(in case you're wondering, this is a parody website, but the Latin is serious)
Moleborough Latin Library
Modern Writing in, or Translated into, Latin
with notes and epub downloads
'Easy' Books
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Alicia in Terra Mirabili, CH Carruthers
Hard
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Harrius Potter et Philosphi Lapis, Peter Needham
Don't miss: Tintin Comic De Sigaris Pharaonis with translation, under Comics in Latin in the main menu
(work in progress)
All of the books below are free to download and are readable on many mobile phone apps. We recommend readera on Android (see our mobile tech page). Unlike pdf, they are truly digital so you can look words up and make annotations. The books are separated into easy and hard sections, and within each section the easier books come first. Many come from either project gutenberg or the internet archive. Please note: epubs on project gutenburg are usually created and edited by a human and are often very good. EPUBs on the internet archive, on the other hand, are auto generated and often unreadable. Most of our epubs we have read throughout, but not always in epub format, so there may be errors.
Want to refresh your Latin grammar? Try one of our grammar quizzes
Exclusively on Moleborough Latin Library
Prologue of Fabula de Muribus or Two Bad Mice
rubecula helveticus
Exclusive to Moleborough, we bring you this modern fable. Described by the author as a cross between Trainspotting and The Wind in the Willows, this picaresque tale brings Latin kicking and screaming into the late Twentieth Century.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Magus Mirabilis in Oz
Frank Baum, C.J. Hinke, George Van Buren, USA
Frank Baum's classic the Wizard of Oz was translated by CJ Hinke and George Van Buren in 1987. The translators have updated their translation in a second edition. Sadly Geoge Van Buren died, apparently on the day he finished the translation. The previous edition is only availabe in its original hard back version or pdf. CJ Hinke has given us exclusive permission to make the first chapter of the second edition available for download here on Moleborough Latin Library. It contains the Denslow illustrations.
The Latin progresses in difficulty through the book. It is highly recommended.
Comments on 'Easy' Books
'Easy' Books
Pons Tironum
R.B. Appleton, W.H.S Jones
Tiro is a great Latin word meaning young soldier, novice, borrowed into English hundreds of years ago which, according to this graph from the Oxford English Dictionary site, is in danger of dying out. Don't let this happen!
Pons Tironum (Bridge of novices) is a typical first person account of the life of a Roman boy with classical stories included. It starts with a busy morning scene in a wealthy Roman household where one house slaves delegates to another the unenviable job of preparing the young master for school. Interestingly, the authors use the verb 'imperare' to describe the servants telling the young boy to get dressed. The authors credit the classicist WHD Rouse for help. Adapted with thanks from Project Gutenberg.
Puer Romanus
R.B.Appleton, Oxford 1913 epub, £10.95 on amazon
This is a generalised introduction to Roman life through the eyes of a well-off Roman boy, whose family rather abruptly leave Brundisium for Rome, and on the way tell stories and have various adventures.
Further reading: R. B. Appleton at The Online Books Page
Ora Maritima
E.A. Sonnenscheim
This is the easier of two books by Sonnenscheim. It's slightly graded, ie. it gets harder as you read. It's a first person account of the Summer Holidays of a late Victorian boarding school pupil. He seems slightly more advanced in Latin than most of the Moleborough boys. We know this because he reads Tacitus. Some may find the story quaint, others slightly unrealistic, others even sinister. Nowadays fictional children are usually naughty- that way there's more to write about. But the protagonist of this story and his chums hang on every word of the adults. Their teacher even pays a visit during the holidays and the protagonist praises his book collection and, in a reflective moment, remarks how strong his right hand is! It seems a rather crude attempt at indoctrination. We have included illustrations and diagrams from the book as jpegs at the beginning of the epub. This book is also available on Amazon.
Pro Patria
E.A Sonnenscheim
This is the sequel to Ora Maritima. Like the first it is a first person narrative of the holidays of a young boy. The first chapters address the Roman pacification of Britain, but this time the narrator is the young boy himself which avoids long didactic monologues from an interlocutor (usually the uncle), which can get complicated. The second part is about the Boer War of 1899-1902, told through letters from South Africa, and readings from the newspapers. As far as I know it is the most detailed narrative of the Boer War in Latin. Like Ora Maritima, we have included illustrations and diagrams from the book. The drawings have a simple charm, and the maps and diagrams, of Britain and the Boer War, stand on their own merits.
A first Latin Reader (up to Washington)
H.C. Nutting
This book starts with a narrative of the colonisation the United States starting from Columbus and ending soon after the defeat of the British. The second part contains the usual stories from Roman history. We have converted the first part up to the birth of Washington. It's an interesting read, even if some of the foundational myths of the colonial United States aren't as exciting as those of early Rome, let alone Greece. We haven't transcribed the macrons from the original because it is technically challenging, but we may do in a second edition. A paperback of this book is available on Amazon. A macronized version of the text is available at wikisource.
