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Adventure Picaresque Fiction
Stories of childhood, exploration, resilience and imaginative adventure represented across the current public-domain collection.
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Independent digital catalogue
UKOSI Public Domain Literature Library – Free Classic Books
This catalogue maps a route through 91 public-domain works, from medieval epics to early 20th-century verse. Four flexible themes—Adventure Picaresque Fiction, Fantasy Juvenile Worlds, Science Fiction Utopias, and Historical Psychological Social Fiction—act as signposts, not rigid boxes. Each record notes its Project Gutenberg source, release year, word count, and a catalogue note to help you gauge fit. Start with one of three suggested reading paths: classic epics like Dante's Hell, lyric poets like Dickinson and Hardy, or children's verse by Belloc and Wells. Or wander across categories to find unexpected connections between chivalric romances, nonsense rhymes, and utopian visions.
91 public-domain works103 represented authorsSource-attributed catalogue records
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Browse the catalogue by subject, historical period, and the type of source behind each edition.
02
Fantasy Juvenile Worlds
A focused group of public-domain works connected by subject, literary setting and recurring questions.
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Science Fiction Utopias
Works exploring technology, imagined futures, discovery and speculative changes in society and everyday life.
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Historical Psychological Social Fiction
Texts connected with historical lives, social customs, institutions and the worlds in which people lived.
Literature — Editor’s Selection
Newly Catalogued by UKOSI
The infant moralist — Edition In...
In Fantasy...
The fairy flute — Edition Insights
In Fantasy...
Civil service jingles and other ...
In Adventu...
Nonsense for old and young — The...
In Science...
A book of Christmas verse — Edit...
In Histori...
Mirth and metre — Context and Di...
In Histori...
The hermit thrush — Reading Comp...
In Adventu...
Virgil & Lucretius Passages tran...
In Histori...
About these records
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How the collection is organized, presented and corrected.
It generally means that the represented source text is no longer protected by copyright in the applicable jurisdiction or has been released for public use. Status may vary by country and edition.
A record may include the title, author, category, cover, description, edition information, source references and available reading or download options.
A category reflects a work’s principal subjects, literary setting, source type and relationship to nearby records in the collection.
The catalogue adds navigation, metadata and editorial context. The represented source text retains its wording, edition information and rights status.
Use the contact page and include the work title, page address and the exact attribution, category, metadata or source detail requiring attention.
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UKOSI Catalogue
Catalogue information
UKOSI Catalogue provides the structural framework for this digital library, which includes 91 books and 103 authors across 4 named categories. Their role is to uphold the reliability of the collections.
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Collections and books
Science Fiction UtopiasHistorical Psychological Social FictionAdventure Picaresque FictionFantasy Juvenile Worlds
Mirth and metre — Context and Di... Authors: Smedley, Frank E. (Frank ... In Histori...The hermit thrush — Reading Comp... Authors: Mathews, F. Schuyler (Fer... In Adventu...Virgil & Lucretius Passages tran... Authors: Virgil, 71 BCE-20 BCE, Lu... In Histori...A Selection from the Lyrical Poe... Authors: Herrick, Robert, 1591-167... In Science...
