List of books in the Public Domain
Public domain books are every Book written and created without any type of license or are published under a Public domain license. Public domain books are also books that never had have a copyright license (either because copyright laws did not exist or because the author shoose to not use a license) or that the copyright has expired[1] or have been forfeited.[2]
Every book or tale written before 1787 belongs to the public domain and in most countries every book written before 1945 belongs to the public domain, among them; Cantar de Mio Cid, Bible, Quran, every book written by Aristotle, Miguel de Cervantes, Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allan Poe and H. G. Wells.
3rd millennium BC books
29th century BC
28th century BC
26th century BC
25th century BC
24th century BC
23rd century BC
21st century BC
- Código de Lipit-Ishtar
- Berlin Papyrus
2nd millennium BC books
20th century BC
19th century BC
18th century BC
17th century BC
16th century BC
15th century BC
14th century BC
13th century BC
- I Ching
- Milawata letter
- Manapa-Tarhunta letter
- Tawagalawa letter
- Ipuwer Papyrus
- Papyrus Harris 500
- Chester Beatty Medical Papyrus
- Turin King List
- Merneptah Stele
- Tale of Two Brothers
- Tale of the doomed prince
- Book of the Earth
- Book of Caverns
- Book of Gates
- Papyrus of Ani
- Poema de Pentaur
- Hunefer
12th century BC
- Dispute between a man and his Ba
- Historia de pastores
- Instruction of Amenemope
- Turin Papyrus Map
- Papyrus Harris I
- Turin Erotic Papyrus
- Rigveda, oldest book written on India.
11th century BC
1st millennium BC books
10th century BC
8th century BC
- I Ching
- Theban Cycle
- Historia sincrónica
- Epopeya de Erra
- Odyssey
- Catalogue of Women
7th century BC
- Iliad
- Bhaṭṭikāvya
- Vayasaneyi-samjita
- Dithyramb
- Enûma Eliš
- Epic of Gilgamesh
- Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa
6th century BC
- Books written by Aristotle: Physics, Metaphysics, Parva Naturalia, Poetics, Segunda Poética, History of Animals, Organon.
- Astadhiai by Pāṇini
- Aethiopis
- Nabonidus Chronicle
- Massaliote Periplus
- Shield of Heracles
- Catalogue of Women
- Cyrus Cylinder
- Persepolis Administrative Archives
- Book of Genesis
5th century BC
- Baudhayana-sulba-sutra
- Analects
- Spring and Autumn Annals
- Batrachomyomachia
- Dhammapada
- Digha Nikaya
- Classic of Poetry
- Tablillas del Tesoro de Persépolis
- Elephantine papyri
- Brooklyn Papyrus
- Books by Aristophanes: The Knights, Peace (play), The Acharnians, Assemblywomen, Thesmophoriazusae, The Frogs, Lysistrata, The Birds (play), The Wasps, The Clouds.
4th century BC
- Books written by Plato: Apology (Plato), Laws (dialogue), Timaeus (dialogue)o, Critias (dialogue), Timeo, Statesman (dialogue), Theaetetus (dialogue), Republic, Parmenides (dialogue), Symposium (Plato), Phaedo, Meno, Laches (dialogue), Cratylus (dialogue)
- Books written by Xenophon: Apology (Xenophon), Anabasis (Xenophon), Oeconomicus, Hellenica, Cyropaedia.
- Plutus (play)
- Aspis (Menander))
- Astadhiai
- Hellenica Oxyrhynchia
- Book of Documentsa
- Natya Shastra
3rd century BC
- Panchatantra
- Bamboo Annals
- Argonautica
- Bhagavad Gita
- Mahabharata
- books written by Philo: Mechanikḗ Syntáxis.
- Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax
- Srauta-sutra
- Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
- Milesian tale
2nd century BC
- Andria (comedy)
- Asinaria
- Aulularia
- The Histories (Polybius)
- Miles Gloriosus (play)
- Nyāya Sūtras
- Hecyra
- Shvetashvatara Upanishad
1rst century BC
- Ars Poetica (Horace)
- Barhaspatya sutras
- De architectura
- Georgics
- Heroides
- Guerra Jugurtina
- Liber Linteus
- Amores (Ovid)
- De rerum natura
- Eclogues
- De Catilinae coniuratione
- Libros de mujeres ejemplares
- Sobre las plantas.
