How to Download Project Gutenberg Books (And Listen to Them Free)
A step-by-step guide to downloading any of Project Gutenberg's 70,000 free public-domain books and listening to them as audiobooks using on-device TTS.
How do I download a book from Project Gutenberg?
Either install Eist (free, Android / iOS) and use its built-in one-tap Project Gutenberg integration, or browse gutenberg.org directly and download the EPUB. Both are free and legal — Project Gutenberg is a non-profit archive of public-domain texts.
The fastest path: Eist’s built-in catalogue
Eist has Project Gutenberg’s catalogue built into the app:
- Install Eist.
- Tap Discover.
- Search any title — Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Moby Dick.
- Tap Import on the result. The EPUB downloads and is converted to an audiobook on first play.
No browser needed, no manual file handling. The 70,000-book catalogue is searchable directly in the app.
The manual path: gutenberg.org
If you want to download from a desktop browser:
- Go to gutenberg.org.
- Search or browse the catalogue.
- On the book page, click EPUB under “Download This eBook” (other formats are available; EPUB works best for TTS).
- Save the file.
- Transfer to your phone via cloud drive, USB, or email.
- Import into Eist (or any EPUB reader).
This path makes sense if you’re building a personal collection on a computer, or if you want to bulk-download titles.
What can you legally download from Project Gutenberg?
Project Gutenberg books are in the public domain (in the US — copyright laws vary internationally, but Project Gutenberg lists the US status for each book). You can:
- Download, copy, and redistribute freely.
- Convert to any format, including audio.
- Use commercially (most titles allow this).
The Project Gutenberg Trademark is restricted — if you redistribute Project Gutenberg books unchanged with their headers, you need to follow the trademark notice. Stripping the headers makes the book “just a public-domain text” without the trademark.
The most popular titles to start with
If you’re new to public-domain reading, these are the all-time top downloads:
- Pride and Prejudice — Jane Austen
- Frankenstein — Mary Shelley
- Dracula — Bram Stoker
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — Arthur Conan Doyle
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — Lewis Carroll
- Moby-Dick — Herman Melville
- A Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
- The Picture of Dorian Gray — Oscar Wilde
- The Count of Monte Cristo — Alexandre Dumas
- Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
All free, all instantly available in Eist. For the curated long list, see 25 best free public-domain audiobooks.
File format notes
Project Gutenberg offers each title in multiple formats:
- EPUB — best for TTS apps and modern e-readers (recommended)
- Plain Text — works for TTS but loses chapter structure
- HTML — readable in browsers
- Kindle (.mobi) — for older Kindles
Always pick EPUB if your downstream tool supports it.
What about more recent books?
Project Gutenberg is public-domain only — most titles pre-date 1928 in the US. For modern commercial books, you need either:
- Your public library’s Libby app (modern commercial audiobooks, free with library card)
- Audible (paid)
- Or — buy the EPUB from a DRM-free source and use Eist (paid once, free listening forever)
See where to find free audiobooks online legally for the full landscape.