The María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation, thanks to a collaboration agreement signed with the pro-RAE Foundation, contributes with its patronage to the promotion of the digitization of the Academic Library of the Royal Spanish Academy, with the intention of making the rich holdings of this institution available to all interested parties.
This important library is made up of manuscripts, some as important as the Gayoso Codex of the Book of Good Love, the poetry of Berceo, the Puñonrostro Codex or the autograph manuscript of Don Juan Tenorio by Zorrilla, incunabula of works such as the Grammar of Nebrija or the Proverbs of Seneca and an ancient collection of the so-called rare printed works, which are those published after the incunabula, that is, from 1501 to 1900, with classic works from the Golden Age and with a large representation of editions of Don Quixote and the main authors. Also of note is the collection of comedies from the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as works of the Spanish language, including the Diccionario de autoridades and all the dictionaries, grammars, lexicons, orthographies, etc., that were subsequently published.
In addition to all this, the collection of this library is completed with graphic and cartographic material consisting of a large number of drawings, prints and maps. Thus, thanks to the signing of collaboration agreements with some of the most important cultural institutions in our country, one of the aims of the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation, which is none other than the conservation and dissemination of Spanish Historical Heritage, is fulfilled.
Through the Digital Library, any Internet user can consult thousands of works, paying attention to the details and appreciating the specific characteristics of each copy. Its viewer, which allows, among other things, various viewing options – including “book mode” – also features OCR (Optical Character Recognition), which makes it possible to find specific words and letters within the digitised texts.
