Help

Filter by category

On an ornament record, click a category (kind, alphabet, style, letter) to run the matching search. The same tags are clickable from the results grid, so you can narrow your selection one criterion at a time without going back to the filter panel.

Searching for a work

The search covers both the titles of works and the titles of their editions. A book catalogued under a modern spelling therefore also comes up when you type the older spelling, and the other way round.

Coming back to a search

Active criteria are written into the page address. You can bookmark a search, send it by email or cite it in an article: it will reopen exactly as you left it.

Upload an image

Upload a photograph or a scan of an ornament. The tool compares it against the whole corpus and shows the visually closest ornaments, from the best match downwards.

Set the tolerance

The tolerance slider widens or tightens the results. A low tolerance keeps only very safe matches. A high tolerance opens things up, which helps when the source image is mediocre or the woodblock is badly worn.

Check with your own eyes

Computed similarity is an aid, not an attribution. Printing flaws, wear and retouches are what carry the proof: always open the candidates and compare them yourself.

Side-by-side view

The comparison tool puts two ornaments next to each other. Zoom and panning are synchronised, so both images move together and you can follow the same detail across the two copies.

What to look for

The decisive differences are often tiny: a break in a rule, a gap in a leaf, a recurring ink blot. These accidents follow the woodblock from one workshop to the next, and sometimes date a print run.

Work, edition, volume

A work groups its editions, and each edition groups its volumes. An ornament record lists the books it appears in, and a printer record lists the volumes they took part in.

Going to the next record

On an edition or a volume, two arrows next to the breadcrumb lead to the next or previous record in the same set, along with its position (for example "Volume 3 of 12"). They only appear when the record actually has siblings: a lone edition or a lone volume shows none.

Institution sigils

Examined copies are tied to the library holding them through a standard sigil, for example CH-LaACV. Hover over the sigil to read the full name, here "Archives cantonales vaudoises", with its city and country.

Printer roles

On a volume, each printer carries their role: publisher, printer, or both at once. Additional mentions flag the special cases, in particular shared, borrowed or restored material.

Author roles

On an edition, each author carries their capacity: main author, co-author, translator, scholarly editor, and the other cases. The capacity applies to that specific edition, which is what tells the translator of an edition apart from the author of the work.

Digitised copies

When the digitised version of a copy is known, a link leads straight to Google Books, Scriptorium or Gallica. You can then check an ornament in context, on its own page.

Gathering ornaments

Once signed in, you can group ornaments into your own lists: an attribution you are working on, the ornaments of a single workshop, a selection for a class.

Reporting a correction

Any record can be the subject of a suggested correction or addition. The suggestion goes to moderation: a team member reviews it before publication, and the history of changes stays available.