40 years / 40 años / 40 ans

"40 years / 40 años / 40 ans" by Marie Lebert is a trilingual ebook celebrating the 40th anniversary of Project Gutenberg, encompassing its history and evolution written in the early 21st century. The work describes the emergence of Project Gutenberg, a revolutionary initiative by Michael Hart, aimed at creating free electronic versions of literary works accessible to the public. The ebook highlights important milestones of the project, discussing its growth and impact on digital libraries worldwide. The beginning of the ebook presents an overview of Project Gutenberg's foundation, recalling July 4, 1971, as the date when the first ebook, The United States Declaration of Independence, was digitized. It outlines Michael Hart's vision for democratizing access to literature through technology, detailing how the project's number of ebooks expanded from one to thousands over the decades. Notably, it accounts for significant technological advancements and the support of volunteer proofreaders that contributed to the vast collection of over 33,000 high-quality ebooks by 2010.