- Records of the Grand Historian
1st millennium DC books
1st century DC
- Ars Amatoria
- The book of numbers and computation
- Han shi waizhuan
- Huainanzi
- Mṛcchakatika
- Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)
- Materia medica
- Fasti (poem)
- Harivamsa
- Mandukya Upanishad
- Natural History (Pliny)
- Germania (book)
- Geographica
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
- Punica (poem)
- Remedia Amoris
- Thebaid (Latin poem)
- Tristes (Ovidio)
2nd century DC
- Almagest
- The Anabasis of Alexander
- Annals (Tacitus)
- Arthashastra
- Charaka Samhita
- Descripción de Grecia
- Dialogus de oratoribus
- Enchiridion of Epictetus
- Epítome de Tito Livio
- Meditations
- Moralia
- The Twelve Caesars
- Satires (Juvenal)
- Physiologus
- Periplus of the Euxine Sea
- Geography (Ptolemy)
- Book of Han
- Histories (Tacitus)
3rd century DC
- Libro de Alexandre
- Arithmetica
- Papiro de Zósimo de Panópolis
- Banquete de los eruditos
- On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians
- Enneads
- Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
- Itinerario de Antonino
- Yuga Purana
- Matsya Purana
- Sushruta Samhita
- Kama Sutra
4th century DC
- Amara-kosha
- Anonymus Valesianus
- Chronography of 354
- Epitome de Caesaribus
- Augustan History
- De mortibus persecutorum
- De Re Militari
- Mudrarakshasa
- Ora maritima
- Tabula Peutingeriana
5th century DC
6th century DC
- Antiphonary of Bangor
- Bṛhat Saṃhitā
- The Consolation of Philosophy
- Corpus Juris Civilis
- Codex Justinianus
- Digest (Roman law)
- Vienna Dioscurides
- Getica
- Institutes of Justinian
- Mahavamsa
- Commentary on Job
- Periplo del Ponto Euxino (anónimo)
- Raghuvaṃśa
- Book of Song
- Strategikon of Maurice
7th century DC
- Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta
- Etymologiae
- Harshacharita
- Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum
- Visigothic Code
8th century DC
9th century DC
- Diamond Sutra (First prited book)
- The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing
- De Gradibus
- One Thousand and One Nights
- Annales Fuldenses
- Annales Bertiniani
- Royal Frankish Annals
- Manual para mi hijo
- Historia Brittonum
- Vita Karoli Magni
- Taktikon Uspensky
- Scolica enchiriadis
- Musica enchiriadis
- Book of Ingenious Devices
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- Annales Xantenses
2nd millennium DC books
10th century DC
- Crónica albeldense
- Nodicia de kesos
- Ajbar machmúa
- Roda Codex
- Chronicle of Alfonso III
- De Administrando Imperio
- De Ceremoniis
- Hudud al-'Alam
- Geoponica
- Old Book of Tang
- Suda
- The Pillow Book
- Book of Fixed Stars
- Wenyuan Yinghua
- Engishiki
11th century DC
- Garcineida
- The Ring of the Dove
- Crónica de Sampiro
- Der arme Heinrich
- Theophanes Continuatus
12th century DC
- Hayy ibn Yaqdhan
- Carmina Burana
- Gita Govinda
- Lais de María de Francia
- Disputa del alma y el cuerpo
- Cartularies of Valpuesta
- Chronicon Compostellanum
- Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris
- Chronica Naierensis
- Historia silense
- Historia Compostelana
- Lushi
13th century DC
- Al-Mugrib fī ḥulā al-Magrib
- Calila e Dimna
- Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional
- Códice Madrid 20486
- Castia gilos
- Estoria de los godos
- Semejança del mundo
- Siete Partidas
- Secretum Secretorum
- Razón de amor con los denuestos del agua y del vino
- Libro de las formas et de las imágenes
- Libro complido en los judizios de las estrellas
- Libro de los buenos proverbios
- Lapidario
- Libros del saber de astronomía
- Alfonsine tables
- Picatrix
- Cantar de los Siete Infantes de Lara
- Lucidario
- Romance of Flamenca
- Pergaminho Sharrer
- Nibelungenlied
- Libro de los juegos
- Book of the Civilized Man
- Codex Regius
- Codex Wormianus
14th century DC
- Al-Bayan al-Mughrib by Ibn Idhari
- Codex Bodley
- Catalan Atlas de Abraham Cresques
- Danse Macabre
- Codex Manesse
- Scheherazade is added to One Thousand and One Nights.
