Croatian

What is it about?

Aim and purpose. The project of digitization and research of watermarks of Glagolitic manuscripts of Zadar provenance is carried out at the University of Zadar as part of the project Digitization, bibliographic description and research of texts written on Glagolitic, Croatian Cyrillic and Latin scripts until the end of 19th century in Zadar and Šibenik area. This paper describes the preliminary and the first stage of the project, the goal of which is to study the possibilities of watermark research in the context of written heritage studies. To create prerequisites for watermark research, within preliminary project phase protocol for watermark digitization was proscribed, watermark database was created, and watermarks on paper were digitized and described. The purpose of the research is to identify the possibilities and obstacles of watermark research as well as the role of structured watermark database in watermark research. Approach. Theoretical framework was designed on the bases of literature overview. Content analysis of relevant international watermark databases were conducted for the purpose of creating an application profile of the watermark database and digitization protocol. The possibilities of watermark research were investigated by a case study method. Results. The article presented comprehensive review of the literature on watermark research in Croatia and demonstrates the need for the development of an online watermark database as a prerequisite for further systematic watermark research. The VoZnaZD watermark database and its features are described, as well as it possibilities and application profile for watermark description. The case study proved the possibilities of the watermark research in the context of written heritage research. Limitations. The analysis of the watermark research needs to be done in a wider corpus, which requires the cooperation of the wider community. Such research is planned in the next stages of the project. Originality / value. Filigranology is an underrepresented scientific discipline in Croatia, and watermark databases are usually local and in a closed approach, which prevents significant research on watermarks in Croatia. This paper confirms the possibilities and value of the watermark research and the importance of watermark database and lays the foundations for the development of a national collective catalog of watermarks in open access. Keywords: filigranology, Glagolitic manuscripts, watermark, watermark database, watermark digitization

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Filigranology, Digital Humanities, Old and Rare Books Processing, Manuscript Studies