# Project Gutenberg Scraper (`lulzasaur/gutenberg-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org). Search 70K+ free public domain ebooks. Extract titles, authors, subjects, download formats (EPUB, Kindle, TXT, HTML), and full metadata.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/gutenberg-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Project Gutenberg Scraper

Scrape the Project Gutenberg free eBook catalog. Search 70,000+ public domain books by title, author, topic, or language. Get complete metadata, subjects, bookshelves, and download links for every format (EPUB, HTML, plain text, Kindle).

### Features

- **Search by title/author**: Find books by any keyword
- **Filter by topic**: Browse by subject like "science fiction", "philosophy", "children"
- **Filter by language**: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese
- **Full metadata**: Authors with birth/death years, subjects, bookshelves, download counts
- **Download links**: Direct URLs for EPUB, HTML, plain text, Kindle, and cover images
- **Pagination**: Automatically follows paginated results up to your limit

### Output Fields

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `id` | Gutenberg book ID |
| `title` | Book title |
| `authors` | Array of authors with name, birthYear, deathYear |
| `subjects` | Array of Library of Congress subjects |
| `bookshelves` | Array of Gutenberg bookshelves |
| `languages` | Array of language codes (e.g. "en", "fr") |
| `downloadCount` | Total download count |
| `formats` | Object with epub, html, txt, kindle, coverImage URLs |
| `copyright` | Boolean copyright status |
| `mediaType` | Media type (usually "Text") |
| `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp |

### Input Options

- **Search Query**: Search by title or author name
- **Topic**: Filter by subject/bookshelf
- **Language**: Filter by language
- **Max Results**: Limit number of books (default 50, max 5000)

### Use Cases

- **Digital library building**: Bulk download public domain books
- **Literary research**: Analyze authors, subjects, and popularity trends
- **NLP/AI training**: Gather text corpora by language or topic
- **Education**: Find free reading materials by subject area
- **Data journalism**: Analyze most popular public domain works

### Example Output

```json
{
  "id": 1342,
  "title": "Pride and Prejudice",
  "authors": [{"name": "Austen, Jane", "birthYear": 1775, "deathYear": 1817}],
  "subjects": ["Courtship -- Fiction", "England -- Fiction", "Sisters -- Fiction"],
  "bookshelves": ["Best Books Ever Listings"],
  "languages": ["en"],
  "downloadCount": 75892,
  "formats": {
    "epub": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1342.epub3.images",
    "html": "https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-h/1342-h.htm",
    "txt": "https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-0.txt"
  },
  "copyright": false,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-26T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

***

### Run on Apify

This scraper runs on the [Apify platform](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur) -- a full-stack web scraping and automation cloud. Sign up for a free account to get started with 30-day trial of all features.

[Try Apify free ->](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur)

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Search books by title or author name. E.g. 'shakespeare', 'pride and prejudice', 'dickens'.

## `topic` (type: `string`):

Filter books by topic or bookshelf. E.g. 'science fiction', 'children', 'philosophy'.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Filter by language code.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of books to return.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional proxy to use.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "shakespeare",
  "topic": "",
  "language": "",
  "limit": 3
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQuery": "shakespeare",
    "limit": 3
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/gutenberg-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchQuery": "shakespeare",
    "limit": 3,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/gutenberg-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQuery": "shakespeare",
  "limit": 3
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/gutenberg-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lulzasaur/gutenberg-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/LRAKgD3UO8eVzch6t/builds/fhvc55HcDMR1Kk2oX/openapi.json