Fabulae Faciles,
Francis Ritchie, epub, progressive difficulty £7.32 on amazon
This is the book I used after learning grammar. It contains four Greek myths, that of Perseus, Hercules, Jason and Ulysses. They are well graded from the first parts of the Perseus story which avoid the subjunctive to elegantly crafted Latin towards the end. In fact, Ritchie displays flair and humour throughout this well-paced book which also gradually introduces the reader to increasingly complex vocabulary. It does not contain the adapted Livy that the Junior Latin reader of Sanford and Scott includes instead of the Jason myth. If you know where to find the Sanford version, please tell me.
Further Reading: Francis Ritchie at The Online Books Page
If you want to read long Latin number words effortlessly, try one of our Latin Number Word quizzes.
Ad Alpes Chapters One and Two
Herbert Chester Nutting 1872-1934 USA
author of A first Latin Reader, above, wrote this brilliant, touching and often humorous account of the journey of A Roman family to Rome and beyond from the Middle East. It's available from Amazon, Latinitium.com and probably elsewhere. Daniel of Latinitium has also recorded all three books in his excellent Latin, and the recordings are available on his website. We include here the first chapter as a sample. As with all the books on this site, if you find it too hard, put it aside and come back to it a year or so later.
The first two chapters includes typical behaviour from Stasimus, the family's hilariously mischievous and over-indulged slave.
Nutting deserves a portrait
Epitome Historiae Sacrae
Charles Francois Lhomond £6.00 on Kindle
This graded version of the Old Testament complements the other book by Lhomond on this list well. From Genesis to the end of the book the Latin gradually becomes more difficult, and if you can read to the end you should be able to read his De Viris Illustribus. This book concentrates on the dramatic characters of the Old Testament, of whom there are many. Reading from beginning to end might give you an overall picture of the history and geography of the area.
Further Reading: Charles Francois Lhomond at Wikipedia
refresh your memory of the Holy Land with Tea Monkey's Ministry of Jesus and Modern Israel Quiz.
Easy Latin Stories
G.L. Bennett, United Kingdom
This is George Lovett Bennet, not Charles Edward Bennet who wrote the famous Latin grammar. I have found very little biographical information on G.L. Bennett. The stories are harder than the title suggests, but many are less well known and include a wide range of myths, history, biographies and ethnography. The latter seem to be based on Herodotus, so of course are complete nonsense, but quite fun.
Alicia in terra mirabili, Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carrol, Clive Harcourt Carruthers transl, epub, non-graded
This book should be essential reading to Latinist fans of the original. The Latin is accomplished, but not being a fan of the original I can’t comment much more.
Further reading: Wikipedia article on C. H. Carruthers
we're soon going to remove the whole book and replace it with the first chapter only.
Fabulae virginibus puerisque aut narrandae aut recitandae
R.B. Appleton, epub, varying difficulty
I’ll include this book in the easy and hard sections because it has shorter easier sections in the middle of the book and a rather challenging yet well-written adaptation of Apuleius’ Golden Ass/Metamorphoses at the beginning. Further reading: R. B. Appleton at The Online Books Page
Hard
Harrius Potter et philosphi lapis, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J.K. Rowling, P. Needham transl, epub
This is the first chapter only. For some reason the publishers haven't made an ebook version, so if you want the whole thing you'll have to go to the internet archive, where a pdf is availabe for free, which doesn't make much commercial sense. But if you like the first chapter we suggest you go to Amazon.
This is probably one of the most famous translations into Latin of a children’s classic. I much prefer it to J.K. Rowling’s original in fact. Peter Needham, ex head of classics at Eton in England has done a good job of keeping the pace of the original while turning a nice phrase in Latin. Purists might complain that his style is not completely Latin because he does not use connecting words as much as a Latin writer would, but if one were to recast it in a totally Latinate style one might as well turn all the lively direct speech in reported speech and join separate short paragraphs into one. There is also a book version of Harrius Potter et camera secretorum.
Further reading: Peter Needham Obituary in The Guardian
Hobbitus Ille, The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Walker tr, epub, link removed due to possible copyright infringment
I'm not sure where I got this copy from- I can't find it as an epub when I search now. The story lends itself to Latin. There is some discussion of the Latinity of the translation on Latin fora.
Further reading: Ziomkowski review, article by the author, long discussion in textkit
Regulus, The Little Prince
A.S. Exupery, A. Haury, epub £8.08 on amazon
This is the first two chapters of the book. If you like it, the physical book version is on Amazon. For some reason the publishers haven't produced an ebook version, so if you want to read it as an epub you'll have to go to the internet archive and get a pdf. However, we at moleborough suggest you treat yourself and buy the book version.
