral dissertation: "Framework for Automatic Identification of Paper Watermarks with Chain Codes"

Chainy Folsom, doctoral dissertation: "Tracing Paper"

Presentations

Virginia Blanton and Nathan Oyler, "CODICES: Writing a Narrative of the 1486/7 Edition of Antoninus' Summa theologica," Early Book Society, Oxford University, July 2015

Playmen Doynov, "Imaging and Analysis of Historical Manuscripts at Early Printed Documents," Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Seminar Series, University of Missouri-Kansas City, April, 2015

Virginia Blanton, Playmen Doynov, Chainy Folsom, Melissa Morris, Nathan Oyler, and Jeff Rydberg-Cox, CODICES Book Imaging Demo, Mid-America Medieval Association, University of Missouri-Kansas City, February, 2015

Chainy Folsom and Melissa Morris,"Reimagining Incunables: How Accessible Digital Technology Illuminates the Production Process of Antoninus' Summa theologica," Landmarks of Printing: From Origins to the Digital Age: Printing Historical Society 50th Anniversary Conference, London, England, November, 2014

Chainy Folsom and Melissa Morris, "Reimagining Incunables: How Accessible Digital Technology Illuminates the Production Process of Antoninus' Summa theologica," First Friday Lecture: New Historical Research. Department of History, University of Missouri - Kansas City, November, 2014

Funding Agency

Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Start-Up Program and the University of Missouri Research Board supported research on a four-volume guide for priests written in Latin by the Dominican friar Antonino Pierozzi (1389-1459). Entitled Summa theologica, this work was printed in Nuremberg by Anton Koberger in 1486-1487 using moveable type. Our copy of the Summa theologica was on loan from the Library at Conception Abbey, Conception, Missouri. During this project, the CODICES team built its multispectral imaging system, developed a computer process for identifying and matching watermarks, and studied the paper used in Koberger printed books.