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Digital analysis of medieval manuscripts and watermarks
V.N. Karnaukhov, N.S. Merzlyakov, E. Wenger, A. Haidinger, F. Lackner

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Pages: 11-24.

Full text of article: Russian language.

Abstract:
This article is devoted to the development and application of digital image processing methods in historical research, in particular, in processing and analysis of watermarks of medieval manuscripts [1,2]. A watermark of a page of a medieval manuscript is essentially a colorless impress of a special figure (trademark of the paper manufacturer) mounted on a sieve used for paper manufacturing. Obviously, the life of such a sieve is limited, so the time identification of watermarks (determination of their age) is widely used in historical studies to identify the age of the medieval manuscripts. Currently, the comparison of the identified watermarks with unidentified ones is one of the main methods of dating the medieval manuscripts and incunabula. For this purpose, several standard catalogs are used (Piccard, Mozhin-Tralik, Briquet, Zonghi) containing thousands of sketch copies of watermarks collected and systematized over many decades [1,2]. Obtaining such copies and comparing them with catalogs is performed manually, which obviously requires a huge amount of time. Thus, the application of digital methods to these tasks seems appropriate.

Citation:
Karnaukhov VN, Merzlyakov NS, Wenger E, Haidinger A, Lackner F. Digital analysis of medieval manuscripts and watermarks. Computer Optics 1995; 14-15(1): 11-24.

References:
  1. Kresten О. Rezension zu den Banden 12-15 des Wasserzeichen-Repertoriums von G.Piccard. Mitteilungen des Institute fur Osterreichische Geschichtsforschung; 1988; 96: 439-443.
  2. Haidinger A. Zur Registrierung der Wasserzeichen in Klosterneuburger Handschriften. Gazette du livre medieval; 1985; 5: 10- 11.
  3. Karnaukhov VN, Wenger E, Haidinger A, Lackner F. Computer aided processing of watermarks. DIP-92 Proceedings. Riga: 1992; 153-158.
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  5. Yaroslavsky LP. Linear and rank adaptive filters for picture processing. Digital Image Processing and Computer Graphics, Ed. by Wenger E and Dimitrov L, Oldenbourg R; Wien: 1991; 327-372.
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