Frequently Asked Questions at Century Past Free Online Library

How can I access books at Century Past?

1. All books at Century Past are actually from the archives of other free, legal, major internet sites. Century Past has links to those books.

2. Virtually all Century Past books still in copyright (published since 1928) are at the Internet Archive. You can read them all online, checking them out for one hour at a time. About one-quarter of their books (1 million books) can be borrowed for 14 days. See Internet Archive instructions for downloading their books.

3. Books no longer protected by copyright (including nearly all books published before 1928) can be downloaded in various formats at their Internet Archive pages.

4. To download books to a phone or tablet, also see the appropriate Q&A below.

How to find Nonfiction books in Century Past on a subject?

There are three ways to find the books on a particular subject on Century Past.

1. Use our new Book Directory. It uses the BISG system (Book Industry Study Group), which is an alternative to the Library of Congress and Dewey classification systems used by libraries. Booksellers use the BISG system, or modified versions of it. Our Book Directory can be found under Books in the top-of-page menu on every page, next to Home.

2. Use our A-Z Index. It can be found under Books in the top-of-page menu on every page, next to Home.

3. Use our Search Tool, by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of any page. It searches for your term within the Century Past website.

How to find Fiction books in Century Past on a subject?

Look on the nonfiction books pages on Century Past for your subject (see “How to find Nonfiction books”, on this FAQ page), and click the link for it. The Internet Archive page that opens has a “Search” field of text at the top of the page. You need to modify the text in that field, like this:

If NOT fiction appears there, delete it.

Add, AND Fiction anywhere in the search field.

Click the GO button.

How to find Children’s books in Century Past on a subject?

Find the subject you want among the nonfiction books on Century Past, (see “How to find Nonfiction books”, on this FAQ page), and click the link. The Internet Archive page that opens has a “Search” field of text at the top of the page. You need to modify the text in that field, like this:

Add AND Juvenile anywhere in the search field.

Click the GO button.

In Internet Archive, how do I search for books?

1. The Internet Archive has 7 million books, including nearly 4 million modern books still in copyright. You can use nearly all of them for free. See our Post on How to Search Internet Archive.

I want to download a book at Internet Archive. Which option should I use?

PDF is usually the best choice. Your device will need a pdf reader app. There are several free versions available, which you can find with a search online.

Entries on Internet Archive for some books say “Borrow Unavailable” or “Removed”. Why?

The Internet Archive was sued by several publishers and writers in Hachette v. Internet Archive, and in August 2023 the court ruled against Internet Archive. Internet Archive was ordered to remove from lending any books that are commercially available in electronic format (ebooks legally for sale).

To see only the books that are now available to borrow in an Internet Archive “collection” (search results), go to the left column and under “Collection“, click the box for “Texts to Borrow“.

How can I find free books on the Internet on my subject?

See “How to Find Free Books Online“, here on Century Past.

Is it legal to read books on Century Past?

Books on the Century Past that are still in copyright (most of the books published since the mid-1920s), are actually hosted at the Internet Archive.  That site acts as a lending library for in-copyright books, where you can legally borrow them.

How do I download books to a phone or tablet?

1. Books still in copyright on Century Past that are available to borrow are at Internet Archive. See their borrowing instructions.

2. You will need an Android or iOS app for your device compatible with the Internet Archive’s DRM software.  In addition to apps suggested by Internet Archive, consider the PocketBook Reader app, which seems more functional than the others.

What is the best device for reading Internet Archive books online? A Kindle?

I understand that Kindles can usually not be used for reading scanned books. E-readers other than Kindle may be fine if they can read PDF files. Also, you can read our books on any computer or phone.

The most convenient device is probably a small laptop or a tablet. If you are shopping for a tablet, I think the larger size (10- or 11-inch long screen) may be preferable for reading scanned books. An inexpensive tablet should work fine, as reading PDF files does not require much computing power.

Books at Internet Archive don’t fit well on my computer screen

1. When you have the book open in Internet Archive, click the one-page view button at the bottom right corner of the screen, and then keep zooming in to make the type large and clear.  That one-page view also enables scroll-down.

2. Note the icon with three dots in a circle at the left edge of the book window (in Internet Archive). Use it to open a screen that allows you to adjust brightness and contrast.

3. You can read Internet Archive books in Adobe Digital Editions if you prefer.  There is guidance here.

How can I search for books in the public domain on Internet Archive?

Most collections on Century Past don’t contain many books published before the 1920s.  However, Internet Archive has around 2 million public domain books, and you can easily find them, read them online, or download them.  Here’s how:

1. Find a collection on Century Past for the subject you’re interested in, and click to open it.

2. Near the top of the Internet Archive page for the collection (search results), you’ll find a “Search” entry line with collection:(internetarchivebooks) AND subject:(your subject). “internetarchivebooks“ may be in quotes instead of parentheses.

3. Delete collection:(internetarchivebooks) AND, leaving just subject:(Your subject) on that line. Click GO.

4. The Internet Archive page will search again, and include in the results both modern and old books (and often non-book resources).

5. You can then use the “Year” box in the left column to select one or more years of publication to view, to filter the results. Click “Texts” in the “Media Type” box to filter out videos and other non-book items.

Find Books in Languages other than English

The Internet Archive usually has books in other languages in almost every subject. Go to the Internet Archive page for your subject, look in the menu in the left margin, and scroll to the bottom. There you will find a menu for “Language“, showing how many books in each language that Internet Archive has on this subject.

Check your language and uncheck ‘English’, and wait for the page to re-sort.

Updated: September 2024