Book categories
198 free books in 34 subjects, every one free to read online or download. Pick a subject to start.
Stories & LiteratureFor ChildrenHistory & PeopleIdeas & BeliefScience & NatureSociety & Everyday LifeArts & Language
Stories & Literature
- Literature13Classic works that shaped how we write and read: essays, criticism, collected works and the books other books keep referring to. Read them in the original editions, page by page, as their first readers did.
- Poetry8Poems in collections, anthologies and verse for children, from medieval ballads to the poets of the last century. Many editions keep their original layout and decorations, which suits poetry well.
- Short Stories5Stories you can finish in one sitting, by writers who made the form their own: twists, ghosts, quiet tragedies and sharp comedies. A good place to meet an author before taking on one of their novels.
- Fiction4Novels and longer tales from the great age of storytelling in print, from adventure and mystery to family sagas. Open any of them in the reading room and turn the pages as if you held the book.
- Adventure3Voyages, explorers' journals, sea stories and expeditions into unknown lands. Some are true accounts, some pure invention, and all of them are written to keep you turning pages.
- Romance3Love stories from another time, with their letters, misunderstandings and happy endings, in the editions their first readers held.
- Science Fiction & Fantasy2Journeys to the moon, machines that think, lost worlds and enchanted kingdoms. The early science fiction and fantasy here imagined the future long before it arrived.
- Humor & Satire2Wit, parody and satire that made readers laugh, and sometimes made the powerful uncomfortable.
- Drama & Plays1Plays written for the stage, from ancient tragedies and Shakespeare's comedies to the drawing-room dramas of the last century. Read them aloud with friends, study them for class, or just enjoy the dialogue.
- Mystery & Detective1Detectives, locked rooms, missing jewels and clever deductions: the mysteries here come from the years when the genre was invented, and many of their tricks are still being borrowed today.
- Horror & Gothic1Haunted houses, restless spirits and the things that move in the dark. The gothic and ghost stories collected here were written to be read by candlelight, and they still work.
- Essays & LetterssoonEssays, speeches and letters: writers thinking aloud on paper, arguing, consoling and observing. Short enough to read in a sitting and full of lines worth keeping.
For Children
- Children's Literature20Picture books, nursery rhymes, school stories and the classics children have loved for generations. Many are richly illustrated, and every one can be read online or downloaded for a quiet afternoon.
- Fairy Tales18Princesses who outwit giants, talking animals, enchanted forests and wishes that go wrong: the fairy tales collected here come from old printed editions, many with the engravings that first illustrated them. They are as good read aloud at bedtime as they are for grown-ups curious about where the stories we know began.
- Folklore & Legends10Myths, sagas and stories handed down by word of mouth before anyone wrote them in a book. From Norse gods to Japanese spirits and Croatian heroes, these collections keep the voices of storytellers from all over the world, set down by the travellers and scholars who listened to them.
History & People
- History16Chronicles, records and histories of countries, towns, wars and everyday life, many written close to the events they describe. A treasure for students, family historians and anyone who likes the past told by those who knew it.
- Travel & Exploration12Travellers' tales and explorers' journals from deserts, oceans, mountains and cities as they once were. Each one is a ticket to a place, and to a time, you can no longer visit.
- Biography & Memoir5Lives told by the people who lived them or by those who knew them: letters, diaries, memoirs and biographies of rulers, writers, scientists and ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
- War & Military2Campaigns, battles and the people caught up in them, from ancient wars to the Great War, told by soldiers, historians and correspondents of the time.
Ideas & Belief
- Philosophy10The big questions about how to live, what we can know and how society should be run, in the words of the thinkers who asked them, from ancient sages to modern philosophers.
- Religion & Spirituality8Sacred texts, sermons, mystics and the history of faiths around the world, collected for believers, students and anyone curious about what people have held sacred.
- Psychology2Early studies of the mind: memory, dreams, habits, emotions and the first experiments of a young science, written by the people who founded it.
Science & Nature
- Mathematics10Geometry, algebra, arithmetic and the history of numbers in the textbooks and treatises that taught generations to count, measure and prove.
- Science5Old science books are a window into how ideas grew: what was known, what was guessed and what turned out wrong. Here you will find natural history, mathematics, astronomy and more, often with the plates and diagrams of the time.
- Technology & Engineering3Machines, inventions, railways, early flight and the engineering handbooks that built the modern world, often with detailed drawings.
- Nature & Animals2Field guides, naturalists' notebooks and books about animals, birds, insects and plants, often with the beautiful plates that made them treasures in their day.
- Medicine & Health1The history of medicine, anatomy, hygiene and home health care, from old physicians' handbooks to the first modern textbooks.
- Agriculture & Gardening1Farming, gardening, orchards and beekeeping from the old almanacs and manuals: practical knowledge that still grows things today.
Society & Everyday Life
- Reference14Dictionaries, indexes, tables and other books made to be consulted rather than read from cover to cover, still handy and often fascinating to browse.
- Politics & Society2Government, rights, reform movements and how societies work, in the arguments and studies that shaped modern politics.
- Cookery & Home2Old cookbooks and household guides: recipes, kitchen wisdom and the art of keeping a home, as practised generations ago.
- Economics & Business1Trade, money, banking and the economists who first explained them, alongside practical guides to running a business in their day.
- LawsoonConstitutions, treatises and the history of law, from ancient codes to the classic texts of modern legal thought.
- Crafts & HobbiessoonNeedlework, woodwork, model making and pastimes of all kinds, with the patterns and step-by-step instructions of their time.
- Sports & GamessoonChess, card games, outdoor sports and pastimes, with the rules, strategies and stories of the players who loved them.
- TextbookssoonSchoolbooks and handbooks from earlier generations: grammars, readers, arithmetic and practical manuals. Useful for teaching, for comparing how subjects used to be taught, or simply for the pleasure of a well-made old lesson.
Arts & Language
- Language & Linguistics8Grammars, phrase books and studies of how languages are built and how they change, for learners and the language-curious.
- Art & Architecture2Painters, sculptors, architects and the history of art and design, with the plates and drawings that made these books beautiful.
- Music1Songbooks, hymnals, music theory and the lives of composers, from folk songs to the great operas.
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