Texts and Concordances of the Libro de buen amor (Gayoso, Salamanca and Toledo Manuscripts) (review)

Information Technology and Hispanic Studies Texts and Concordances of die Libro de buen amor (Gayoso, Salamanca and Toledo Manuscripts) Eds. Steven Kirby and Eric W Naylor. CD-ROM. (Spanish Series No. 132). New York: Hispanic Seminary ofMedieval Studies. 2004. ISBN 1569540934. This CD-ROM edition of the Libro de buen amor, compiled and edired by veteran medieval Hispanists Steven D. Kirby and Eric W. Naylor, is an excellent example of how digital technology- aids in promoting the study of diffinilt (or long) multi-manuscripr texts such as the Libro de buen amor. Part of the trouble with studying the LBA has always been the issue of getting a good transcription ofall three extremely rare manuscripts without having to travel extensively, spend a lot ofmoney or lug around a lot ofbooks. Available facsimiles of the three manuscripts are similarly expensive, rare, hard to access, and cumbersome. For the first time, this CD-ROM, prepared according to the norms established for manuscript transcrijition by the Hisjianic Seminary of Medieval Spanish Studies, offers Hispanists the opportunity to access all three manuscripts without enormous expenses and energy Llbicjuitous computing and the "very jiortable CD-ROM format" make this instant access possible. Professors Naylor and Kirby have worked exhaustively on this project to make reliable transcriptions of the three major LBA manuscripts, w4iich have been checked and re-checked against available sources, readily available to scholars of medieval Spanish literature. All files are digitally neutral ASCII files, which means that once a scholar opens them using Word (which is merely a suggestion, but I found it useful) and saves them to the hard disk, they will work in either Mac or PC platforms. The size of the files, however, would suggest that one keep both the hardware and software up-to-date. These files might be difficult to manipulate on comjiuters more than five years old. Academic users should check with their technical support staff on the feasibility of using and saving large Word files on the hard disk. Using a PC, I opened Word first, and using the "Open" command, opened each file and saved it to my hard disk. Once I did this, I could use and manipulate the files in many different ways. La corónica 34.1 (Fall, 2005): 257-58 258Paul F. LarsonLa corónica 34.1. 2005 Once users insert the disc, thev will find that the editors have opted for sinijilicity over conijilexitv in the sense that the files have been left in a SiIiI])Ie format to allow the user the greatest flexibility. This format also means that one does not need enormous computer skills to handle the files. Thereare no inter-textual hyperlinks to follow, no strange formats to decijdier, and no special software to buy. Any text processing software is sufficient to handle these documents, and the only caveat I would otter is to make sure one has sufficient computing ¡rower and hard disk space to handle large files. The textual transcrijitions of each manuscrijit all go over one hundred pages in Word. By using the "Find" command, one can easily find any term or jihrase in anv ¡>art of anv of the three manuscrijits. Rv using multiple screens, one could easily compare the same lines, side-by-side, from all three manuscrijits at once, which, until now. was nearly impossible. Due to its "searchabilitv" this resource will be |>articularlv interesting for linguists who study medieval lexicology, lexicograjdiv and morphology. The content of the disc is not strictly limited to the texts themselves. Besides the seini-jialeograjihic text transcrijition files of each manuscrijH (designated bv the name txt-***). the CD-ROM also contains the corresponding complete reference concordances, with context (ctx-***) and without context (cnc-***), alphabetic frequency indexes (alf-***). descending frequency indexes (des-***), and reverse aljihabetic frequency indexes (rev- ***), which should facilitate a variety of linguistic studies. The CD-ROM includes a bibliographic essav (intro.jidf) that not only describes the history and jirocess of creating the LBA CD-ROM project, but also includes an annotated bibliography of all (or most) ofthe editions of the LBA, including facsimiles. The introductory essay also includes an annotated bibliography of criticism, glossaries, monographs, hook-length studies, bibliograjihies, and...