Jacoby Online is now available from the Library website.
Felix Jacoby (1876-1959) edited, over many years, the “fragments” of the Greek historians who are not preserved complete: that is, quotations from their works in other writers. In his multi-volume work, Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker (for which he requested the abbreviation FGrHist) he created one of the stupendous research sources in the field of ancient history. The work outlived two world wars, Jacoby's forced retirement from his chair at the University of Kiel, his exile from his native land, his return to Germany, and the death of his beloved and faithful companion and helper, his wife. The appearance of this work in the modern form on Jacoby Online offers an opportunity to review the life and career of this great scholar and the organization of his complex masterpiece.
Brill's New Jacoby (BNJ) is a new edition of the 856 fragmentary historians that comprise F. Jacoby's monumental Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker Parts I-III, but with significant additions. Each author has a Greek text (updated from that of Jacoby where relevant); facing English translation; new, critical commentary (for the first time for authors 608-856, on which Jacoby did not write commentaries); a brief encyclopaedia-style entry about his life, works, importance, etc.; and a select bibliography. BNJ will also include several new authors and many fragments of existing authors that were either unknown to Jacoby or excluded by him. (Depending on the topic they deal with, new authors will be given the same number as the preceding one followed by an A or B in order to distinguish them.) Jacoby's numbering system has been retained so that readers may also consult FGrH without having to refer to a concordance.
BNJ will be published online in batches of 50-60 fragmentary authors every six months, beginning in December 2006 and ending in 2013. Each entry is subject to a stringent peer-refereeing process. There are currently 108 scholars in 16 countries working on the authors: a list of these scholars, together with authors and anticipated publication date, will be published with the next batch of authors.