A number of such databases have been and are being developed on both CD-ROM and the Internet. In the remaining case, we will present a small selection of what is currently available for researchers. In Principio 9. Books in the Middle Ages often lacked set titles . Some acquired titles after they were in use for years or generations.
Some titles refer to a text of which a number of manuscript copies exist.
Other titles refer to a specific manuscript. For written works before the era of printed books, it is much easier to identify texts and specific copies of texts by their exact opening words rather than by titles. Traditional Christian hymnals are organized in this same fashion. The use of incipits enables scholars to find texts which are possible copies of the same original or of other copies. Although now published electronically, In Principio's own genesis was a library card file, as seen on the right.