British Library Will Soon Offer Digital Reproductions Of 60,000 Books Via iPad App

The British Library has announced it will make digital copies of more than 60,000 books available on its 19^th Century Historical Collection app for the iPad by the end of 2011, according to news first reported by The Guardian. First released in June, the free app currently offers some 30,000 titles at the cost of $2.99 per month. For those that want to try the app for free, you may do so and have access to 100 works for free. According to Caroline Brazier, the British Library’s director of scholarship and collections:

"The online appetite for original historical content is huge and the library is delighted to be working with BiblioLabs to transform the accessibility and visibility of this remarkable collection of 19th century books scholarship and collections.

Copies of each book, digital reproductions of the actual books stored in the Library, can be purchased within the app thanks to Amazon integration. Features include:

• Access thousands of historical books
• Search the collection
• Browse titles by subject
• Read commentary on selected titles
• View images of original maps
• See author inscriptions and margin notes
• Create favorite title lists
• Download books for offline reading
• Read classics in foreign languages such as Italian, Spanish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Dutch
• Share interesting books with friends

The 19^th Century Historical Collection app is available now in the App Store.

Mentioned apps