Today I learned that the British Library has made 1,000 manuscripts available online again. They are here. Scroll past the pretty-pretty stuff, and a very workable list appears, on three pages, in order of collection/fond. Each row is a link, with shelfmark, date, and a quick summary of contents. Most are Latin, but there are papyri on page 3. There are no downloads (“as yet”). But it is a huge relief to see these appear.
It looks rather as if the images mostly (all?) come from manuscripts that were made available to other institutions, and thereby preserved off-site. If so, that ought to give BL management pause for thought as to the wisdom of only holding digital images in one place.
Funnily enough the list format, although obviously knocked up quickly, is far more usable to a researcher than anything we had on the old site. I do hope that it is retained, possibly divided into collections, as with the Wiglaf index to the Vatican manuscripts. Most manuscript repository sites are a pig to navigate.
Looking good.