Le catalogage des manuscrits médiévaux à la Bibliothèque nationale de France. De l’abbé Bignon à BnF archives et manuscrits

The multiplication of online catalogues invites us to rethink our methods for describing medieval manuscripts. The efforts of the Bibliothèque nationale de France towards new encoding formats are rooted in a long tradition of cataloguing, initiated by the Maurist Benedictines of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the seventeenth century and further developed in the eighteenth century in an important publication by the Abbé Bignon, head of the royal library. A survey of the issues arising over several centuries of inventories and descriptions of manuscripts reveals a distinct continuity in aims and problems, but also underscores the breakthrough represented by digital technology in the cataloguing of manuscripts.Denoël Charlotte, Postec Amandine. Le catalogage des manuscrits médiévaux à la Bibliothèque nationale de France. De l’abbé Bignon à BnF archives et manuscrits. In: Gazette du livre médiéval, n°61.2014. pp. 68-82