Public Domain Popular Books

Public Domain Biography & Facts

The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds the exclusive rights, anyone can legally use or reference those works without permission. As examples, the works of William Shakespeare, Ludwig van Beethoven, Miguel de Cervantes, Zoroaster, Lao Zi, Confucius, Aristotle, L. Frank Baum, Leonardo da Vinci and Georges Méliès are in the public domain either by virtue of their having been created before copyright existed, or by their copyright term having expired. Some works are not covered by a country's copyright laws, and are therefore in the public domain; for example, in the United States, items excluded from copyright include the formulae of Newtonian physics and cooking recipes. Other works are actively dedicated by their authors to the public domain (see waiver); examples include reference implementations of cryptographic algorithms, and the image-processing software ImageJ (created by the National Institutes of Health). The term public domain is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, in which case use of the work is referred to as "under license" or "with permission". As rights vary by country and jurisdiction, a work may be subject to rights in one country and be in the public domain in another. Some rights depend on registrations on a country-by-country basis, and the absence of registration in a particular country, if required, gives rise to public-domain status for a work in that country. The term public domain may also be interchangeably used with other imprecise or undefined terms such as the public sphere or commons, including concepts such as the "commons of the mind", the "intellectual commons", and the "information commons". History Although the term domain did not come into use until the mid-18th century, the concept can be traced back to the ancient Roman law, "as a preset system included in the property right system". The Romans had a large proprietary rights system where they defined "many things that cannot be privately owned" as res nullius, res communes, res publicae and res universitatis. The term res nullius was defined as things not yet appropriated. The term res communes was defined as "things that could be commonly enjoyed by mankind, such as air, sunlight and ocean." The term res publicae referred to things that were shared by all citizens, and the term res universitatis meant things that were owned by the municipalities of Rome. When looking at it from a historical perspective, one could say the construction of the idea of "public domain" sprouted from the concepts of res communes, res publicae, and res universitatis in early Roman law. When the first early copyright law was originally established in Britain with the Statute of Anne in 1710, public domain did not appear. However, similar concepts were developed by British and French jurists in the 18th century. Instead of "public domain", they used terms such as publici juris or propriété publique to describe works that were not covered by copyright law. The phrase "fall in the public domain" can be traced to mid-19th-century France to describe the end of copyright term. The French poet Alfred de Vigny equated the expiration of copyright with a work falling "into the sink hole of public domain" and if the public domain receives any attention from intellectual property lawyers it is still treated as little more than that which is left when intellectual property rights, such as copyright, patents, and trademarks, expire or are abandoned. In this historical context Paul Torremans describes copyright as a, "little coral reef of private right jutting up from the ocean of the public domain." Copyright law differs by country, and the American legal scholar Pamela Samuelson has described the public domain as being "different sizes at different times in different countries". Definition Definitions of the boundaries of the public domain in relation to copyright, or intellectual property more generally, regard the public domain as a negative space; that is, it consists of works that are no longer in copyright term or were never protected by copyright law. According to James Boyle this definition underlines common usage of the term public domain and equates the public domain to public property and works in copyright to private property. However, the usage of the term public domain can be more granular, including for example uses of works in copyright permitted by copyright exceptions. Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights and limitation on ownership. A conceptual definition comes from Lange, who focused on what the public domain should be: "it should be a place of sanctuary for individual creative expression, a sanctuary conferring affirmative protection against the forces of private appropriation that threatened such expression". Patterson and Lindberg described the public domain not as a "territory", but rather as a concept: "[T]here are certain materials – the air we breathe, sunlight, rain, space, life, creations, thoughts, feelings, ideas, words, numbers – not subject to private ownership. The materials that compose our cultural heritage must be free for all living to use no less than matter necessary for biological survival." The term public domain may also be interchangeably used with other imprecise or undefined terms such as the public sphere or commons, including concepts such as the "commons of the mind", the "intellectual commons", and the "information commons". Public domain by medium Books A public-domain book is a book with no copyright, a book that was created without a license, or a book where its copyrights expired or have been forfeited. In most countries the term of protection of copyright expires on the first day of January, 70 years after the death of the latest living author. The longest copyright term is in Mexico, which has life plus 100 years for all deaths since July 1928. A notable exception is the United States, where every book and tale published before 1929 is in the public domain; US copyrights last for 95 years for books originally published between 1929 and 1978 if the copyright was properly registered and maintained. For example: the works of Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, Machado de Assis, Olavo Bilac and Edgar Allan Poe are in the public domain worldwide as they all died over 100 years ago. Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive and Wikisource make tens of thousands of public domain books available online as ebooks. Music People have been creating music for millennia. The first musical notation system, the Music of Mesopotamia system, was created 4,000 years ago. Guido of Arezzo introduced Latin musical notation in the 10th century. This laid the foundation for the preservation of g.... Discover the Public Domain popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Public Domain books.

