Library brings medieval classics into digital age

Literary treasures written in Middle English are to be put into a digital archive by John Rylands Library in Manchester. A major element of the In the Bigynning project will reunite a leaf from Chaucer's The Miller's Tale with a matching piece at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia from which it has been separated for more than a century. Carol Burrows, assistant librarian, said: "It will act as a pilot for an ambitious Manchester Medieval Digital Library which will contain digital versions of the Rylands's outstanding collections of medieval manuscripts and early printed books."