Where to read and download public domain books
A book enters the public domain once its copyright term ends — in most countries, 70 years after the author's death. From that point, anyone can copy, print or republish the full text without asking permission.
This page does not host any files. It links to the archives that actually do the scanning and proofreading, so the copy you get is accurate.
- Project Gutenberg
over 70,000 public-domain ebooks, free in EPUB, Kindle and plain text
- Wikisource
proofread transcriptions of public-domain texts, cross-linked to the scanned original
- LibriVox
free public-domain audiobooks, read by volunteers
- Internet Archive
scanned originals, including editions too old or obscure for the other three
Cuidado
The rule that matters
O que fazer com isso
What you actually get
Why not just search for a PDF?
A random PDF floating on the web carries no guarantee that the text is complete, accurate, or even the right edition — or that whoever uploaded it had the right to. The four archives above exist specifically to solve that: Project Gutenberg and Wikisource proofread against scanned originals, and the Internet Archive keeps the scan itself online so you can check a page directly.
Is every old book automatically public domain?
No. The clock starts at the author's death, not at publication, and translations, annotated editions or illustrations by someone who died more recently can carry their own, separate copyright even when the original text is free. When in doubt, the safest signal is whether Project Gutenberg or Wikisource already carries that exact edition — if they do, it has been checked.
Glossário: os termos desta página
Public domain
A work whose copyright term has expired — commonly life plus 70 years after the author's death — and so can be freely copied and republished.
Education and reference glossary — todos os 5 termos.