2017 IIIF Conference - The Vatican

Andre Del Monte (formerly Yosef Tsarfati di Fez) d. 1587 was one of many Jewish converts of the late 16th and early 17th century who was active as a censor in addition to working for the College of the Neophytes as a preacher for the purpose of converting Jews and educating recent Jewish converts in the ways of their new faith. Of the manuscripts that have been digitized by the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, one of Del Monte’s works stands out as unique because it is written in Italian and Hebrew: BAV Neofiti 37. This manuscript provides a unique opportunity to create a digital critical edition not only because of its bilingual nature and rich text, which alludes to the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, but also to other historical events and legends of the Jews. This presentation will highlight the theoretical and technical components of the creation of a digital critical edition, including a live instance of the Vatican manuscript using IIIF/Mirador within a WordPress instance. The discussion will place special consideration on the methodologies and challenges introduced within the work of Apollon, Bélisle, and Régnier from their recent publication Digital Critical Editions (2014, University of Illinois Press).