Best Seller Public Domain Books of 2024

The Invisible Man
H.G. Wells
An Apple Books Classic edition. “Aloneit is wonderful how little a man can do alone! To rob a little, to hurt a little, and there is the end.” What would you do if you were became ...
The Italian Cook Book
Maria Gentile
One of the beneficial results of the Great War has been the teaching of thrift to the American housewife. For patriotic reasons and for reasons of economy, more attention has been ...
Emma
Jane Austen
An Apple Books Classic edition.Emma Woodhouse may just be Jane Austen’s most controversial character. Some see her as a spoiled narcissist who’s deluded about reality, while others...
The Mysteries of Free Masonry
William Morgan
This book represents a great historical artifact of the antimasonic movement of the 19th Century. The book also talks about the process of becoming a Mason is a lifelong journey o...
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
An Apple Books Classic edition. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Thus begins what many consider the world’s greatest novel. Leo Tolst...
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968).[1] Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the lives of immigrants in the United ...
Anne of Green Gables
L.M. Montgomery
An Apple Books Classic edition. Mark Twain called the protagonist of this 1908 book the “most lovable child in fiction.” Anne Shirley, a hopeful 11yearold, is an orphan. The belove...
Dracula
Bram Stoker
An Apple Books Classic edition. Few characters have seized readers’ imaginations quite like Count Dracula of Transylvania, the hero of Bram Stoker’s classic. The 1897 novel put vam...
Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie
An Apple Books Classic edition. Lose yourself in the pages of J.M. Barrie’s beloved story about Neverland, the Lost Boys, and Tinkerbell. The book begins with older sister Wendy re...
Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome
E.M. Berens
This is a comprehensive collection of all the major and minor gods of Rome and Greece, with descriptions of festivals and retellings of major mythological stories.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
An Apple Books Classic edition. Jane Austen’s beloved classic opens with this witty and very memorable line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possessio...
The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde
" The Importance of Being Earnest" is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored ...
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson
An Apple Books Classic edition. When Billy Bones first walks into Jim Hawkins’ familyrun inn, the prevailing sentiments are fear…and curiosity about what’s in his oversized chest. ...
Persuasion
Jane Austen
A woman of no importance, she manoeuvres in her restricted circumstances as her longtime love Captain Wentworth did in the wars. Even though she is nearly thirty, well past the sel...
The Call of the Wild
Jack London
In this novel (often mistakingly classified a children’s book) the main protagonist Buck, a St. Bernard/Collie mix, is abducted and sold to a trainer of sled dogs in Alaska. He ada...
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
An Apple Books Classic edition. Meet the Marches! Louisa May Alcott’s classic introduces us to four unforgettable sisters: beautiful Meg, tomboyish Jo, delicate Beth, and Amy, the ...
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
An Apple Books Classics edition. The Roaring Twenties are in full effect in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s riveting classic. Manabouttown Jay Gatsby seems to have it all, including loads of...
Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung, also sometimes translated as The Transformation) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the s...
Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll
Through the LookingGlass, and What Alice Found There (1871) is a novel by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderla...
The Odyssey
Homer
An Apple Books Classic edition. Homer’s eighthcentury epic poem is a companion to The Iliad. It tells the story of Odysseus, who journeys by ship for 10 years after the Trojan War,...
Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens
The story is about an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets ...
Common Sense
Thomas Paine
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775 – 76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from&#x...
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
An Apple Books Classic edition.It’s believed that Sun Tzu wrote this Chinese military primer during the 5th century BChundreds of years before the Bible. The book’s 13 chapters exp...
The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri
The poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven but at a deeper level, it represents, allegorically, the soul's journey towards God. At this d...
The Federalist Papers
Alexander Hamilton
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution...
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
An Apple Books Classic edition. Alexandre Dumas’ classic paints a portrait of Edmond Dantès, a dark and calculating man who is willing to wait years to exact his perfect plan for r...
Poems
Emily Dickinson
The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli
The Prince is an extended analysis of how to acquire and maintain political power. The chapters are dedicatedf to Lorenzo de Medici. The dedication declares Machiavelli's inte...
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
An Apple Books Classic edition. Mary Shelley was just 18 when she had a nightmare vision: “I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. ...
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
An Apple Books Classic edition. Herman Melville’s classic begins with one of the most famous opening lines in world literature: “Call me Ishmael.” Moby Dick was a commercial failur...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (or, in more recent editions, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 an...
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by th...
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
Dorian is a goodnatured young man until he discovers the power of his own exceptional beauty. As he gradually sinks deep into a frivolous, glamorous world of selfish luxury, he app...
The King James Bible, Complete
Unknown
This volume is the complete King James version of the Christian Bible, an English translation authorized by the Church of England and completed in 1611.
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling
An Apple Books Classic edition.Although most of The Jungle Book is set in India where Rudyard Kipling spent much of his early life he actually wrote this beloved story collection...
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle
An Apple Books Classic You get not one, not two, but 25 gripping mysteries in Arthur Conan Doyle’s first of five collections of Sherlock Holmes short stories. Follow the brilliant ...
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
An Apple Books Classic edition. If you’ve only ever seen Wuthering Heights on screen, you may have an image of Catherine and Heathcliff as the ultimate starcrossed lovers. But that...
The Republic
Plato
The Republic is a Socratic dialogue, written by Plato around 380 BC, concerning the definition of justice , the order and character of the just ...
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum
An Apple Books Classic edition. You’ve seen the iconic 1939 movie, but do you know about the talking field mice, the Winkies, and the Witch of the North that appear in the original...
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
An Apple Books Classic edition. Hester Prynne lives in infamy. After committing adultery and bearing a child with a man whose name she refuses to divulge, the heroine of Nathaniel ...
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
An Apple Books Classic edition. Charles Dickens’ classic explores potent themes like good versus evil, crime, repentance, love and betrayal. At the center of the story is Pip, an i...
Beyond Good and Evil
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Beyond Good and Evil is a book by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It takes up and expands on the ideas of his previous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but approached from a more...
The United States Constitution
United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of g...
The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx
It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League, it laid out the League's purposes and program. It ...
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
An Apple Books Classic edition.What would happen if you let your darkness out? Are you certain you’d be able to rein it back in? When Dr. Jekyll turned toward the dark side, he was...
Dream Psychology
Sigmund Freud
An Apple Books Classic edition. Written by the founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud’s 1899 book is the definitive text on learning to interpret dreams. Freud’s groundbr...