British Library to Offer 65,000 Free eBooks

From the TIMES ONLINE:

More than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from the British Library’s collection are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring.

Owners of the Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader device, will be able to view well known works by writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, as well as works by thousands of less famous authors.

You can read the rest about this Microsoft funded initiative here. In the meantime, we’ve made it relatively easy to download major classics to your Kindle, iPhone, smartphone or computer. See our collection of Free eBooks (and Audio Books).


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Comments (37)
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  • Odd. “Bleak House” and “Pride and Prejudice” — two books cited in the article — are in the public domain (as are all the works of Dickens, Austen, and Hardy), and thanks to the tireless efforts of Project Guteneberg, have been available on the Kindle for years.

  • Mike says:

    Sure, Brent, but it’s significant that one of the world’s great libraries is digitizing its own out-of-copyright holdings and making them readily available to remote readers. In the past, scholars have had to travel to places like the British Library to do research.

    Those who do not yet read on a digital device can still benefit greatly from this sort of thing. My neighborhood bookstore has an Espresso Book Machine, which produces nice quality paperbacks in minutes while you watch. You can get long-out-of print books for a very reasonable price ($8 for any Google book or similar digital file from the public domain). It was featured on Open Culture earlier:

    http://www.openculture.com/2007/08/the_fifteen_minute_book_machine.html

    A list of book machine locations is here:

    http://www.ondemandbooks.com/our_ebm_locations.htm

  • My special field is laser processing and thermal spraying

  • BABATUNDE AYODEJI EMMANUEL A. says:

    I need free books for my students association library.

  • NOOR HUSSAIN says:

    i need free books from british library to enhance my knowledge ,specialy for the sake of exam.

  • liliana says:

    I hope to improve my english

  • mohammed abdul sayeed says:

    I have been a fan of the british library every since my child hood I wanted to take my children to the britich library in india to show them the treasure of knowledge preserved on each & every topic by the british libarary.

    but finally the the idea cliked yesterday to me to look for british library on line so I am trying to look for free ebooks which can help me improve the knowledge of my children who are studying accounts,economics & politics history, & I ound every thing here except accounts & audit

  • Victory says:

    I teach poor children
    to speak English,
    So i need books
    in English Free, on my email.

  • Thushantha kumara says:

    I hope to open a library for disadvantaged children in my village. So i need some books from you.
    Thushantha from sri lanka.
    Mobile: 94 777 82 92 37
    teegeetours@yahoo.com

  • I need a provision of English Grammar advanced books

  • Dear OPen Culture, I have heard that British Library offererd many free ebooks.
    I am a Teacher of English in a remote area in Vietnam, Ba Ngac hamlet, Quang Ngai Province,Vietnam.
    I teach my poor children. They almost have difficulties in life. But they are thirsty for knowledge. We need books to learn better such as English dictionaries, English grammar, short English stories.
    If you have more funds to do charity, please help our children. We are very grateful to your help.
    Best wishes.
    Please contact me at 0840988809539.

  • chikhaoui miloud says:

    thank you

  • Tung Wan says:

    I need the Audio of speak English like an American as I’m the teacher at School for Youth Improvemeny in Keng Tung.I want my students to have a listen to the Audios. I’m very glad to havea contact with you.Thanks for your help.

  • rekha says:

    I wants free books to improve my english so that i would get good pay job & wherer i would independently write and speack english fluently. Bt iwant free downloads of such books to enhance of self progress. Please reply

  • omer iqbal says:

    assalam e allikum my name iz omer want 2 speak english can u tell me more book . those books who helps me in improve my sreaking skill i am from pakistan

  • Pouya Pourakbarian says:

    I am in great and urgent need of a lot of science-fiction stories, but they are so original and somewhat old that I cannot find them at local bookshops, and buying all of them will cost me a fortune. How can I get what I need as fast as possible? I am particularly looking for stories by Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Ray Bradbury, even some stories by Jules Verne.

  • Onimisi says:

    Pls i need to improve in speaking gud british English..send me any book that help me .

  • ab222 says:

    i need to improve my english grammer send to me any book wwill help me

  • em moradpour says:

    HI ,I LIKE TO IMPROVE MY US ENGLISH ESPECIALLY SPEAKING ENGLISH ,PLEASE SEND TO MY ADDRESS MAIL AUDIO BOOKS ,EBOOKS ,PROGRAMS OR ETC ,THANKS

  • Melvin Anthony says:

    Hi, i would like to improve my US English vocabulary. Please email me appropriate eBooks etc., Thanks in advance

  • Andrews says:

    I just get to need some free key ebooks on Micro,Macro n principles of Economics..plis send them to my email,waiting tohere from u.thanks

  • Andrews says:

    I need free Ebooks on Economics ,plis help out.thanks

  • sunil says:

    I am in very urgently need of digital image processing book for engineering. Please get me as soon as possible. Thank you

  • Kapil Sharma says:

    i need to improve my english grammer send to me any book will help me.
    Thanks
    Kapi Sharma

  • Chuni lal agnani says:

    Dear sir.hi.
    My name is chuni lal from pakistan..i open small libarary in my home city Radhan.if u kindly send me some books i thankful to u very much..
    Chuni lal libarary
    main bazar.Radhan distt.dadu.sindh.pakistan

  • hudhud says:

    can you pleasesend me a free copy of this book
    A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama

    Volume 2. Williams, Miller, Albee

    i need the book so much

  • hudhud says:

    please i am in Iraq and it so hard for me now to find this book can you help me

  • Parvaiz Ahmad says:

    Respected sir,
    I need secondary source on Meira chand’s novels and her novel The Bonsai tree in primary source as well.
    Thanks in advance

  • redouane redouane says:

    I need some interesting books to read

  • niyas says:

    i wanna improve my language , so please help .. i need some english books with symble language

  • Bibhuti Chatterjee says:

    Dear sir,
    Greetings. I am looking forward to study English literature in MA ,in English . I am an ex-Army serviceman , need ur help time & again in English poetry , prose, drama and aspects of language .
    Thanking g you sir.
    Bibhuti Chatterjee.

  • folk talk to children says:

    iam alemayehu from Ethiopia , I am looking british folk talk for may children . i am glad if you send folk tolk
    tank you for your help

  • Bibhuti Chatterjee says:
  • Feleke Meried says:

    I love to read books written by British authors on my mobile.Could you please send me info on how I would be able to download,if there is a link or website,I appreciate much.

  • Matthew faerber says:

    How can i get a download of the books of Harold bloom or Daniel j Boorstein. I do have PDF files

  • BIR SARU says:

    I am interested to improve my english language

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