Main Page

Welcome to Wikisource, the free library that anyone can improve. 451,484 texts in English

Site index Community portal News Sandbox

OCTOBER’S FEATURED TEXT

Grab a download!

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. The narrative follows a London lawyer as he investigates mysterious connections between his friend Dr Henry Jekyll and the evil Edward Hyde. Stevenson said the idea for the story came to him in a dream, but further inspiration may have come from the writer's friendship with Edinburgh-based French teacher Eugene Chantrelle, who had appeared to lead a normal life in the city but was convicted and executed for the murder of his wife in May 1878.

Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. 'I incline to Cain's heresy,' he used to say quaintly: 'I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.' In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.

(Read on...)

or see all featured texts.

CURRENT COLLABORATIONS

The current Community collaboration is proofreading the text of Leaves of Grass (1860) Recent collaborations: The Sikh Religion, Eminent Women Series, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Henry David Thoreau, WikiProject NARA

The current Proofread of the Month is An Elementary Treatise on Optics  (1823) by Henry Coddington. Recent collaborations: Kéraban the Inflexible, A Floating City, Biographia Hibernica, The Complete Works of Menno Simons, Guy Mannering, The Present State of Peru, Cyrano de Bergerac, Poems by "Cushag", One of Ours, The Theory and Practice of Handwriting, Japanese Wood Engravings, The Examination and Confession of certain Witches at Chelmsford in the County of Essex, Old Castles, Principles Involved in the Preservation of Fish by Salt

NEW TEXTS

Hymns of the Marshes (1912)

by Sidney Lanier

The Pennyles Pilgrimage (1618)

by John Taylor (1578-1653)

Confiscation in Irish history (1917)

by William Francis Thomas Butler

Constitution of the State of Maine (2013)

by the State of Maine

Eleanor's Victory (1863)

by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

The Diary of a Reporter (1917)

by Jan Neruda, translated by Guido Bruno

Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages (1969)

by National Aeronautics and Space Administration

HIGHLIGHTS

Poetry from ancient and romantic to modern, in love and war

Texts, laws, constitutions of many countries

Documents from US history, including Revolution and Civil War

US law: Supreme Court decisions, government documents, presidential addresses

General literature: modern novels and short stories, horror stories, children’s literature, science fiction, drama

Original, encyclopedic, popular articles on relativity, physics, biology, and other sciences

EXPLORE WIKISOURCE

Authors – Index

• By era
• By genre
• By nationality
• By type

Works – Index

• By era
• By genre
• By subject
• By type

Subject index

WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION

Wikisource is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization which also hosts other free-content projects:

Commons	Wikibooks	Wikidata	Wikinews	Wikipedia	Wikiquote	Wikispecies	Wikiversity	Wikivoyage	Wiktionary	Meta-Wiki

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. And we need your help: Contribute to our projects, or make a donation. Donations are primarily used for site maintenance and software improvements.