★ Find a new page on our Untranscribed Manuscripts list.
Select a manuscript to transcribe by clicking on one of the options listed below. Manuscripts are arranged by Subject, Chronology, Difficulty Level, Box Number and Folio Number. You can select a document from a subject area or time period of interest to you or of particular relevance to the course you are studying. Beginners with little experience of manuscript transcription may wish to start with a paper from the Easy category. If you would like to transcribe a page at random choose any manuscript from the Folio Number category. You may also choose a manuscript from the list of folios requiring completion, see a list of already completed manuscripts, or choose a page at random.
To check the progress of transcription and to see a list of folios already started or completed, consult the Benthamometer page.
View a time-line of Bentham's life.
Generally speaking, Bentham's handwriting deteriorated as he got older. Thus, the earliest manuscripts are the most easy to read; the middle period is moderate; while the later period is the most challenging (and therefore the most rewarding!) By clicking Easy, Moderate or Difficult below you will be directed to the corresponding chronological categories.
Consult guidelines on reading Bentham's handwriting.
This category refers to the reference system used by the library at UCL, which stores the Bentham Papers in 174 different boxes. Each box contains a variety of manuscripts from different time periods and written on a range of subjects. View the contents of a specific box.
Each box of Bentham papers contains a range of individual manuscripts known as folios. Each folio has been assigned a unique number by UCL's library. Consult the list of folios.
If you are looking for manuscripts which have yet to be worked on, users can consult a list of untranscribed manuscripts.
Transcripts are submitted by users when they think they have transcribed it to their best ability, and these are edited by the Transcribe Bentham editors. Once edited, they are either deemed complete and locked to prevent further editing or, when there remain a number of gaps or unclear words, the transcript is left open for users to complete. To see which folios require completion, users can examine the list of incomplete folios.
This category contains transcripts submitted by users which have been checked and edited by the Transcribe Bentham editors, and which have been judged as complete and thus locked to prevent further editing. Users may wish to consult these completed transcripts to help identify unclear words.
Though no edits can be made to them, they can also be used to examine how various types of encoding are applied; simply click 'view source' on the toolbar to see the encoded transcript.
