Google to digitize 18th century's books at British Library

The British Library in UK has finalized a deal with Google, under which the search engine will digitize works dating between 1700 and 1870.

The deal also requires Google to as cover the cost of digitizing, said media reports.

About 250,000 works at the library that has a whopping volume of 14 million books will be available online following the completion of the project in “some years”.

It will allow readers to view, search and copy the out-of-copyright works at no charge on both the library and Google books websites, BBC reported.

However, Google's plan to digitize copyrighted texts has faced series legal problems in the US earlier, the report said.

One of the first works that will go online includes a pamphlet about French Queen Marie Antoinette and Spanish inventor Narciso Monturiol's 1858 plans for one of the world's first submarines.