- White Book of Rhydderch
- Knighton's Chronicon
- Divine Comedy
- The Decameron
15th century DC
- Romance of Abenámar
- Libro de los exemplos por a. b. c. por Clemente Sánchez de Vercial
- Laberinto de Fortuna de Juan de Mena
- The Master of Game
16th century DC
- Utopia
- De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
- Commentariolus
- Ouverture de cuisine
- Crónica de la Nueva España by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar
- Guzmán de Alfarache by Mateo Alemán
17th century DC
- Las mocedades del Cid by Guillén de Castro
- La pícara Justina
- Cancionero de la Sablonara
- Cancionero de Turín
- Cautiverio feliz by Francisco Núñez de Pineda y Bascuñán
- El Héroe y Agudeza y arte de ingenio by Baltasar Gracián
- El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha y Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses nuevos nunca representados by Miguel de Cervantes
- Quijote de Avellaneda by Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda
- Entre bobos anda el juego by Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla
- Entremés famoso sobre a pesca no río Miño by Gabriel Feijoo de Araújo
- El siglo pitagórico by Antonio Enríquez Gómez
- León prodigioso by Cosme Gómez Tejada de los Reyes
- El conde Partinuplés y Valor, agravio y mujer by Ana Caro de Mallén
- Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española by Sebastián de Covarrubias
- Décadas de Herrera y Historia general del Mundo (Herrera) by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas
- Purén indómito by Diego Arias de Saavedra
- Porfiar hasta morir y La Dorotea by Lope de Vega
- Crónica de los príncipes de Asturias y Cantabria by Francisco de Sota
- El desierto prodigioso y prodigio del desierto by Pedro de Solís y Valenzuela
- El esclavo del demonio by Antonio Mira de Amescua
18th century DC
- Arthur Mervyn, Edgar Huntly, Wieland and Sky-Walk by Charles Brockden Brown
- Camilla, Evelina and Cecilia by Frances Burney
- Jonathan Dickinson's Journal by Jonathan Dickinson.
- Notes on the State of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson
- The Algerine Captive by Royall Tyler
- The Boarding School; or, Lessons of a Preceptress to Her Pupils and The Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster
- The Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
- The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne.
19th century DC
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Hunting of the Snark and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
- Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
- Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette and The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
- The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
- Fragment of a Novel by Lord Byron
- Tales of My Landlord and Waverley Novels by Walter Scott
- The Vampyre by John William Polidori
- Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, The Last Man and Mathilda by Mary Shelley
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allan Poe
- The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne;
- David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens;
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe;
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
- The Odd Women by George Gissing
- The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells
- The Autobiography of a Flea by Edward Avery
- The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope
- Vanity Fair, The Newcomes, The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray.
3rd millennium DC books
20th century DC
- Books written by Shesher Kabita: The Home and the World, Jogajog, Nastanirh, Songs of Kabir, Bhanusimha Thakurer Padabali, etc.
- Books written by Franz Kafka: The Trial, The Castle, Amerika, The Metamorphosis, etc.
- Books written by D. H. Lawrence: The Rainbow, Women in Love, The Lost Girl, Aaron's Rod, Sons and Lovers, etc.
- Books written by Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway, The Voyage Out, Night and Day, To the Lighthouse, Orlando: A Biography, Jacob's Room, Between the Acts, etc.
- Many Marriages, by Sherwood Anderson
- The Moon Pool, by A. Merritt
- Ulysses, by James Joyce
- Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
21st century DC
Hundreds of books enter the public domain every year in the 21st century, but also new formats are created, among them, audiobooks. LibriVox projects aim to record and digitize every book in the public domain in different languages, to allow listening to books when there is no book or ebook reader available, and also allows the blind to enjoy books.
Access and repositories of public domain books
Books that belong to the public domain are digitalized and stored on websites such as Internet Archive or Europeana in many formats such as EPUB (for reading on ebook readers), PDF, ODT and Docx. These books can be converted from .txt, .odt, .pdf or .doc formats to EPUB format (to read on E-readers) with apps like Calibre and Sigil (both Free software).
Public domain books can be copied, edited, downloaded, shared, printed, sold or read freely, in analog or digital formats, on computers, tablets, or e-readers without restrictions. They are available on many websites.
In 1971 Michael S. Hart launched Project Gutenberg, which aims to digitize and preserve every book that belongs to the public domain, which initially worked under ARPANET and after that worked under internet.
In 1996 Brewster Kahle launched Internet Archive to preserve books, music, films and websites.
In 2001 Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia and in 2003 launched Wikisource.
In 2005 Hugh McGuire started LibriVox project, a website to create, listen to and share audiobooks.
Many countries and even continents have taken action to preserve and promote access to science and culture, among them the European Union which in 2008 launched Europeana, an online public domain library that preserve millions of books, pictures, audio files, songs and movies.