The University of Manchester is set to launch the Manchester Digital Dante Library, a landmark digital collection which will make some of the rarest and most significant early printed editions of Dante’s Divine Comedy available freely online for the first time.
The first part of this digital library will go live on 29 May, coinciding with an international conference at the historic John Rylands Research Institute and Library where the collection is held.
Developed as part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded project Envisioning Dante, c.1472–c.1630: Seeing and Reading the Early Printed Page, this digital library is one of the most significant scholarly resources ever created for the study of Dante’s works in print.
It features 99 editions printed between 1472 and 1629, with 20 being made available in the first release. The full collection will be rolled out across 2025.
The conference on 29-30 May will bring together world experts in Dante studies, early print culture, and digital humanities. Attendees will explore groundbreaking interdisciplinary research, including the project’s pioneering use of artificial intelligence and computer vision to analyse page design and layout in early modern books – offering a new lens through which to view the evolution of print culture.
The JRRIL Dante Collection includes all but three of the known pre-1650 printed editions of the Divine Comedy, with highlights such as the very first Italian editions printed in 1472, richly illustrated editions from 1481 and 1487, and later translations in Spanish, French, English and Japanese.
The collection also features 19th-century illustrations by Gustave Doré, and a giant hand-illuminated manuscript created in 1902.
