Public-domain ebook
by Marie Lebert
Language: en837 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: History - Modern (1750+)·Journalism/Media/Writing
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #36616.
The opening · free to read
4 July 1971 - 4 July 2011 > An album to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Project Gutenberg
This album is dedicated to all Project Gutenberg and Distributed Proofreaders volunteers worldwide.
The first ebook was available on 4 July 1971, as eText #1 of Project Gutenberg, a visionary project launched by Michael Hart to create free electronic versions of literary works and disseminate them worldwide. In the 16th century, Gutenberg allowed anyone to have print books for a small cost. In the 21st century, Project Gutenberg would allow anyone to have a digital library at no cost. Project Gutenberg got its first boost with the invention of the web in 1990, and its second boost with the creation of Distributed Proofreaders in 2000.
4 July 1971 > eText #1 > The United States Declaration of Independence
On 4 July 1971, Michael Hart keyed in The United States Declaration of Independence (signed on 4 July 1776) to the mainframe he was using, in upper case, because there was no lower case yet. The file was 5 K. Michael mentioned to the 100 users of the pre-internet of the time where the etext was stored--though without a hypertext link, because the web was still 20 years ahead. It was downloaded by six users.
4 July 1971 > As recalled by Michael Hart
As recalled by Michael Hart in January 2009: "On July 4, 1971, while still a freshman at the University of Illinois (UI), I decided to spend the night at the Xerox Sigma V mainframe at the UI Materials Research Lab, rather than walk miles home in the summer heat, only to come back hours later to start another day of school. I stopped on the way to do a little grocery shopping to get through the night, and day, and along with the groceries they put in the faux parchment copy of The U.S. Declaration of Independence that became quite literally the cornerstone of Project Gutenberg. That night, as it turned out, I received my first computer account--I had been hitchhiking on my brother's best friend's name, who ran the computer on the night shift. When I got a first look at the huge amount of computer money I was given, I decided I had to do something extremely worthwhile to do justice to what I had been given. (...) As I emptied out groceries, the faux parchment Declaration of Independence fell out, and the light literally went on over my head like in the cartoons and comics... I knew what the future of computing, and the internet, was going to be... 'The Information Age.' The rest, as they say, is history." (NEF Interview)
Michael decided to use the huge amount of computer time he had been given to search the literary works that were stored in libraries, and to digitize these works. A book would become a continuous text file instead of a set of pages. Project Gutenberg's mission would be to put at everyone's disposal, in electronic versions, as many literary works as possible for free.
After keying in The United States Declaration of Independence in 1971, Michael typed in a longer text, The United States Bill of Rights, in 1972, i.e. the first ten amendments added in 1789 to the Constitution (dated 1787) and defining the individual rights of the citizens and the distinct powers of the Federal Government and the States.
From one year to the next, disk space was getting larger, by the standards of the time--there was no hard disk yet--, making it possible to store larger files. Volunteers began typing in The Bible, with one individual book at a time, and a file for each book.
1974-1988 > The Collected Works of William Shakespeare
Michael typed in The Collected Works of William Shakespeare, with the help of some volunteers, one play at a time, and a file for each play. This edition of Shakespeare was never released, unfortunately, due to changes in copyright law. Shakespeare's works belong to public domain, but comments and notes may be copyrighted, depending on the publication date. Other editions of Shakespeare from public domain were released a few years later.
August 1989 > eBook #10 > The King James Bible
Its critics long considered Project Gutenberg as impossible on a large scale. But Michael went on keying book after book during many years, with the help of some volunteers. In August 1989, Project Gutenberg completed its 10th ebook, The King James Bible (1769), both testaments, and 5 M for all files.
In 1990, there were 250,000 internet users. The standard was 360 K disks. with Tim Berners-Lee dealing with HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) and hyperlinks at CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, Switzerland.
January 1991 > Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
In January 1991, Michael typed in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), by Lewis Carroll.
