Over 40,000 fully digitised classic books from the British Library will be available through its 19th Century Historical Collection App for the iPad.

No it’s not free but a paltry subscription of £1.99 per month is all it takes to access the full collection. And there’s more coming, in fact by the end of this year over 60,000 titles  will be available.

The books all date from the 8th and 19th centuries and include,” novels, poetry and historical accounts.” All are fully digitised, complete with original page markings and illustrations, (like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe). More information is available here and here.

Apple’s iPad was initially selected because its touch interface can “recreate the experience” of flipping through a real book.”

image by Peter576