British Library Offers Historical Books App

The British Library has launched an iPad app that it says makes 45,000 19th Century books browsable on the Apple device. 

The library has teamed up with media software company BiblioLabs to create the app, which promises to give subscribers access to over 60,000 titles by the end of the year. 

Running on a subscription model, the app costs £1.99 per month, which gets the user access to a range of books, from classic novels to original accounts by Victorian travellers, says the British Library. 

“This app makes 45,000 books from the Librarys unrivalled collections available to users around the world, at a price that over 12 months is equivalent to just one hardback book,” says Mitchell Davis, a founder of BiblioLabs. “Those who prefer to dip in can do so for a month and have at their disposal, for barely the price of a magazine, a bibliophiles dream.”

Caroline Brazier, the British Librarys director of scholarship and collections, says the app is part of the librarys drive to make its collections more widely available. “The online appetite for original historical content is huge and the Library is delighted to be working with BiblioLabs to transform the accessibility and visibility of this remarkable collection of 19th century books,” she says. 

The app is available now from the Apple App Store