In July 1991, Michael typed in Peter Pan (1904), by James M. Barrie. These two classics of childhood literature each fit on one disk.
November 1993 > Mosaic, the first public browser
The first public browser, Mosaic, was released in November 1993. It became easier to circulate etexts and recruit volunteers. From 1991 to 1996, the number of ebooks doubled every year, with one ebook per month in 1991, two ebooks per month in 1992, four ebooks per month in 1993, and eight ebooks per month in 1994.
January 1994 > eBook #100 > The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
In January 1994, Project Gutenberg released The Complete Works of William Shakespeare as eBook #100. Shakespeare wrote most works between 1590 and 1613. The steady growth went on, with an average of eight ebooks per month in 1994, 16 ebooks per month in 1995, and 32 ebooks per month in 1996.
June 1997 > The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
In June 1997, Project Gutenberg released The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883), by Howard Pyle.
August 1997 > eBook #1000 > La Divina Commedia, by Dante
Project Gutenberg reached 1,000 ebooks in August 1997. eBook #1000 was La Divina Commedia (1321), by Dante Alighieri, in Italian, its original language.
With the number of ebooks on the rise, three main sections were set up: (1) "Light Literature", such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, Peter Pan and Aesop's Fables; (2) "Heavy Literature", such as the Bible, Shakespeare's works, Moby Dick and Paradise Lost; (3) "Reference Literature", such as Roget's Thesaurus, almanacs, and a set of encyclopedias and dictionaries. A more detailed classification was released years later.
Project Gutenberg's goal has been more about selecting books intended for the general public than providing authoritative editions. As explained on the website in 1997: "We do not write for the reader who cares whether a certain phrase in Shakespeare has a ':' or a ';' between its clauses. We put our sights on a goal to release etexts that are 99.9% accurate in the eyes of the general reader."
1998 > A collection in Plain Vanilla ASCII
The etexts, later called ebooks, were stored in the simplest way, using the low set of ASCII, called Plain Vanilla ASCII, for them to be read on any hardware and software. As a text file, a book could be easily copied, indexed, searched, analyzed, and compared with other books. Pietro di Miceli was the sole driving force behind the Project Gutenberg's website for nearly a decade, after making the first pages in 1994.
August 1998 > "We consider etext to be a new medium."
As explained by Michael Hart in August 1998: "We consider etext to be a new medium, with no real relationship to paper, other than presenting the same material, but I don't see how paper can possibly compete once people each find their own comfortable way to etexts, especially in schools. (...) My own personal goal is to put 10,000 etexts on the Net [a goal reached in October 2003] and if I can get some major support, I would like to expand that to 1,000,000 and to also expand our potential audience for the average etext from 1.x% of the world population to over 10%, thus changing our goal from giving away 1,000,000,000,000 etexts to 1,000 times as many, a trillion and a quadrillion in U.S. terminology." (NEF Interview)
May 1999 > eBook #2000 > Don Quijote, by Cervantes
Project Gutenberg reached 2,000 ebooks in May 1999. eBook #2000 was Don Quijote (1605), by Cervantes, in Spanish, its original language.
Distributed Proofreaders was founded in October 2000 by Charles Franks to share the proofreading of ebooks between many volunteers. Volunteers choose one of the digitized books available on the website and proofread a given page, or several pages, as they wish. It is recommended they do one page per day if possible. It may not seem much, but with thousands of volunteers it really adds up.
December 2000 > eBook #3000 > A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, by Marcel Proust
Project Gutenberg reached 3,000 ebooks in December 2000. EBook #3000 was A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower), vol. 3 (1919), by Marcel Proust, in French, its original language. From 1998 to 2000, there was an average of 36 new ebooks per month.
August 2001 > Project Gutenberg Australia
Project Gutenberg Australia was launched in August 2001. The collection included 500 ebooks in July 2005, and 1,500 ebooks in April 2007.
October 2001 > eBook #4000 > The French Immortals Series
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