An article at 24 Hour Museum points out an interesting section of the British Library website:
Posted on August 14, 2005 08:54 PM. Filed under: books & lit.The British Library website is now proudly hosting a searchable archive of 253 rare Renaissance festival books, made possible by three years of work by researchers at the University of Warwick, in association with the British Library.
From marriages, coronations and births to official visits and saints' days, celebrations staged by the royal courts of Europe were occasions to be remembered. Festival books could be compared to souvenir programmes, or magazine accounts, documenting through eye-witness accounts and philosophical reflections the key events in the lives of princely and elite folk - the celebrities of the day.
"Festivals were immensely expensive occasions," said Professor Ronnie Mulryne, who directed the project, "so they could be given permanence by writing an official report." [continue, see images]