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Project Gutenberg was named for Johann Gutenberg, (1400-1468) generally considered the inventor of moveable type. This was the first time in history (1450) that printing was possible using separately cast metal letters, greatly speeding up the process of printing. The consequential changes in how information was shared over the next few centuries radically changed the world.
I first found the project back in 1993, when it was in it's infancy as a text based ftp archive. I was stricken by the amazing idea that you could get some of the most notable literary works of our world from the internet in ASCII machine readable format, viewable on anything from my worthless 8088 PC clone with a 1200 baud modem and CGA monitor to a Sun Sparc 20 on a university or government backbone. But the Project Gutenberg history page says it so much better than I do.
The site has grown and changed over the years, and is mirrored in many locations, confirming it's importance as a resource on the internet. Any search for Gutenberg will turn up many of the links or mirrors of this archive that continues to expand every year. One of my favorites is the Sailor mirror, which is part of a larger system of internet access provided by the State of Maryland to residents through the library system.
Let me know what you think! mailto:[email protected]
Last updated: April 10, 1999
