When James Loeb founded the Loeb Classical Library in 1911 he had two simple goals:
1. To make the work of classical authors accessible to as many readers as possible—regardless of their knowledge of Greek or Latin—so they could profit from the wisdom of the ancients that had enriched his life so much.
2. He wanted the Loeb Classical Library to offer the best of Anglo-American classical scholarship
Loeb was also way ahead of the crowd by having the books in the series designed to fit into one’s pocket (the Penguin paperback was still 20+ years away).
Technology has finally caught up with Loeb’s dream and coming this fall the entire library will be available online. Users will not only have access to every Loeb classic in print but will also will also to:
- Toggle between single- and dual-language reading modes;
- Browse works and volumes of the library by author, language, period, form, genre, and subject;
- Search across the full Loeb corpus in English, Latin, and Greek;
- Bookmark, organize, and annotate content in personal digital workspaces and
- Share notes and reading lists with classmates, students, and colleagues
[youtube]http://youtu.be/uQYy3Yml5r4[/youtube]
Now this is how I dreamed the internet would be.
More at Harvard Magazine: Harvard’s Loeb Classical Library goes digital