A new legally download free eBooks in EPUB or PDF format

Raefskov · 10-12-2025, 10:33 PM

I’ve been searching for a good, reliable source to download classic and public domain eBooks — titles like Pride and Prejudice, The Odyssey, or War and Peace — preferably in EPUB or PDF format.

Many of the sites I’ve found either ask for sign-ups, redirect to paid pages, or have outdated links. I’m mainly looking for something legal, simple to use, and friendly for mobile readers or e-ink devices.

I recently came across ebookzy.com
, which has a clean layout and a solid selection of classics from authors like Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Homer.

Does anyone here have other trusted sources for downloading or reading free and legal eBooks? I’d love to explore more options recommended by this community.

cld01k · 10-12-2025, 11:56 PM

Good sources for free classics include Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks. I prefer the latter, although the former has a more extensive collection. Many stores also offer titles for free.
I've been building eBookRadar.net, centralising access to various platform. Think of it as a search engine for ebooks. Feedback welcome.

Quoth · 10-13-2025, 07:03 AM

Project Gutenberg's formatting of epub is based on text as they started in 1971 – 1972. It's easily automatically reformatted by Calibre on an epub to epub conversion. Then it's often better than Standard Ebooks. See also Global Grey.

https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/index.html

PDF is terrible except for print, or content that needs fixed layout like textbooks, illustrated children's books, graphic novels or comics.

ebookzy looks tiny and could easily be created from Gutenberg. So I downloaded "The 39 Steps". Other sites have far more of John Buchan's novels. It is from Project Gutenberg.

So ebookzy is pointless.

EDIT:
It's also a poor website as the categories miss titles they have and the covers are using stupid web page coding such than on my 4K 23" monitor I have to scale the page to 67% to avoid all the covers being cropped on the right.

JSWolf · 10-13-2025, 07:14 AM

A really good source for public domain eBooks is right here at Mobileread. Just select E-Books in the menu bar.

cld01k · 10-13-2025, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A really good source for public domain eBooks is right here at Mobileread. Just select E-Books in the menu bar.

Wow. I'd like to integrate this in my platform. Who should I ask to?

Edit: Contacted HarryT.

10-12-2025, 10:33 PM	#1
Raefskov Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2025 Device: epub	A new legally download free eBooks in EPUB or PDF format I’ve been searching for a good, reliable source to download classic and public domain eBooks — titles like Pride and Prejudice, The Odyssey, or War and Peace — preferably in EPUB or PDF format. Many of the sites I’ve found either ask for sign-ups, redirect to paid pages, or have outdated links. I’m mainly looking for something legal, simple to use, and friendly for mobile readers or e-ink devices. I recently came across ebookzy.com , which has a clean layout and a solid selection of classics from authors like Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Homer. Does anyone here have other trusted sources for downloading or reading free and legal eBooks? I’d love to explore more options recommended by this community.

10-13-2025, 07:03 AM	#3
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,856 Karma: 110496601 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Project Gutenberg's formatting of epub is based on text as they started in 1971 – 1972. It's easily automatically reformatted by Calibre on an epub to epub conversion. Then it's often better than Standard Ebooks. See also Global Grey. https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/index.html PDF is terrible except for print, or content that needs fixed layout like textbooks, illustrated children's books, graphic novels or comics. ebookzy looks tiny and could easily be created from Gutenberg. So I downloaded "The 39 Steps". Other sites have far more of John Buchan's novels. It is from Project Gutenberg. So ebookzy is pointless. EDIT: It's also a poor website as the categories miss titles they have and the covers are using stupid web page coding such than on my 4K 23" monitor I have to scale the page to 67% to avoid all the covers being cropped on the right. Last edited by Quoth; 10-13-2025 at 07:07 AM.

10-12-2025, 11:56 PM	#2
cld01k Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2025 Device: Kindle Voyage	Good sources for free classics include Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks. I prefer the latter, although the former has a more extensive collection. Many stores also offer titles for free. I've been building eBookRadar.net, centralising access to various platform. Think of it as a search engine for ebooks. Feedback welcome.

10-13-2025, 07:14 AM	#4
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,554 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	A really good source for public domain eBooks is right here at Mobileread. Just select E-Books in the menu bar.