I’m looking for ‘Humanist Latin Dictionary’ made by William Harris (1926-2009). Here is the demo version and some information how it was created.
This dictionary was on sale in 1995-2003 as a computer application for Mac OS 7-9 and Windows 3.1. Also, it was included into CD collections called LatinStudio or LATINA CD-ROM. Two distributors, CentaurSystems and J-PROGS, were active in the USA and Great Britain.
I tried all possible ways to retrieve it, from contacting the distributors and libraries, to attempts to find the heirs of Prof. Harris. All in vain. My last hope is that some Latin teachers or amateurs used it in those years, and still have a copy on CD or their old computer.
If you live in the US (Davis, CA or Somerville, MA) and wish to help me, please, contact me.
I would be also, although my computer couldn’t run it. I use an older MacBookPro at home, which runs OS X 10.15.7 (the latest update available for it). I used some Mac apps back in 2003 as well, but they won’t run on that system or later Mac systems. Is the app based on some books or other material available in other formats? HTML or PDF or Word, perhaps?
I’ve always been fascinated by the scholarship of the humanists, such as Erasmus.
I can transform this dictionary into a common format (StarDict, Aard2 Slob, etc.) if I get the binary files. I have the demo version (letter “M”), and its format is clear to me.
Unfortunately, all my attempts to find the dictionary were ineffective:
Latousek, Rob (publisher) - doesn’t have a copy
Morgan, Julian (publisher) - doesn’t have a copy
Middlebury College (emails to 5 colleagues) - no response
paper letter to the known addresses of his family - no response
Latin professors (if the dictionary was listed in their syllabus) - 1 response, doesn’t have a copy
I was fortunate to have been sent an html version of Harris’s Humanist and School dictionaries, both in html format, along with a few other tidbits. Please DM me with an email address, if interested.
Who know about copyright on such things? There is no mention of any copyright whatsoever in the materials I have received.
There is an automatic copyright given to all compositions. The copyright would be in control of his heirs, and it’s possible for them to abandon their claim to it, after which it would enter the public domain. While I have consulted with lawyers on this in the past, I am not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice.