Project
E-ilustrace is a research database of 5000 printed images in books published in the Czech Lands up to 1550. This database is an output of the pioneering project between the Library of Czech Academy of Sciences and the National Library of the Czech Republic in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Visual Geometry Group (VGG).
The bilingual database provides access to over 2500 unique woodblocks used by printers in the Czech Lands during the first phase of printing history. All records contain bibliographic and iconographic data and usually also a corresponding high-resolution image. For the first time, the Czech visual material is classified with both ICONCLASS and relevant subject-related keywords in Czech.
The implemented VISE software by VGG makes the database the first comprehensive tool for tracking and researching the use, reuse, exchange, and copying of woodblocks within Czech illustrated book production of the 15th and 16th centuries. In addition, the website offers a tool for creating digital exhibitions that can be used by teachers or by the wider public for educational purposes.