Famous Books 9+

If ever an app deserved its 5 stars, it's this one. While other similar apps charge much more for a few selected images of highlights in their collection, this app opens a generous portion of their collection to your own self-guided, hi-resolution tour. And what really sets this app apart is that you don't get to see just a couple of selected pages, you have access to the entire book, just as if you were actually in the library, looking at the artifact in person. Actually, you have better access to these treasures with this app than you would in person. Want to see and read an original Gutenberg Bible? Here it is, every chapter and verse of the original. This app offers a glimpse at the kind of visionary research tool the internet could-and should-be. Absolutely outstanding app.

Absolutely beautiful material. Thanks to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek for sharing their treasures with those of us who cannot actually travel there to see these masterpieces in person. I hope other libraries will take the time to share their collections with the rest of the world. Also, I have an older iPod Touch and, other than a weird authorization glitch in iTunes, this app works fine on my iPod.

As someone with a great interest in Medieval literature, this collection is a wonderful treat. You have access to beautifully-rendered scans of every single page of many extremely old, delicate works that you would otherwise never even have a chance to see. I'm very impressed, and I hope that more rare book collections like this one become available in the future. It's any scholar's dream!