Edition Open Sources

We are pleased to announce that one of the works currently under review from the office of the OES Editors of the University of Oklahoma is an English translation of and a critical introduction to the Arabic alchemical manuscript "The Treasure of Alexander" by Ana Alfonso-Goldfarb, Silvia Waisse, and Safa A.A.C. Jubran. The editors received the proposal for this project on August 23, 2017.

New Publication

Book cover for Francesco Luzzini, Theory, Practice, and Nature In-Between: Antonio Vallisnieri's Primi Itineris Specimen (1729); Edition Open Sources, 2018

Francesco Luzzini’s Theory, Practice, and Nature In-between: Antonio Vallisneri’s Primi Itineris Specimen was published in March of 2018 by Edition Open Sources (EOS).

The heart of the work is a critical edition of Antonio Vallisneri’s Primi itineris per Montes Specimen Physiocomedicum (First Report of a Mountain Journey, 1729). Vallisneri was one of Italy’s preeminent physicians and natural philosophers. This text is a travel account of Vallisneri’s trip across the northern Apennines. His engaging account illuminates many aspects of natural history at the time, including the development of methodologies in geology, anthropology, geography and other field sciences.

This edition includes a facsimile of the sole surviving original manuscript, a transcription of the text, an English translation, and an introductory essay. Explanatory notes throughout address textual, historical, philological, and scientific aspects of the text, making the work accessible and of value to a broad spectrum of readers.

This publication is the fruition of an Edition Open Sources post-doctoral fellowship established by OU and MPI in 2014.

First Joint Publication

The first publication jointly sponsored by OU and MPI has now appeared. Written by historian of science Stefan Paul Trzeciok, this publication is a two-volume edition of a text written by an Arts Master in Paris, Alvarus Thomas (d. 1521), on the theory of proportions and the science of motion (vol 1, vol 2). Although Alvarus and his text are not widely known, it is interesting to note that, in two known instances, early readers of Alvarus’ text chose to bind it together with their own copy of De revolutionibus by Nicolaus Copernicus. Now anyone may go to the EOS website and read this comprehensive study by Trzeciok, examine a color facsimile of the entire manuscript, and study a full transcription, all freely available online.

About EOS

An International Collaborative Venture

Edition Open Sources (EOS) is a peer-reviewed, scholarly publishing series in both digital and physical formats. Digital-format publications in EOS are free and immediately accessible to the public worldwide under a creative commons license. Development of the platform was led by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin (MPI). The project now continues as a collaborative venture between MPI and the Department of the History of Science, OU Libraries, and the History of Science Collections.

A Publishing Paradigm

Sources interest everyone. Sources are the special concern of libraries and special collections. Publications in EOS consist of a critical introduction to the source, a high resolution facsimile, an authorized transcription, and optionally an English translation.

EOS is one answer to the question of how research libraries, special collections, and humanities scholars may work together in the digital world. EOS demonstrates that the digital world and the physical world are not opposed. It is not an “either/or” dilemma, but a “both/and,” for students and scholars get the best of both worlds. With EOS, open access signifies a scholarly paradigm entailing high-quality publications which are peer reviewed, make a scholarly contribution in their field and count as academic publications.

Different Formats

The EOS platform consists of a single technical workflow that produces every book in several different formats:

First, with a hyperlinked web version, users navigate between sections using a pull-down menu. One may link directly to any paragraph in the work. In the facsimile section, browse by thumbnails or zoom in on high resolution images, even on a smartphone. A transcription offers a marked up, readable text in the original language. Most publications will also feature an English translation.
The web page for each book also offers download links for two portable formats: a print-quality PDF and an EPUB that resizes to fit your screen, whether on an iPad, Kindle or smartphone.
Finally, for those who wish to have a printed copy, a handsome, hard-bound book is sold for roughly the cost of printing. The other formats are available free.

EOS Fellowships Completed

A major milestone in the MPI-OU collaboration is the completion of the first EOS post-doctoral fellowships at the end of 2016. The two fellows, Francesco Luzzini (sponsored by OU) and Angela Axworthy (sponsored by MPI), worked over the last two years to help launch the collaborative series. Their publications will appear later this year. Luzzini’s project will publish a geological and travel manuscript written by Antonio Vallisnieri (1729). Axworthy will publish an edition of a commentary on an introduction to astronomy by Sacrobosco. Several additional book proposals currently are in the pipeline, or under consideration by the EOS editorial board, both in Berlin and at OU, which will lead to further publications in the series over the next few years.