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Michigan State University

Classical Studies: E-Books

E-Book Overview

In addition to some of our electronic reference works and the classical literature collection web sites, you can find more electronic books through the following collections....

Audio Books

A pivotal text for ancient Rome scholars, you can now download and listen to Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 

If you know of other audio books related to classical studies, send me an email.

ACLS Humanities E-Book Collection

ACLS Humanities E-Books is a digital collection of 2,200 full-text titles offered by the American Council of Learned Societies in collaboration with nineteen learned societies, nearly 100 contributing publishers, and librarians at the University of Michigan’s Scholarly Publishing Office. The result is an online, fully searchable collection of high-quality books in the Humanities, recommended and reviewed by scholars and featuring unlimited multi-user access and free, downloadable MARC records. HEB is available 24/7 on- and off-campus through standard web browsers.

Some of the electronic books in this collection deal with classical studies topics.  If you browse by subject, try topics such as:
Greece--civilization
Greece--politics and government
Roman Law
Rome--civilization
Rome--history
Rome--social conditions

Brill E-Books on Classical Studies

As a member of the CIC, the Michigan State University Libraries now provides access to approximately 125 books from the Brill E-Book Collection on Classical Studies.  And while you are there, check out other Brill E-Book collections such as

  • Asian Studies (187)
  • Biblical Studies, Ancient Near East and Early Christianity (274)  
  • European History and Culture (465)
  • Middle East and Islamic Studies (114)  
  • Religious Studies, Theology and Philosophy (123)
  • Social Sciences (125)

Cambridge Histories Online

Cambridge Histories Online provides online access to such titles as the Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, and the Cambridge History of Classical Literature.

Ebrary Academic Complete Collection

The MSU Library will be subscribing to the Ebrary Academic Complete online library for the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 semesters.  Try it out.   If you see a title of interest, copy it and search the MSU Library Online Catalog by title for a link.

Google Books

Google Books provides the largest collection of digitized books.  Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions, many are restricted to snippets.  Also, Google Books is also populated with magazines (which can be good or bad depending on what you are looking for).

Click on the advanced search feature so you can restrict your search to full-text only and books.  You can also select a subject, but classical studies does not work.

Sample text retrieved with the phrase "ancient history":

Ancient history: from the creation to the fall of Rome, A.D. 476

Samuel Griswold Goodrich - History - 1847 - 552 pages

Hathi Trust

HathiTrust is a shared digital repository by the 13 members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the University of California system. More information about HathiTrust is available at http://www.hathitrust.org/.   Many older print  titles in our collection are also available online via HathiTrust.

Ancient Athens: Its History, Topography, and Remains. By Thomas Henry Dyer ....  London, Bell and Daldy, 1873.  553pp.  Main Library DF285 .D99     HathiTrust Link

The first philosophers of Greece; an edition and translation of the remaining fragments of the pre-Sokratic philosophers, together with a translation of the more important accounts of their opinions contained in the early epitomes of their works by Arthur Fairbanks. London, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co., ltd., 1898.  300pp.  Remote Storage B188 .F2  HathiTrust Link

The Greek theory of the state and the nonconformist conscience : a socialistic defence of some ancient  institutions / by Charles John Shebbeare.  London : Methuen & Co., 1895.  116pp.  MSU Remote Storage B JC223 .S47  HathiTrust Link

Hellenica; a collection of essays on Greek poetry, philosophy, history, and religion, edited by Evelyn Abbott ...  London, [etc.] Rivingtons, 1880.  492pp. Print copy availale in Remote Storage PA3082 .A2 1898  HathiTrust Link  : Contents: Aeschylus, by E. Myers.--The theology and ethics of Sophocles, by Evelyn Abbott.--Theory of education in Plato's Republic, by R. L. Nettleship.--Aristotle's conception of the state, by A. C. Bradley.--Epicurus, by W. L. Courtney.--Speeches of Thucydides, by R. C. Jebb.--Xenophon, by H. G. Dakyns.--Polybius, by J. L. Strachan-Davidson.--Greek oracles, by F. W. H. Myers

Schliemann's excavations; an archaeological and historical study. Translated from the German by Eugénie Sellers; with an appendix on the recent discoveries at Hissarlik by Schliemann and Dörpfeld, and an introd. by Walter Leaf. London, New York, Macmillan, 1891.  363pp.  Main Library DF220 .S3813   HathiTrust Link

Note :  Don't want to limit yourself to what has been loaded into the MSU Library Union Catalog?  Go ahead and click on the HathiTrust and search away.  If you want entire documents, be sure to select Full Text.

Internet Text Archives

As of March 31, 2010, the Internet Text Archives provides access to over  two million free digital texts.  The books here are divided into several sections, including books from American libraries (the largest section with 1.2 million texts), books from Canadian libraries, Open Source books, Project Gutenberg, and Children’s Library. On the right are boxes highlighting the most popular downloads of all time, the most popular downloads of this week, and Editor’s Picks.

However, if your really want to explore, try a simple keyword search.   If you want to do anything beyond a simple keyword search, I recommend you go straight to the advanced search page; there are so many fields available to search that it’s hard to remember them all. The advanced search is easier.

Loeb Classical Library Books Online

Loeb Classical Library provided by Harvard University (subscription resource).
More than 520 volumes of Latin, Greek, and English texts are available digitally, allowing readers to browse, search, bookmark, annotate, and share content.  Individual titles should appear in our catalog beginning in May 2016.
 
Ed Donnelly's List of Loeb Books available online.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg provides access to electronic texts of many works in the area of classical studies. 

Check out the Classical Antiquity Bookshelf.

Subject Guide

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