Project Gutenberg
Public-domain books, book text and book downloads
Project Gutenberg offers free public-domain ebooks and reading materials, with searchable book details and plain text from the most-downloaded matching edition available.
Your information
Book title, for example Pride and Prejudice.
Author name to distinguish books, for example Jane Austen.
More options
Book language, for example English or French.
Maximum number of words to include in the returned text, for example 200000.
Example results
- Title
- Candide, ou l'optimisme
- Author
- Voltaire
- Language
- French
- Book Text
- OEUVRES DE VOLTAIRE. TOME XXXIII DE L’ IMPRIMERIE DE A. FIRMIN DIDOT, RUE JACOB, Nº 24. OEUVRES DE VOLTAIRE PRÉFACES, AVERTISSEMENTS, NOTES, ETC. PAR M. BEUCHOT. TOME XXXIII. ROMANS. TOME I. A PARIS, CHEZ LEFÈVRE, LIBRAIRE, RUE DE L’ÉPERON, Kº 6. WERDET ET LEQUIEN FILS, RUE DU BATTOIR, Nº 20. MDCCCXXIX. CANDIDE, OU L’OPTIMISME Préface de l’Éditeur CHAPITRE I. Comment Candide fut élevé dans un beau château, et comment il fut chassé d’icelui. CHAPITRE II Ce que devint Candide parmi les Bulgares. CHAPITRE III. Comment Candide se sauva d’entre les Bulgares, et ce qu’il devint. CHAPITRE IV. Comment Candide rencontra son ancien maître de philosophie, le docteur Pangloss, et ce qui en advint. CHAPITRE V. Tempête, naufrage, tremblement de terre, et ce qui advint du docteur Pangloss, de Candide, et de l’anabaptiste Jacques. CHAPITRE VI. Comment on fit un bel auto-da-fé pour empêcher les tremblements de terre, et comment Candide fut fessé. CHAPITRE VII Comment une vieille prit soin de Candide, et comment il retrouva ce qu’il aimait. CHAPITRE VIII. Histoire de Cunégonde. CHAPITRE IX. Ce qui advint de Cunégonde, de Candide, du grand-inquisiteur, et d’un Juif. CHAPITRE X. Dans quelle détresse Candide, Cunégonde, et la vieille, arrivent à Cadix, et leur embarquement. CHAPITRE XI. Histoire de la vieille. CHAPITRE XII. Suite des malheurs de la vieille. CHAPITRE XIII. Comment Candide fut obligé de se séparer de la belle Cunégonde et de la vieille. CHAPITRE XIV. Comment Candide et Cacambo furent reçus chez les jésuites du Paraguai. CHAPITRE XV. Comment Candide tua le frère de sa chère Cunégonde. CHAPITRE XVI. Ce qui advint aux deux voyageurs avec deux filles, deux singes, et les sauvages nommés Oreillons. CHAPITRE XVII. Arrivée de Candide et de son valet au pays d’Eldorado, et ce qu’ils y virent. CHAPITRE XVIII Ce qu’ils virent dans le
- Ebook Number
- 4650
- Release Date
- 2003-11-01
- Text Was Cut
- Yes
- Book Page Link
- gutenberg.org
- Total Word Count
- 34,080
About Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (Gutenberg) Search free books finds books by required title, author, or topic, with optional language and sorting.
Get book text returns a book’s plain text by required title, with optional author, language, and word limit.
Built by Fous from gutenberg.org and checked automatically; it last passed a check on Sep 29, 2026. Fous is not affiliated with Project Gutenberg.
Actions
Get book text
1 credit per runGet the plain text of a public-domain Project Gutenberg book by title, optionally matching its author and language. Chooses the most downloaded matching edition with a plain-text file; removes Gutenberg notices and can cut the text after a chosen number of words.
What you provide
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Titletitle | Text | Required | Book title, for example Pride and Prejudice.Example: Pride and Prejudice |
Authorauthor | Text | Optional | Author name to distinguish books, for example Jane Austen.Example: Jane Austen |
Languagelanguage | Text | Optional | Book language, for example English or French.Example: French |
Max Wordsmax_words | Number | Optional | Maximum number of words to include in the returned text, for example 200000.Example: 600000 |
What you get
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Titletitle | Text | Book title.Example: Candide, ou l'optimisme |
Authorauthor | Text | Book author.Example: Voltaire |
Languagelanguage | Text | Book language.Example: French |
Book Textbook_text | Text | Book text with Project Gutenberg header and license footer removed. |
Ebook Numberebook_number | Number | Project Gutenberg ebook number.Example: 4650 |
Release Daterelease_date | Date | Project Gutenberg release date.Example: 2003-11-01 |
Text Was Cuttext_was_cut | Yes or no | Whether the returned text was shortened to max_words.Example: Yes |
Book Page Linkbook_page_link | Link | Project Gutenberg book page.Example: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4650 |
Total Word Counttotal_word_count | Number | Words in the full cleaned text before cutting.Example: 34080 |
Example result
For Title: Candide, Author: Voltaire, Language: French, Max Words: 300
{
"title": "Candide, ou l'optimisme",
"author": "Voltaire",
"language": "French",
"book_text": "OEUVRES\r\n\r\nDE\r\n\r\nVOLTAIRE.\r\n\r\nTOME XXXIII\r\n\r\nDE L’ IMPRIMERIE DE A. FIRMIN DIDOT,\r\n\r\n\r\nRUE JACOB, Nº 24.\r\n\r\nOEUVRES\r\n\r\nDE\r\n\r\nVOLTAIRE\r\n\r\nPRÉFACES, AVERTISSEMENTS, NOTES, ETC.\r\n\r\nPAR M. BEUCHOT.\r\n\r\nTOM…",
"ebook_number": 4650,
"release_date": "2003-11-01",
"text_was_cut": true,
"book_page_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4650",
"total_word_count": 34080
}Search free books
1 credit per runFind free public-domain Project Gutenberg books by title, author, or topic, with authors, languages, subjects, recent downloads, and reading and download links. Public-domain status is based on the United States.
