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I don't know if anybody craves art books, but if you do, check out the Met's collection. There are over 400 titles that can be downloaded in pdf format -- for free!

http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications/titles-with-full-text-online?searchtype=F

I'm really excited about this. I've used library copies of some of these titles -- I was never likely to spend $120 on a paperback, even if it was about the Belles Heures! Now I can download my very own copy!

Technology is a wonderful thing.

Louise, thank you so much for posting this information. I go to the MET several times a year, but was never aware of these free downloads. I agree technology is wonderful. It's giving many people access to resources they could never afford otherwise. The other thing I love is the live broadcasts from all over the world that can be viewed at your local theater complex for $20. Peggy in CT where spring is trying to come.

I didn't stop to give you credit but I copied your information last week and sent it on to my artist daughter who also teaches HS in Charlotte, NC. There was a time before the internet that I knew I could pick up any of those coffee table art books found on the clearance rack to add to her personal collection....

Today I'm downloading a book about the Chinese scholar's garden. I can't visit the Met without seeing the scholar's garden, and I can't visit NYC without a day at the Met -- but I have nothing in my collection! Yay for downloads! Maybe we can get together the next time I'm in town, Peggy.

Tina, maybe your daughter still likes the paper editions too? I sometimes like to sit with my cheap, badly printed editions of some pages from the Book of Kells, even though my digital edition has a far better display of the artwork. (Of course, nothing compares to seeing the real thing . . . which is now on display at Trinity in Dublin. Just saying. )

I'm told the Getty and the Guggenheim also have free collections online, though I haven't checked yet. I'm hoping the Freer will soon, because I would like some books on Whistler's Peacock Room. One of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen.

I have to say that I'm surprised to see the Met being one of the first museums to do this, when they are such **#@#!! blankity-blanks about usage rights. They have a painting of George Washington that I really wanted for my first book, but they charged over $1,000 for the first print run alone AND artistic control over the reproduction. I wasn't about to spend that much of the small advance on one image when I needed more than 100 for the book, and Simon & Schuster wasn't about to give anybody control (not even me, phooey!), so it didn't happen. I tend to tell that story every time I visit the Met, too. Not that I hold a grudge, or anything!

Louise, please let me know whenever you are going to be in NYC, any excuse to go into the city is fine with me.