David Livingstone’s ‘lost letter’ deciphered

HT:   Tim Challies for pointing out an article from BBC News titled David Livingstone’s ‘lost letter’ deciphered.  David Livingstone wrote a four page letter around the margins of his journal in February 1871 from  Bambarre (modern day Democratic Republic of congo).  Fading and challenges caused by the iron gall ink bleeding through to the successive pages have left this letter illegible for many years.  Through the use of imaging technology, David Livingstone’s letter speaks once again.  A research team from Birkbeck College, University of London, working with colleagues at the National Library of Scotland and the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre used successive waves of light to separate the text layers and a 39 megapixel camera to scan the images.  The recipient of the letter was David Livingstone’s friend and future biographer, Horace Waller.

What caught my eye most in this article was the use of advanced imaging technology to make this letter legible once again.  It’s exciting to see ancient documents brought back to life and preserved electronically for generations to come.  This is also why I closely follow the ongoing work of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, who travels the world digitizing manuscripts of the Greek New Testament.  You can learn more about the exciting work being done by CSNTM at their web site, www.csntm.org.  The article, David Livingstone’s ‘lost letter’ deciphered may be read in its entirety at the BBC News web site:  LINK.