Turning the pages at the British Library

Last November I remarked here on the superb online collection of the British Library, containing nearly 100,000 images of all manner of things from its nonpareil collections.

Now comes a joehead with a heads–up about a new feature of the website: "Turning the Pages."

It allows you virtual access to the complete texts of 14 landmark books.

"Leaf through 14 great books and magnify the details."

Among them:

• "First Atlas of Europe" — Compiled by Mercator in the 1570s (above)

• "The Original Alice" — A hand–written version of what would become Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"

• "The Oldest Printed Book" — View the Diamond Sutra, printed in China in 868

• "The Lindisfarne Gospels"

• "Jane Austen's Early Work" — The History of England in her own hand (below)

This website is a model of what an interactive internet experience should be but rarely is: beautiful, easy–to–use, requiring no computer expertise and producing wonderful results with very little effort.

[via GP]