Images and Scanning

Abstract

This chapter gives a detailed account of how images of the manuscripts and printed texts constituting the primary material were made, obtained and processed. The greatest amount by far came from Rabindra-Bhavana, Santiniketan. There were various other sources as well, most importantly the Houghton Library at Harvard. The manuscript images arrived in JPEG format. The print material, processed by the governmental computer agency C-DAC, was supplied in two versions of the TIFF format. Other files were downloaded from various online databases, in PDF or TIFF format. Finally, some images had to be created in-house, using an archival scanner or an SLR camera. These were in JPEG format. The format of images for uploading to the website was carefully debated, and a choice made in favour of GIF files. An account is given of the way the various formats were converted to GIF images. Finally, there are instructions on how to browse the site and view the images to best purpose.