BoBo (Boccaccio Bookshelf): Giovanni Boccaccio’s “Virtual” Library

This research project aims to reconstruct Boccaccio’s “virtual” library and, with the help of technology, to make it directly accessible for internet users. The entire corpus of manuscripts, autographs and annotations belonging to the author will be made available full-text for virtual “open-stacks” research. The project will give direct access to the manuscripts already available on the Web with links to their digital reproductions. In addition, it intends to provide for the digitization of unavailable or poorly digitized manuscripts, such as Krakow, Biblioteka Muzeum Narodowego, Oddzial Zbiory Czartoryskich, MS 2566; London, British Library, MS Harley 5383; Toledo, Archivo y Biblioteca Capitulares, MS Zelada 104.6. Upon completion of the project, Boccaccio’s entire collection will be available for consultation sine aliqua diminutione, as stated in his will bequeathing his library to the convent of Santo Spirito in Florence.