Need some new reading material? Public domain books, which are free to download and are no longer under copyright, are a great way to explore everything from classic novels to computer manuals. Here are 13 sources for free books or e-books in the public domain that you can download or read in a browser.
Most of these sites also make their content offerings available to download for a wide variety of e-book readers, such as a Kindle or a Nook.
Authorama
Authorama offers a wide variety of books from a great selection of authors, including Hans Christian Anderson and Mary Shelley. If you’re looking for the classics, this is a good place to start.
Alphabetized list of books.
Includes modern texts and speech transcripts.
Selection is rather limited.
Few books by authors outside Europe and the U.S.
Search tool is too simple.
LibriVox
Audiobooks are a great way to get your reading in, especially if you’re in your car a lot, and LibriVox looks to fill that need with hundreds of freely available audiobooks. Volunteers sign up to read chapters of public domain books, and then those chapters are placed online for readers to download for free.
Listen before you download.
Record and share audiobooks.
No alphabetized list of books.
Limited to pre-1930s texts.
Be sure to look for the LibriVox app to add to your mobile device so you can listen to all of your favorites on the go.
Google Books
Google Books has a nice selection of public domain eBooks mostly in the classical literature genre. Search Google Books or use the main Google search engine to find all manner of public domain books. Just be sure to filter by Free Google eBooks.
Powered by the largest search engine.
Mobile app optimized for e-readers.
Searches the book text, too.
Must search; can’t just browse for free books.
You can also use Google Scholar to find public domain works. From there, select the hamburger menu in the upper left corner and choose Advanced Search. In the Date/Return articles published between field, type in 1923 in the second date box, which will return public domain works. Double-check each piece of content to make sure that it does indeed fall under public domain.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is one of the oldest sources for public domain books on the web. More than 60,000 books are available in many different formats (PC, Kindle, Sony reader, etc.). It has one of the widest selections you’ll find of freely available books on the web.
Includes thousands of non-English books.
Easy to browse alphabetically and by subject.
Search feature has a learning curve.
There’s a handy Top 100 page if you’re not sure where to start.
Feedbooks
Feedbooks offers free public domain books as well as original works from authors uploading their books to the site, which is a great way to discover new, up-and-coming authors. In addition, if you’ve been itching to publish a book, Feedbooks is a good source to get the word out.
Download in the popular EPUB format.
Offers obscure science fiction.
Several categories to look through.
Mostly European and American literature.
Browsing interface is confusing at first.
A mobile website and mobile app is available if you want to read from your phone or tablet.
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an amazing resource for public domain books, with sub-collections such as American Libraries, Children’s Library, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library. More collections are added on a regular basis, and there are over 28 million results for eBooks and texts, so be sure to check back often for new reading material.
Very thorough search filter.
Borrow newer books for free.
Challenging to navigate; interface is overwhelming.
Mostly academic and educational texts.
ManyBooks
ManyBooks offers more than 50,000 free public domain books for download. The site is organized so you can find books as easily as possible. Filter by Authors, Titles, Genres, and Recent Additions. This is one of the most user-friendly sites on the web for finding and downloading free books.
Attractive and easy to browse.
Huge collection of genres.
Read online or download.
Books may be inappropriate for some.
Small selection of non-English books.
Must log in to download.
LoudLit
Similar to LibriVox, LoudLit partners great literature found in the public domain with high-quality audio recordings, both available for download right to your PC or e-reader.
Powerful readings of classic poems and short stories.
A great resource for English teachers.
Small collection compared to similar sites.
Very bare-bones home page.
Can’t download the whole book at once.
Online Library of Liberty
The Online Library of Liberty offers readers “individual liberty, limited constitutional government, free markets, and peace,” all in the public domain and free for download. Categories include history, economics, art, law, religion, and more.
Material you won’t find anywhere else.
A treasure trove of political history.
Several format options when downloading.
Selection has a narrow focus.
An unabashed political agenda.
Read Print
Books, essays, poems, and stories are all available at Read Print, with an advanced search feature that lets you find books, quotes, authors, and groups. This site was named one of Time Magazine’s 50 best websites.
Create a profile and communicate with other readers.
Well-organized database of famous quotes.
Read online in your browser.
Focus on popular British literature.
The “groups” social feature doesn’t always work.
After choosing a category, such as fiction, you can sort the results by popularity to find the most-read books. You can also see the site’s top five authors and get a list of all of their public domain books.
Classic Literature Library
This public domain book website is extremely well organized into collections: Classic American Literature, Classic Italian Literature, the complete works of William Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Fairy Tales and Children’s Literature, and lots more.
Partners with Project Gutenburg.
Impressive author biographies and bibliographies.
Site is cluttered with ads.
Only features British and American authors.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL)
Read classic Christian writings from hundreds of years of church history. You’ll find everything from research materials to Bible studies. There are also MP3 versions of some books, as well as PDF, ePub, and PNG formatted publications.
Excellent resource for seminary students.
Includes biblical commentary you won’t find elsewhere.
Narrow focus.
O’Reilly Open Books Project
Technical audiobooks are available from the O’Reilly Open Books Project, mostly focusing on programming languages and computer operating systems. O’Reilly makes these books available for a variety of reasons, including historical relevance and general education. The publisher is also proud to be part of the Creative Commons community.
Great tool for learning software development.
Wide selection of out-of-print books.
Selection is limited to a single broad topic.
Very few texts in languages other than English.
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