Project Gutenberg

A screenshot from the first ever homepage for Project Gutenberg. At the time, the project is shown to have archived at least 45,000 books.

Project Gutenberg is an archival project aimed at preserving old literature and making it easily accessible to the public for universal use. It is the oldest collection of literary works on the Internet, serving as a digital library for works of many kinds that can be accessed in eBook form, free of charge.

Origins

Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, when he created the project's first eBook, a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence, and distributed it over the Internet. Hart was