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Old 08-30-2010, 04:51 PM   #1
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What's the best source for public domain ebooks?
We all have at least a few classics we've somehow neglected to read.

What's the best place to get public domain classics? Why are different versions available even on the same store? How different is the formatting, and is there a way to tell which versions are best without actually trying them out?

Mild OCD + love of collecting + hundreds of thousands of PD books = not a very nice combination, I'm afraid.
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Old 08-30-2010, 05:01 PM   #2
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There are some really nice versions of PD books here on Mobileread in all sorts of formats. Have a look here.
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Old 08-30-2010, 05:30 PM   #3
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Old 08-30-2010, 06:40 PM   #4
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I'd also add epubbooks.com to the list.
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Old 08-30-2010, 06:48 PM   #5
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The best formatting is here at Mobileread; the books are hand-crafted with consideration of the features of each file format and abilities of ebook devices in mind.

The selection is limited (for, um, internet values of "limited") to only a few thousand books (over 10k when you count all file formats) but excellent. And in many cases, the book designer is available for requests--if you really want a particular PD book without the pictures, they might be willing to provide that for you. And they take requests.

Next best is probably feedbooks, most of which are Gutenberg productions with somewhat better formatting.

I wouldn't recommend ever paying for a public domain book from one of the mainstream publishers (unless you had some need for a particular version's commentary or annotations); they are often either using the Gutenberg edition as a base, or scanning-and-OCR'ing a paper copy, with less error correction than Gutenberg.
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Old 08-30-2010, 08:29 PM   #6
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I like hard-boiled mysteries, and I've downloaded a number of titles from munseys.com which I plan to get to soon.
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Old 09-05-2010, 01:30 AM   #7
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Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, Planet eBook, ManyBooks, and MobileRead itself all come to mind as good potential sources of public domain books. Which one is best is something you will have to decide on your own.
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Old 09-05-2010, 04:01 AM   #8
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Honestly, after downloading a lot of free books from all the recommended sites, I would suggest start with here first.

Then try Manybooks.net, then Feedbooks.

After that, I guess you are better just going to Gutenberg and doing it yourself. I tried a bunch of freebies from Amazon itself for my new Kindle, but they were all really slapped together productions, worse than anything I could do. Why they allow that is beyond me...
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Old 09-08-2010, 11:32 PM   #9
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While not a general place for free ebooks, if you are a Firefly fan then you should download and read the book "My Kind Of Freedom" by Steven Brust. It is not public domain but it is released under the creative commons license so it is still "free". The site is here:
http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html

Really good book by a scifi author who is also a fan.
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Old 09-09-2010, 12:21 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffcobb View Post
While not a general place for free ebooks, if you are a Firefly fan then you should download and read the book "My Kind Of Freedom" by Steven Brust. It is not public domain but it is released under the creative commons license so it is still "free". The site is here:
http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html
That novel is a self-admitted unauthorized derivative work. I don't think the CC license written on it is properly used.
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Old 09-09-2010, 12:49 AM   #11
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Derivative of what exactly? In any event, it is free and well-written. If you are a Browncoat you would love it.
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Old 09-09-2010, 11:28 AM   #12
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Going back to the original topic, I also would say that MobileRead is the first place to look for good public domain books. If you have a Kindle, I highly recommend putting the MobiPocket Download Guide on it. Using this, you can easily find and download any book from MobileRead.

If you have an iPad, I'll point out that the iBookstore offers free previews of every book, even the non-free ones. Project Gutenberg books are available for free on the iBookstore, but are frequently badly formatted. On the other hand, most priced public domain titles are also badly formatted.

So when I want a particular public domain title on my iPad, I do this:
  1. Search for the book. Download previews of every version.
  2. Flip through each preview and identify the best.
  3. Pick the one I like, buy it (if necessary), and delete the rest.
The Kindle offers a similar "preview" feature, so this approach should work there too. I don't have experience with Sony.

Hope this helps!
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Old 09-11-2010, 12:01 PM   #13
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Old 09-11-2010, 12:44 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sweevo View Post
We all have at least a few classics we've somehow neglected to read.

What's the best place to get public domain classics? Why are different versions available even on the same store? How different is the formatting, and is there a way to tell which versions are best without actually trying them out?

Mild OCD + love of collecting + hundreds of thousands of PD books = not a very nice combination, I'm afraid.

Try HERE. click on my link, you can sort by device, author, and genre.
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