Open Library Hundreds (Thousands?) of Greek/Latin Books

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edonnelly
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Open Library Hundreds (Thousands?) of Greek/Latin Books

Post by edonnelly »

Haven't seen anything about this posted here at textkit. I discovered the "open library" which is a part of the internet archive. The difference is that this model allows the "borrowing" of digital editions of texts which are not available as "pre-1923" pdf downloads. That is, you can borrow pdf (and epub) versions of many texts which are still in copyright (much like you could borrow a physical book from a library). It appears to be completely free. It is not focused on classics by any means, but some searching reveals lots of titles that may be of interest to visitors here. Some interesting search results:

"Greek Language" published between 1924 and 2015: 225 ebooks available (many are of the "daisy" format which is for the sight-impaired, but roughly half are available as epub or pdf, including such titles as Athenaze and Homeric vocabularies by William Bishop Owen).

"Latin Language" published between 1924 and 2015: 339 ebooks available including interesting items such as the much-discussed Vox Latina as well as the Oxofrd Latin Course.

"Pharr": Reveals not just a 1975 edition of his Homeric Greek (eh, not much different from the 1923 version we all have except the swastika picture has been removed) but also his book on the Aeneid, Books I-VI

It's a little rough going out there. Sometimes you think you're getting one thing and what you get is not quite that. Also, all books have DRM (digital rights) and require Adobe Digital Editions to view if you want to download. You will be borrowing the book for a set period of time, and if someone else has borrowed it already, you need to wait for it to be returned.

Happy hunting, and if you find any true gems, please share!
The lists:
G'Oogle and the Internet Pharrchive - 1100 or so free Latin and Greek books.
DownLOEBables - Free books from the Loeb Classical Library

margaretcogburn
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Re: Open Library Hundreds (Thousands?) of Greek/Latin Books

Post by margaretcogburn »

The principal collections for Greek, Latin and Papyrology are in the North Corridor of UCL Main Library. The CLASSICS prefix indicates books on Classical studies generally as well as Greek and Latin language and literature, separating into two sequences for the latter subjects. It allows for an alphabetical order on the shelves by ancient author, with editions followed by literary and textual criticism, biography, etc. A guide to the Garside classification scheme is available

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