Further reading: A. Haury in French Wikipedia
Mille Fabulae et una (Aesop’s Fables)
Aesop, L. Gibbs, website
I have an epub version of this collection, I don’t know where I got it from but I'm giving you the fables on Laura's website Besides, with 1001 tales, sorted according to animal, dipping into a website to pick a random story is much more fun than trying to read them all. Many more than a thousand extant Latin fables are attributed to Aesop and Laura could have chosen less and guaranteed better quality, but most of these stories are still great fun, and a good way to pick up rural vocabulary. Beware, some of the stories mix up word order to show off rather than where it is needed for emphasis. This is only the worst kind of poor Latin you'll find in these stories.
Further reading: Laura's Blogger Profile
De Viris Illustribus Urbae Romae a Romulo ad Augustum
Charles Francois Lhomond £8.86 on amazon
This excellent book was written in elegant, tightly constructed Latin by a French monk who was also an educationalist. It was used by French Latin students up to the middle of the last century. It's non graded and we recommend reading Lhomond's other work on this page, his Epitome Historiae Sacrae, first, because that book is graded. If you can read the whole of the Epitome, then you should be ready to start this book.
Further Reading: Charles Francois Lhomond at Wikipedia
Insula Thesauria, Treasure Island
R.L. Stevenson, A. Avellanus, epub currently unavailable on amazon
This dramatic book has been rendered into equally dramatic Latin by one of the greatest Latinists of the last century. He’s not afraid to use obscure vocabulary, or to fashion a Greek word into Latin, or sometimes from a modern Romance language. He is also very loose with using either se or eum which can get confusing. The story is great, but I haven’t managed to finish it in either English, French or Latin because the narrative slows for a couple of chapters when Jack Hawkins the hero, is on his own against the pirates and seems to spend a lot of time floating about in a small boat.
Further Reading Arcadius Avellanus Wikipedia
Pericula Navarchi Magonis, Voyage of Captain Mago
D. L. Cahun, A. Avellanus, epub £19.99 on amazon
I had never heard of this book or its author until I read it in Latin. It’s a work of historical fiction set in the heyday of the Phoenician empire, about an epic trading expedition. Avellanus uses wonderful descriptive Latin to describe the pomp and ceremony of Phoenician society. It’s not easy, but the story is exciting, although his journey becomes a bit far-fetched towards the end. If you can read this, and the other Avellanus translations, you should easily be able to read Cornelius Nepos or Caesar.
Further Reading Arcadius Avellanus Wikipedia
Rebilius Cruso, Robinson Crusoe
D. Defoe, F. W. Newman, epub £14.53 on amazon
Who knew that the eponymous hero of this book, reproduced so many times for children, was heading west after raiding the African coast for human chattel . Newman had to be an able translator to describe the many and varied tools and items of equipment that Crusoe salvages from the wreck of his ship. The wreck is dramatic, by which stage any lingering resentment towards Crusoe for being a two-bit slaver should have gone away. This is definitely a heavy vocab and description book- After the first chapter we don’t meet any one else until two-thirds of the way through. Hence no dialogue. ‘Crusoe economics’ actually became a now derided interpretation of how a solitary man might survive and thrive, but this translation does convey the sense of enlightenment optimism about how a rational man might not only cope but keep his dignity and sense of self-worth, if marooned on his own for decades.
Further reading: Wikipedia article on F. W. Newman
Robinson Crusoeus (first 10 chapters)
Francois Goffaux
Crusoeus seems a rather amateur Latinisation of the surname Crusoe, but don't let this put you off this book. It comes with a helpful summary in French by J.P. Woitrain of the different translations into Latin of what was the publishing sensation of the eighteenth century. He lists the grand total of five, under titles such as:
Robinson Secundus, tr. P.J. Lieberkuhn, 1785
Robinson Crusoeus, tr. F. Goffaux, 1809
Robinsonius Minor, tr. J.F.G. Nagel, 1828
Rebilius Crusoe, tr. F.W. Newman, 1834
Vita discriminaque Robinsonis Crusoei, tr A. Avellanus, 1928
Which title do you prefer? I know at least one other Latinist is currently undertaking a translation, or adaptation of one of these, so there could soon be six. According to Monsieur Woitrain, this Goffaux version is based largely on the dialogue from an earlier German translation by J.H. Campes. (The Nagel and Lieberkuhn versions also use this.) The first few chapters cover early events in the life of Crusoe that the Newman translation, above, omits. The latin is perhaps closer to classical Latin than the Newman.