British Library to offer 65,000 free e-books

Those of you with a Kindle e-reader might have a bit of reading to get through this summer, courtesy of the British Library.

That’s because come the spring, the library intends to make 65,000 classic texts downloadable for free.

The e-books will include works from Dickens, Hardy, Austen and other out of copyright 19th Century authors.

Interestingly, the e-books will be published in their original typeface and with the original illustrations, so they will be truly authentic.

So if you’re after something to read on holiday, Hardy’s three page description of a bleak and desolate moor might be a little heavy going. But it’s got to be better than Katie Price’s latest autobiography.

According to the Telegraph, the project is being funded by Microsoft. The British Library’s e-books, that is, not Katie Price’s latest autobiography.