Via Apocryphicity I learn that a multi-spectral imaging scanner is due to hit the market which should be affordable by everyone. Oxford University have developed it, and gone into partnership with a Chinese company to exploit. Tony Burke’s explanation is to the point:
Oxford University has developed a portable multi-spectral scanner that is inexpensive enough to be purchased by both institutions and individuals. I don’t know what the exact cost is, or whether it is available for purchase yet, but Dr. Obbink said it was in the price range “of a high-end laptop computer.” See HERE for their info page.
There is a picture of the unit at the OU site.
Let us hope that greed does not price this unit out of the range of normal people, for this could be the greatest innovation in manuscript studies for many years.
You wrote “Let us hope that greed does not price this unit out of the range of normal people …”
How many normal people will possess any manuscript at all, let alone manuscripts that need multi-spectrum imaging?
I’d have to look at eBay to tell you, but more than you might think. And when visiting small libraries, you can bring it with you.
If the kit is expensive, only institutions will buy it. They will put it in a room where a minimum-wage school-leaver who comes in one day a fortnight will operate it. Readers wanting to use it will be charged $200 a shot, and generally the libraries will become the bottleneck. If everyone has one, even institutions will start to view it differently.