Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 15, 2026, 6:03 PM UTC

WillAdams wrote: post #64

Someone1234 wrote: post #19

I'm surprised no eBook Reader vendor has a Project Gutenberg "Store." Where you can just browse Gutenberg, find a book, and just grab it down to the reader. Instead, they either are actively hostile (Kindle), or require the use of Calibre (which itself is good, it is just the friction).

Used to be one could sort of get that with the Project Librivox: https://librivox.org/ e-book app Gutebooks (in addition to their audio app), but it seems to have been deprecated (I'm no longer able to connect to the server on my copy (which I only got 'cause there was an in-app purchase to fund Project Librivox). FWIW, Barnes & Noble has been plundering the public domain using a book composition/keying house in the…

Post by mcdonje » Fri, May 15, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

throw0101c wrote: post #13

While PG has probably gotten a lot of use and growth with the growth/maintreaming of the Internet since the 1990s, (TIL) it started back in 1971: > Michael S. Hart began Project Gutenberg in 1971 with the digitization of the United States Declaration of Independence.[5] Hart, a student at the University of Illinois, obtained access to a Xerox Sigma V mainframe computer in the university's Materials Research Lab. […]…

Post by JSeiko » Fri, May 15, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

jefurii wrote: post #80

JSeiko wrote: post #2

Hi! I'm one of the programmers at Gutenberg. We've been improving the site a lot over the past few months (and more is coming!). If you haven't visited the page recently, it's worth checking out again: https://www.gutenberg.org/

When I thought about Project Gutenberg I remembered that original brutalist non-design. The current site has been very tastefully updated but looks like it's still very accessible if you turn styles off. Great job!

Post by JSeiko » Fri, May 15, 2026, 6:10 PM UTC

ndr42 wrote: post #51

The project was geo-blocked in Germany for a long time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29024039

Post by svat » Fri, May 15, 2026, 6:14 PM UTC

everybodyknows wrote: post #75

horsawlarway wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used https://standardebooks.org/ to pull nicely formatted Project Gutenberg books on any e-reader that supports a browser (in my case, Boox). Technically, I can also just directly pull the epub from Project Gutenberg, but sometimes the formatting leaves a lot to be desired. Once you get an e-reader that runs a semi-capable OS (ex - stock android, even an older version), it's hard to go back to something like a k…

HTML editions from the two sites contrast interestingly: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1513/pg1513-images.html https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/romeo-... Each has its particular advantages relative to the other ...