The word “classic” when used in eBook vernacular usually means that the title is in the public domain: the copyright has expired and/or it is at least 70 years since the author’s death.

Being in the public domain also means that somewhere (most assuredly on the internet) there is at least one or more sites where you can obtain a free copy of the manuscript. This logically leads to your question: “If I can get it for free somewhere else on the net, why should I pay a couple of bucks for it from your website?”

Good question, and here’s the answer:

When those dead guys were writing their books, they didn’t use Microsoft Word. This means that there was no digital source created, and the manuscripts had to be typeset by whatever means they were using at that time. It also means that if the writing is to be offered on the internet, it has to get there one of two ways: either by being scanned in, or by being entered in manually... either way giving rise to errors.

I don’t know how the publishing companies in those days were staffed, but even now I often find typographical, punctuation, grammatical, and spelling errors in books that are distributed by large present-day publishing houses, using state-of-the-art technology, plus editors and proofreaders... and if the modern printing industry can fail to catch those flubs, you can only imagine how the old printing methods and subsequent internet transfer labor can multiply the errors... especially when the work is a translation of some foreign author.

Here at Magic Lamp Digital, we read every book before it is offered on our website, and being careful not to alter the author’s intentions, we correct what we perceive to be the above-mentioned errors. Also, quite often, a classic book may contain some illustrations, but only the captions survive the transferring process – all that you see in the text is the word “Illustration,” with the caption being presented in text form.

Some other problems with the Public Domain websites are that the books are not formatted: the entire book may appear as one large paragraph. And, if paragraphs are separated, there is no justification, with a forced The word “classic” when used in eBook vernacular means that the title is in the public domain: the copyright has expired and/or it is at least 70 years since the author’s death.

Being in the public domain also means that somewhere (most assuredly on the internet) there is at least one or more sites where you can obtain a free copy of the manuscript. This logically leads to your question: “If I can get it for free somewhere else on the net, why should I pay a couple of bucks for it from your website?”

Good question, and here’s the answer:

When those dead guys were writing their books, they didn’t use Microsoft Word. This means that there was no digital source created, and the manuscripts had to be typeset by whatever means they were using at that time. It also means that if the writing is to be offered on the internet, it has to get there one of two ways: either by being scanned in, or by being entered in manually... either way giving rise to errors.

I don’t know how the publishing companies in those days were staffed, but even now I often find typographical, punctuation, grammatical, and spelling errors in books that are distributed by large present-day publishing houses, using state-of-the-art technology, plus editors and proofreaders... and if the modern printing industry can fail to catch those flubs, you can only imagine how the old printing methods and subsequent internet transfer labor can multiply the errors... especially when the work is a translation of some foreign author.

Here at Magic Lamp Digital, we read every book before it is offered on our website, and being careful not to alter the author’s intentions, we correct what we perceive to be the above-mentioned errors. Also, quite often, a classic book may contain some illustrations, but only the captions survive the transferring process – all that you see in the text is the word “Illustration,” with the caption being presented in text form.

Some other problems with the Public Domain websites are that the books are not formatted: the entire book may appear as one large paragraph. And, if paragraphs are separated, there is no justification, with a forced ¶ after each line, and no page or chapter breaks. There will also be no short or long descriptions of the manuscripts, so you will have to download and start reading an entire one before you can decide whether or not it’s the type of thing you’d like to spend some time reading.

Contrary to the free sites, we have created numerous genre categories you can select from, see a picture of the cover we’ve created, and read both short and long summaries about the book, making it easier for you to decide whether or not to download it. We also try to include an “About the Author” section, so if it’s someone you’ve never heard of before, you can have some idea of what type of things they may be writing about.

All this adds up to one thing: when you order a classic from Magic Lamp Digital, both your selection and reading experiences will be much easier, less frustrating, and less time consuming.

after each line, and no page or chapter breaks. There will also be no short or long descriptions of the manuscripts, so you will have to download and start reading an entire one before you can decide whether or not it’s the type of thing you’d like to spend some time reading.

Contrary to the free sites, we have created numerous genre categories you can select from, see a picture of the cover we’ve created, and read both short and long summaries about the book, making it easier for you to decide whether or not to download it. We also try to include an “About the Author” section, so if it’s someone you’ve never heard of before, you can have some idea of what type of things they may be writing about.

All this adds up to one thing: when you order a classic from Magic Lamp Digital, both your selection and reading experiences will be much easier, less frustrating, and less time consuming.