The Digital Library offers the possibility of exploring thousands of works, stopping in the details and appreciating the unique characteristics of each copy. Its viewer, which includes several viewing options, such as “book mode”, has the OCR (optical character recognition) system, allowing the search for specific words and letters within digitized texts. The site invites you to explore nine categories: linguistics, literature, social sciences, histories, biographies, religion, sciences, arts and philosophy.
Then, he invites you to read and consult the Dictionary of the Spanish Language, published between 1726 and 1739 by the Royal Spanish Academy. This is his first lexicographic repertoire: “Dictionary of the Spanish language, which explains the true meaning of the voices, their nature and quality, with the phrases or ways of speaking, the proverbs or sayings, and other things convenient to use. of the language”, can be read on the first pages of known as the Dictionary of authorities. Here you can consult the first volume.
In the digitization process, a careful selection has been made, prioritizing particularly relevant titles due to their uniqueness or rarity in libraries worldwide, as well as their great historical, heritage or editorial value. Among these works, the first edition of the first part of Don Quixote from 1605 and one of the manuscript copies of “El Buscón” by Francisco de Quevedo stand out.
In the presentation to the press, the director of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado, highlighted: “As of today, the most select of our collection is available to the public, offering works that are not found in other libraries or that, being, they have a special and unique character”. Another example is an autograph manuscript by José Zorrilla from Don Juan Tenorio, where the numerous erasures and corrections made by the poet and playwright can be seen. “They are works that were somewhat forgotten and that now come to life,” said Muñoz Machado. A notable case is the “Don Quixote of Ibarra” of 1780, an edition that emulated an English version of 1738, which had caused a sensation in Spain due to its exceptional quality. This Spanish edition featured illustrations by the best artists of the time, including a young man named Francisco de Goya.
In addition, priority has been given to the digitization of works of interest to regular users of the RAE library, such as spellings, syntax treatises, primers and histories of Spanish. Works by the most prominent Spanish authors from the 15th to the 19th centuries have also been included, as well as the main Latin classics and foreign authors present in this library.
To date, around 1,500,000 pages have been digitized, and it is planned to continue progressively incorporating those works that are digitized at the request of researchers, as well as those that the Academy considers of special relevance.
The Digital Library was carried out in three phases
The process of digitizing the RAE’s documentary collection began in June 2021, being structured in three strategic phases.
In the first stage, the digitization of representative copies of manual printing was addressed, ranging from the incunabula, printed from the beginning of the typographic technique (in the mid-15th century), until 1500. This phase included the digitization of books cataloged as “rare”, published between 1501 and 1830. Among these valuable documents, users will be able to explore titles such as the luck book of 1515 or the Authorities Dictionarythe first lexicographic work carried out by the RAE and published in six volumes between 1726 and 1739.
The second phase focused on the digitization of works printed between 1831 and 1900, mostly the product of mechanical printing. Among the digitized copies, works such as On the banks of the Sar, of Rosalía de Castro o Zaragoza, by Benito Pérez Galdós.
The third and final phase undertaken by the Digital Library focuses on the digitization of manuscripts. From this rich repertoire of manuscript works safeguarded by the Academy, a representative selection of 15 titles available for consultation is already presented.
Among the digitized texts, the good love book of the archpriest of Hita, present in the Gayoso codex or manuscript G, one of the three manuscript copies that have survived of this work from the 14th century. Readers have the opportunity to delve into the manuscript of the Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla, written by the author himself and academic member of the RAE.
Verses of equal importance in our literature are those of Rubén Darío in his Autumn song in springwhose manuscript is also available for online consultation in the Digital Library.
2024-01-24 01:01:32
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