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. Michael typed in the collected works of
Shakespeare, with the help of 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 posted a
few years later.
# 10 to 1,000 ebooks
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 web was in its
infancy. The standard was 360 K disks.
In January 1991, Michael typed in "Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland" (1865), by Lewis Carroll. In July 1991, he typed in
"Peter Pan" (1904), by James M. Barrie. These two classics of
childhood literature each fit on one disk.
The first 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
book per month in 1991, two books per month in 1992, four books
per month in 1993, and eight books per month in 1994.
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 8 books per month
in 1994, 16 books per month in 1995, and 32 books per month in
1996.
In June 1997, Project Gutenberg released "The Merry Adventures
of Robin Hood" (1883), by Howard Pyle.
Project Gutenberg had 1,000 ebooks in August 1997. eBook #1000
was "La Divina Commedia" de Dante Alighieri (1321), in Italian,
its original language.
As there were more and more ebooks, they got classified in
three main sections: (a) "Light Literature", such as "Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland", "Through the Looking-Glass", "Peter
Pan" and "Aesop's Fables"; (b) "Heavy Literature", such as the
Bible, Shakespeare's works, "Moby Dick" and "Paradise Lost";
(c) "Reference Literature", such as "Roget's Thesaurus",
almanacs, and a set of encyclopedias and dictionaries. (This
classification in three sections was replaced later with a more
detailed one.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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