What you provide
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Sortsort | Text | Optional | Sort by popularity, newest release, or title; for example popular.Example: Newest |
Queryquery | Text | Required | Book title, author, or topic, for example Sherlock Holmes.Example: Jane Austen |
Languagelanguage | Text | Optional | Language name or two-letter code, for example French or fr; default any.Example: French |
Max Resultsmax_results | Number | Optional | Maximum number of books to return, for example 20; at most 100.Example: 5 |
What you get
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Booksbooks | List | |
Titlebooks[].title | Text | Example: Raison et sensibilité, ou les deux manières d'aimer (Tome 4) |
Authorsbooks[].authors | List | |
Subjectsbooks[].subjects | List | |
Languagesbooks[].languages | List | |
Ebook Numberbooks[].ebook_number | Number | Example: 37634 |
Book Page Linkbooks[].book_page_link | Text | Example: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634 |
Cover Image Linkbooks[].cover_image_link | Text | Example: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37634/pg37634.cover.medium.jpg |
Read Online Linkbooks[].read_online_link | Text | Example: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37634/pg37634-images.html |
Epub Download Linkbooks[].epub_download_link | Text | Example: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634.epub3.images |
Downloads Last 30 Daysbooks[].downloads_last_30_days | Number | Example: 385 |
Plain Text Download Linkbooks[].plain_text_download_link | Text | Example: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634.txt.utf-8 |
Example result
For Sort: Newest, Query: Jane Austen, Language: French, Max Results: 5
{
"books": [
{
"title": "Raison et sensibilité, ou les deux manières d'aimer (Tome 4)",
"authors": [
{
"name": "Austen, Jane",
"birth_year": 1775,
"death_year": 1817
}
],
"subjects": [
"England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction",
"Inheritance and succession -- Fiction"
],
"languages": [
"French"
],
"ebook_number": 37634,
"book_page_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634",
"cover_image_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37634/pg37634.cover.medium.jpg",
"read_online_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37634/pg37634-images.html",
"epub_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634.epub3.images",
"downloads_last_30_days": 385,
"plain_text_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634.txt.utf-8"
},
{
"title": "Persuasion",
"authors": [
{
"name": "Austen, Jane",
"birth_year": 1775,
"death_year": 1817
}
],
"subjects": [
"England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction",
"Psychological fiction"
],
"languages": [
"French"
],
"ebook_number": 36777,
"book_page_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36777",
"cover_image_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36777/pg36777.cover.medium.jpg",
"read_online_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36777/pg36777-images.html",
"epub_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36777.epub3.images",
"downloads_last_30_days": 698,
"plain_text_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36777.txt.utf-8"
}
]
}For developers
Run this workflow from your own code. In Studio, turn on Developer mode and create an API key.
# First set your key: export FOUS_API_KEY='YOUR_FOUS_API_KEY'
: "${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY before running this example}"
curl 'https://api.fous.com/v1/query' \
--fail-with-body --silent --show-error --max-time 120 \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
"api": "@project-gutenberg",
"visibility": "public",
"operation": "get_book_text",
"version": 1,
"input": {
"title": "Pride and Prejudice",
"author": "Jane Austen"
},
"response": {
"format": "json"
}
}'What you can do with it
- Find books by title, author, or topic
- Filter book searches by language
- Compare recent book downloads
- Read book text for research
- Limit returned text to a chosen word count
Questions
Is Fous affiliated with Project Gutenberg?
No. Fous is not affiliated with Project Gutenberg. This workflow reads the public gutenberg.org website and returns its data.
How much does it cost?
Each run costs 1 credit. With pay-as-you-go, a credit costs 1¢; monthly plans cost less per credit.
Do I need a Project Gutenberg account?
No. You only need a Fous account.
How current is the data?
Fous gets the data from gutenberg.org when you run it; repeating the same request within a day may return the saved result. Fous checks this workflow automatically; it last passed a check on Sep 29, 2026.
How can I find books by topic or author?
Search free books finds books by title, author, or topic, with optional language and sorting.
Can I get the text of a book?
Get book text returns plain text by title, with optional author and language matching.
Can I limit how much book text is returned?
Get book text can cut the returned text after a chosen maximum number of words.