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HISTORY OF E-BOOKS
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By Marie Lebert
The book is no longer what it used to be. The electronic book
(ebook) was born in 1971, with the first steps of Project Gutenberg, a
digital library for books from public domain. It is nearly 40years old,

already. But this is a short life compared to the 5-century old print book.
The internet went live in 1974, with the creation of the protocol TCP/IP
by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn. It began spreading in 1983 as a network
for research centers and universities. It got its first boost with the

invention of the web by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, and itssecond boost
with the release of the first browser Mosaic in 1993. From 1994
onwards, the internet quickly spread worldwide. In Bookland, people

were reluctant, curious or passionate.
The internet didn't bring print media, movies, radio or television to
an end. It created its own space as a new medium, to get information,

access documents, broaden our knowledge and communicate across
borders and languages. Booksellers began selling books online within
and outside their home country, offering excerpts on their websites.

Libraries began creating websites as a "virtual" window, as well as
digital libraries stemming from their print collections. Librarians helped
patrons to surf on the web without being drowned, and to find the
information they needed at a time search engines were less accurate.

Library catalogs went online. Union catalogs offered a common point
for hundreds and then thousands of catalogs.
Newspapers and magazines began being available online, as well

as their archives. Some journals became "only" electronic to skip the
costs of print publishing, while offering print on demand. Some
newsletters, zines and journals started online from scratch, skipping a
print version. Authors began creating websites to self-publish their work

or post it while waiting to find a publisher. Communication with readers
became easierthrough email, forums, chat and instant messaging. Some
authors explored new ways of writing, called hypertext literature.

More and more books were published with both a print version and
a digital version. Some books were "only" digital. Other books were
digitized from print versions. New online bookstores began selling

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Lebert M. History of E-books / Marie Lebert. – Available at : http://www.etudes-
francaises.net/dossiers/ebookEN.pdf