In Review

NOVEL IMAGING: Led by Gregory Heyworth, an associate professor of English and textual science, a team from the Lazarus Project tests an unprecedented imaging system on a dime novel in Ronald Rettner Hall.

Heyworth, imaging scientists Ken Boydston and Keith Knox ’70, ’75 (PhD), and project manager Dale Stewart ’70 have developed a method that uses a combination of imaging processes to capture legible digital images of manuscripts and similarly rare and fragile books without opening the items more than 30 degrees.

The dime novel is one of more than 10,000 in a collection held by the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation.

Because of the cheap paper the books were printed on, most would be destroyed if opened for reading.