Yes — it comes from the source named on this page and is refreshed on a schedule.

No. This source is fully key-less.

Yes, and it runs entirely in your browser.

Mostly volunteers. Many are prepared through Distributed Proofreaders, where scanned pages pass through successive proofreading and formatting rounds before a post-processor assembles the finished ebook for Project Gutenberg.

Why are the authors often unfamiliar?

Famous works were digitised long ago, so the recent additions are the long tail: minor writers, translations and specialist texts that were never in anyone’s first wave.

Is every book here free to read in any country?

Not necessarily. Project Gutenberg’s books are public domain in the United States, and readers elsewhere should confirm that an item is free to redistribute where they live.

Just Digitised Screensaver

The Just Digitised screensaver shows the newest releases on Project Gutenberg, key-less. The famous titles were added decades ago; what arrives now is the long tail. Titles are cleaned of the MARC subfield markers that leak out of the catalogue into the text. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.

How the Just Digitised screensaver works

The saver reads the source described above and draws it on a canvas — no account, no tracking.

The newest releases on Project Gutenberg, key-less. The famous titles were added decades ago; what arrives now is the long tail. Titles are cleaned of the MARC subfield markers that leak out of the catalogue into the text.

It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.

Colours and any options can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.

Reading Project Gutenberg through Gutendex

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitise public-domain books, begun by Michael Hart in 1971. Much of its newer material is proofread through Distributed Proofreaders, an Internet community founded in 2000 and affiliated with Project Gutenberg since 2002. Gutendex is a JSON web API for Project Gutenberg ebook metadata, which makes the catalogue easy to read from a web page. By default it orders books by popularity, meaning download count, but it can instead sort by Gutenberg ID number, highest first.

Each entry carries a title, authors, subjects and language codes, plus a copyright flag. Project Gutenberg describes the vast majority of its ebooks as public domain in the United States, so a book that is free to download in one country may still be protected in another, and readers outside the US need to check for themselves. Newly added books are rarely bestsellers: they tend to be minor novels, translations, regional histories and specialist texts that a volunteer finally got round to.

What the list does not show is popularity or quality. A new arrival may have been written in 1890 or scanned last week; its position reflects when it entered the catalogue, not when it was published.

A worked example

Settings & tips

Accent and Background recolour the display.
Every value on screen comes from the live source — nothing is simulated.
Press ESC to leave fullscreen.

Frequently asked questions

Is this real data?: Yes — it comes from the source named on this page and is refreshed on a schedule.
Is a key needed?: No. This source is fully key-less.
Is it free?: Yes, and it runs entirely in your browser.
Who adds the books?: Mostly volunteers. Many are prepared through Distributed Proofreaders, where scanned pages pass through successive proofreading and formatting rounds before a post-processor assembles the finished ebook for Project Gutenberg.
Why are the authors often unfamiliar?: Famous works were digitised long ago, so the recent additions are the long tail: minor writers, translations and specialist texts that were never in anyone’s first wave.
Is every book here free to read in any country?: Not necessarily. Project Gutenberg’s books are public domain in the United States, and readers elsewhere should confirm that an item is free to redistribute where they live.

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