Electronic Texts Resources
FREE On-line full-text books in the public domain.

What's an eBook?
eBooks are  books in an electronic form that can be downloaded to a computer, laptop, or portable eBook device.  The interfaces for the collections listed below are different but most have browse options along with the ability to search by author or title. 

General

Project Gutenberg – [www.gutenberg.net]

Project Gutenberg has over 10,000 e-texts available to the general public. Project Gutenberg allows users to search the entire database at once. Looking for a passage in your favorite book? Here is the place to go.

Perseus Project - [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/]

            This site is an amazing collection of materials from antiquity to modern times.You can choose which time period to search.This collection includes art images, images, and texts.

Internet Public Library – [http://www.ipl.org/reading/books/]

            This is a convenient way to access texts at many different sites.This site has cataloged e-texts available to the general public.Links are provided to direct you to the location of the text.

Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts [http://infomotions.com/alex2/]

            Easy to use, and quick to load web page with public domain books.  Search by author, title, or keyword, download books in a variety of formats.

National Academy Press – [www.nap.edu/]

            This is a way to view books published by National Academy Press for free.If you want to download a copy there is a charge but, viewing is for free.

Online Books Page – [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu]

            This site has links to over 16,000 e-texts available in the public domain.Some are available for download.There are also links to foreign language texts.

Bartleby – [www.bartleby.com]

            A site to search the text of many reference books including, Gray’s Anatomy, King James Bible, Columbia Encyclopedia, and American Heritage Dictionary, no downloading is available.

The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School – [www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm]

            The Avalon Project has assembled a massive collection of documents pertaining to law, history, and diplomacy.Not only are there documents but links to other sites.The collection is searchable by keyword and can be limited easily to laws, executive orders, proclamations, etc.The layout of this site is one of the best there is.

Bibliomania – [www.bibliomania.com/main.html]

            This site allows one to read classics, use study guides, and look up information in reference books.The site is easily searchable and the format of the HTML books is easy to read.Although the collection is small there are some significant works here, most are coming from Project Gutenberg.

University of Virginia Library Scholars' Lab – [www.lib.virginia.edu/scholarslab]

            This huge collection of texts is internet-accessible through SGML and XML encoded texts and images and offers downloads to the MS Reader and Palm.There are various ways to search this collection, author, title, and subject (by type of literature).

Digital Scriptorium Projects – [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/scriptorium/projects.html]

            The Digital Scriptorium Projects are an interesting mix of various digital projects which include rare books, manuscripts, and special collections.There are various projects available which focus on images such as the Ad*Access database.This site is definitely worth going to for the curious.

Blackmask Online – [www.blackmask.com]

            This collection includes sources on Southern history, literature, and culture.The collection’s date range includes the colonial period through the first decades of the 20^th century.There are 1,160 books and manuscripts in this collection, as of May 15, 2002.The format is HTML and the interface is wonderful.

Wright American Fiction 1851 – 1875 – [http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/web/w/wright2/]

            Although the time span covered is short in this collection, 25 years, and the breadth is small this collection has a wonderful interface and searching capabilities.Images are scanned and fully searchable.Many of the titles are rare and not easily accessible other than using this collection from the Indiana University Wright collection.At the present time, there are 1932 texts included by 945 authors.

Classic Reader- [www.classicreader.com/]

            A small collection of literature however, this collection does include many famous authors.With a free registration you can download the entire text to your PC.

AmericanStudies@The University of Virginia – [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/hypertex.html]

            This collection is a small collection of well known American authors.The pages are searchable and set up in HTML.

University of Virginia Library Scholars' Lab – [www.lib.virginia.edu/scholarslab]

            This huge collection of texts is internet-accessible through SGML and XML encoded texts and images and offers downloads to the MS Reader and Palm.There are various ways to search this collection, author, title, and subject (by type of literature).

Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts – [www.infomotions.com/alex/]

            The Alex catalogue of Electronic Texts is a small collection of public domain documents from American and English literature.A small collection of Western philosophy is also included.The texts can also be downloaded in the following formats: PDF, Newton, Palm, Rocket, and a local text copy.

            This collection includes sources on Southern history, literature, and culture.The collection’s date range includes the colonial period through the first decades of the 20^th century.There are 1,160 books and manuscripts in this collection, as of May 15, 2002.The format is HTML and the interface is wonderful.

Making of America – [www.hti.umich.edu/m/moa.new/]

            A collection of primary source documents focusing on American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.With this collection the images from the texts are scanned in, however, one can search the texts.

American Memory – [http://memory.loc.gov]

            The Library of Congress has scanned an enormous collection of primary source documents.All documents relate to the history and culture of the United States.The collection includes more than 7 million digital items from over 100 historical collections.

The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School – [www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm]                              

            The Avalon Project has assembled a massive collection of documents pertaining to law, history, and diplomacy.Not only are there documents but links to other sites.The collection is searchable by keyword and can be limited easily to laws, executive orders, proclamations, etc.The layout of this site is one of the best there is.

Project Diana – [www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diana/index.html]

            Project Diana is a section of the Avalon Project which pertains to human rights.Although the home page is simple there is a wealth of information available at this site in the form of cases and documents in an HTML format.

The American Colonist’s Library – [http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a6605427caf.htm]

            The American Colonist’s Library is really a listing of Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History which can be found on the Internet.Although there is a significant amount of documents here there is no easy way to search the titles or know what site you are being sent to.

Liberty Library of Constitutional Classics – [www.constitution.org/liberlib.htm]

            This site is a listing of classic books and other works on constitutional government.The documents are available in multiple formats and there is a listing of document which will be added to the collection.Most of the important primary source documents on constitutional government are here.

Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts – [www.infomotions.com/alex/]

            The Alex catalogue of Electronic Texts is a small collection of public domain documents from American and English literature.A small collection of Western philosophy is also included.The texts can also be downloaded in the following formats: PDF, Newton, Palm, Rocket, and a local text copy.

            A small collection of fundamental economic theory materials, books and essays are included in this collection. Also included is the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. There are also links to best quotes and biographies.

Cornell Historic Math Book Collection - [http://historical.library.cornell.edu/math/]

            Digital images of historical math texts constitute this truly fascinating collection of materials. Only one page is displayed at a time so you must navigate from the left hand menu.

Project Diana – [www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diana/index.html]

            Project Diana is a section of the Avalon Project which pertains to human rights.Although the home page is simple there is a wealth of information available at this site in the form of cases and documents in an HTML format.