“… providing many examples of the same text to researchers without the inconvenience and expense of traveling hither and yon … The color fidelity is incredible … At $50, no one should complain of the cost of the Octavo Editions version of Johnson’s magnificent achievement [A Dictionary of the English Language] as being excessive.”
– Dictionary Society of North America
Spring, 2005
“These affordably priced CDs allow the reader to view every page of selected rare books at close range, perhaps the next best thing to reading the books themselves. ... Octavo is doing an excellent job of making ... rare works in various disciplines accessible to a wide audience via affordable facsimiles on CD.”
– Huntia 12
2005
“The value of this digital reprint [ Fuchs’ De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes] , of high quality and ease of use, is quite evident. The facsimile is prefaced by a brief but informative introduction by Karen Reeds, a specialist in the history of botany and author of several indispensable works on the 16th century.”
– Gesnerus 61
2004
“The Octavo Edition of Fuchs’ [De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes] contains the history of both author and herbal, showing every inch of the volume (including its binding), and providing an index of both botanical and English plant names so that readers can easily access the corresponding illustrations. The digital volume also allows for printing favorite pictures in color or black-and-white, and is Windows-, Macintosh-, and UNIX-compatible.”
– The Herb Quarterly
Fall, 2004
“Octavo’s efforts have given rise to a new form of book. In the past, there has been the book itself and the information it contains. Octavo editions provide the visual image of the artifact, the information (text) in fully searchable form, and scholarly annotations that extend well beyond the narrow possibilities of the footnote. It is, perhaps, the kindest, gentlest form of annotation, one that provides a new kind of discovery in texts that have traditionally been beyond the means of most of us.”
– Webb C. Howell, Fine Books and Collections
September/October, 2004
“Because of its inexpensive price, high quality, and extremely accessible digital design, this rare treat [Hooker’s Pomona Londinensis] is highly recommended for academic libraries with collection interests in horticulture, botany, or art.”
– Mary Ellen Icaza, Library Journal
September 1, 2004
“...an extraordinary opportunity for history to be resurrected from rare book rooms and then made available to a wide audience”
– Steven Foster, Herbalgram
August, 2004
“One can only applaud the work done by Octavo on this edition [Horae Beate Mariae ad usum Romanum]. The future for preservation work is bright, and their efforts to make such important medieval works more accessible are quite welcome.”
– Matthew Z. Heintzelman, Libraries and Culture
Summer, 2004
“Most of us will never hold such a rare book in our hands....The Octavo Edition [of Fuch’s De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes] is introduced by an excellent, enlightening commentary by botany historian Karen Reeds.”
– Jo Sellers, The Herb Society of America
Spring, 2004
“Pop it [Redouté’s Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs] in your computer’s CD drive and the exquisite world of rare books is at your command....This is the perfect marriage of technology and print. I am converted!”
– Libby Kyer, The Botanical Artist
Spring, 2004
“Octavo has built in a number of navigation features so that reader can readily and easily move around among the pages, so to speak, as well as view images and text in enlarged sizes....The CDs are easy to use and provide a pleasurable viewing and reading experience.”
– Charlotte Tancin, The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Newsletter
February, 2004
“The Grammar of Ornament is also available in paperback…but the colors are more vibrant and the motifs are reproduced in much greater detail in [Octavo’s] digital edition.… The Octavo digital edition, with its incredible fidelity to the original text, is a model marriage of technology and decorative art.”
– Marc Garrett, since1968.com
January 21, 2004
“I found myself moved by a blend of the new and the very, very old: a series of CD-ROMs using Adobe Acrobat that give readers a chance to explore spiritual words of wisdom [in the Gutenberg Bible] exactly as they were published centuries ago.”
– David Crumm, Detroit Free Press
November 26, 2003
“Rare books like the Gutenberg Bible are usually squirreled away in private libraries or locked in sealed cases in public institutions, where only a relative few people are able to peruse them....Now anyone can examine each of the Bible’s nearly 1,300 pages in Portable Document Format.”
– Elizabeth Olson, The New York Times
November 13, 2003
