The Digital Library
The latest addition to napoleon.org, the Digital Library is a fantastically powerful tool and a great way of taking an in-depth look at some rare and unique books that would not otherwise be available to the public. Of particular interest is the zoom function, which allows the user to get right into the text and images available in the library.
The zoom function
Let us take the Livre du Sacre, a collection of quite beautiful, highly-detailed sketches and descriptions charting the coronation of Napoleon I, as our example. As well as being able to scan through the book, page by page, the user can also take a more global view of what it contains by scrolling through the thumbnails of each individual page.
Crowd scenes…
Once a page has been selected, the user can take a closer look at the image using the exceptionally powerful zoom tool. The crowd scene of Napoleon taking his oath can be picked apart to focus on three members of the crowd, busy discussing matters amongst themselves.
In detail…
And equally, the beautiful drawing of Pope Pius VII in all his finery can be explored in great detail using the function.