Rare Book Room

There are times when StumbleUpon really earns its keep.

Rare Book Room is a site that features page-by-page photographs of (surprise!) rare books. From their front page:

Over the last ten years, a company called “Octavo” embarked on digitally photographing some of the world ’s great books from some of the greatest libraries. These books were photographed at very high resolution (in some cases at over 200 megabytes per page).

The photos are high enough quality that you can easily read the books. Or just enjoy the artwork inside, in some cases.

Image from Chaucer's 'The Works Now Newly Printed' from 1896
Screenshot from Chaucer’s “The Works Now Newly Imprinted – 1896”