Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing

Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing 

The Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing is founded on the premise that computer methods are now fundamental to every stage of the editorial process. We use digital tools to locate and view the original materials; to transcribe them into electronic form; to compare the texts and to analyze the patterns of variation; and we publish them electronically. 

ITSEE projects range from electronic editions of a single manuscript to large-scale investigation and analysis of complex textual traditions and the development of innovative tools and platforms for digital editing. ITSEE staff have developed internationally-accepted encodings for original source description, transcription and textual apparatus; have created widely-used software for the transcription and collation of manuscripts; have worked with evolutionary biologists on applying their methods to textual traditions; and have collaborated on a number of electronic editing projects. 

ITSEE is home to the International Greek New Testament Project's ongoing work on a new edition of the Gospel according to John, led by D.C. Parker, as part of the Novum Testamentum Graece: Editio Critica Maior. Another team is producing an edition of the earliest Latin evidence for the New Testament in surviving manuscripts and quotations in Christian authors. The Birmingham Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR), developed by ITSEE, is the first stage in an ambitious project to develop a online workspace for collaborative editing with partners in Europe (Münster, Trier and the Interedition consortium) and Canada (University of Saskatchewan). Members of ITSEE have led or advised numerous electronic editing projects, including the Codex Sinaiticus Project, the Canterbury Tales Project, the Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, Dante's Monarchia and Johnson's Dictionary on CD-ROM. 

Projects

The Greek New Testament

A critical edition of the Gospel according to St John, prepared by members of the International Greek New Testament Project and the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung in Germany.

• full project description
• electronic editions of the Gospel according to John

The Pauline Commentaries (COMPAUL)

A project to investigate early commentaries on Paul as sources for the biblical text. The project will also contribute to planned editions of the Pauline letters in Greek and Latin.

• full project description
• electronic editions of Paul's Epistles

The Virtual Manuscript Room and Workspace for Collaborative Editing

In collaboration with the INTF in Münster and KoZe in Trier, ITSEE is working on developing the Virtual Manuscript Room, hosting both images of manuscripts held at the University of Birmingham and developing a platform for other institutions to make their collections available on their own servers which are referenced on a central hub.

• full project description
• the Birmingham VMR

Vetus Latina Iohannes

A critical edition of the Old Latin translations of the Gospel according to St John, for publication in both electronic and print format.

• full project description
• electronic edition of the manuscripts

Codex Sinaiticus project

A digital edition of Codex Sinaiticus, prepared in collaboration with the four libraries holding parts of the manuscript.

• full project description
• the edition, hosted by the British Library, is at www.codexsinaiticus.org.

The digital Codex Bezae

A complete transcription of the Latin and Greek texts of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, funded by Cambridge University Library.

• the edition hosted at the Cambridge Digital Library
• links to the full XML transcriptions: Latin, Greek

Carmelite texts

This research is led by Dr V Edden at the University of Birmingham.