the gutenberg.org blog

  The Library of Congress has received a $2-million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to digitize public domain works. The grant emphasizes digitizing “at-risk” titles—or books that are falling apart—and volumes about American history. Dubbed “Digitizing American Imprints at the Library of Congress,” the project will also allow the LoC to invest in […]

Molly Ivins, the liberal newspaper columnist who delighted in skewering politicians and interpreting, and mocking, her Texas culture, died yesterday in Austin. She was 62. Ms. Ivins waged a public battle against breast cancer after her diagnosis in 1999. Betsy Moon, her personal assistant, confirmed her death last night. Ms. Ivins died at her home […]

Sidney Sheldon, best-selling US author of Rage of Angels and The Other Side of Midnight, has died at the age of 89. He died of complications from pneumonia at a hospital near Palm Springs, California, his publicist said. Before turning to novels at the age of 50, Sheldon had a successful career writing Broadway plays […]

Former editor Allan Barnard, 89, died on January 22 in Forest Hills, N.Y. Barnard, who spent five decades in publishing, died from complications due to Parkinson’s disease. He spent the majority of his book publishing career at Bantam Books and Dell.   Barnard was also widely regarded as one of the industry’s pre-eminent paperback reprint […]