The Web is a cornucopia of thousands of free offers, some of them real, some of them baloney, but all of them tempting. To me, and to hundreds of thousands of readers who search online, the best freebie available online is Project Gutenberg. Started in 1971 by Michael Hart, its original goal was to make public domain literature – that includes most of the stuff in any pre-1900s literature survey – freely available in electronic format to anyone who wanted it. In its first years, Project Gutenberg made only a few books per year available, but with the inception of the Internet, interest skyrocketed. Today, several thousands of books scanned and edited by eager volunteers go up on the site each year; as of 2005, Project Gutenberg had more than 16,000 texts available to anyone interested, including most of the great classics.

But Gutenberg isn’t the only free source for classic literature; all Gutenberg’s holdings are included in the Internet Public Library, based at the University of Michigan. Or you can check out Bibliomania. Bibliomania has a much smaller collection (and, be warned, a harshly-red homepage) but their collection of books are hyperlinked by chapter and often have study guides you can use as you read the book. And unlike Project Gutenberg’s texts, Bibliomania texts are formatted and not too hard to read online or printed out.

Bartleby.com online also has a good collection of classic literature for free, as well as a large collection of excellent reference books like Strunk & White’s Elements of Style.

These are just the best known sources, and by no means are they all; today, many regular libraries (also a free source of classic literature, don’t forget!) have an online collection as well as their physical collection.

The next time you want to read one of the great classics, check online. Shakespeare’s works, Twain’s major works, James Fenimore Cooper, Dickens, Jane Austen – you’ll find most of the best online already.