Oxford, Vatican team up to digitize ancient texts

[April 13, 2012]  LONDON (AP) -- Oxford University and the Vatican are teaming up to make 1.5 million pages of ancient texts available for free online over the next four years.

Oxford University said Thursday the digitization will focus on three subject areas: Greek manuscripts, 15th-century printed books, and Hebrew manuscripts and early printed books drawn from its Bodleian Libraries and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Oxford said the subjects were chosen "for the strength of the collections" and "their importance for scholarship in their respective fields."

About two-thirds of the works will come from the Vatican with the rest from the Bodleian.

The libraries are undertaking the project with the help of a 2 million pound ($3.2 million) grant from the Polonsky Foundation.

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Online:

http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/

[Associated Press]

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