Here's hoping they'll be available for other tablets, too

British Library offers e-classics app for iPad

The British Library is making digital copies of more than 40,000 classic books available for the iPad.

Texts appear in fully digitised form, complete with original page markings and drawings, as opposed to the plain formatting associated with other types of e-books.

All of the works date from the 18th and 19th centuries and include novels, poetry and historical accounts.

Users must pay a monthly subscription of £1.99 to access the full collection.

This digitisation project was funded by Microsoft. A new deal to digitise 250,000 public domain works has been signed with Google and are expected to eventually be available in electronic format.

Most creative use I've seen for an iPad so far...

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

As seen in Stop-Motion Animators Use iPad to Paint With Light.

Crazy to get an iPad?

Read Sarah (the Librarian in Black)'s iPad manifesto. She's already gotten some rather nasty comments from iPad fans, but I laughed until I almost fell out of my seat.

Granted, I don't have an iPad, and only want it at all because it's a gadget. I'll settle for something in my price range.