Script, Dockerfile, and instructions for downloading full-resolution images for an entire manuscript from the British Library.
These instructions assume you already have a working Docker install running and some command-line familiarity.
-
Go to the webpage of the British Library manuscript you want to download. For our example we'll use Burney MS 86: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=burney_ms_86
-
Open the image viewer for the manuscript and copy the resulting link, e.g.: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=burney_ms_86_fs001r
-
Run the
bl-dl
Docker image using the image viewer link you just copied, and mapping the current directory into the/data
volume, e.g.:docker run -ti -v "$(pwd)":/data ryanfb/bl-dl "http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=burney_ms_86_fs001r"
If you'd prefer not to use Docker, you can instead run this script natively. These instructions assume some command-line familiarity. The bl-dl.sh
script also needs: bash
, wget
, sort
, uniq
, sed
, grep
, and fgrep
installed.
- Download the latest release of
dezoomify-rs
for your platform: https://github.com/lovasoa/dezoomify-rs/releases - Extract the download archive and open a terminal or command line prompt where the
dezoomify-rs
executable is available. Copy/move thedezoomify-rs
excutable so that it is available on yourPATH
, e.g.:sudo mv -v dezoomify-rs /usr/local/bin/
- Download this script:
wget "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ryanfb/bl-dl/main/bl-dl.sh"
- and make it executable, e.g.:chmod a+x bl-dl.sh
- Go to the webpage of the British Library manuscript you want to download. For our example we'll use Burney MS 86: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=burney_ms_86
- Open the image viewer for the manuscript and copy the resulting link, e.g.: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=burney_ms_86_fs001r
- Run the
bl-dl.sh
script you downloaded using the image viewer link you just copied, e.g.:./bl-dl.sh "http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=burney_ms_86_fs001r"
- The script should automatically run
dezoomify-rs
to download the largest version available for every manuscript image.