This is a compilation of sites that provide free access to public domain e-texts (roughly described as most works pre-1923). I have tried to annotate the links where I could to give a general idea of what each one contains. One definite advantage to these sites is that many of them give access to material long out of print, hard to find or unanthologised. There are also a few listed that have some surprisingly recent material (like Maya Angelou poems, for example).

The e-texts have been loosely classified under the following categories:

General (encompasses a wide variety of texts, from general classic fiction, mysteries, horror stories, to essays and reference works)

Gothic, horror, ghost stories, fantasy

Areas of special interest

Specific authors
 
 

Project Gutenburg
    This site is probably the largest free e-text site out there. This non-profit group aims to create the most comprehensive site out there (meaning almost everything available in the public domain) which they will achieve soon with the help of the many volunteers who provide and edit e-texts. If you are interested in helping with Project Gutenburg, click here.
 
 

Project Bartleby
    The Project Bartleby site is divided into the categories "reference," where they have dictionaries, encyclopedias, quotation books and the like, "fiction", "verse" and "nonfiction," which includes essays, travelogues, scientific papers, etc.
 
 
 

Carrie--Full Text Electronic Library
    This site has a variety of texts, including foreign language texts in Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin (Classical and Medieval), Scandinavian, Spanish and Portuguese. It offers classical philosophy, Romantic poetry, American history, Shakespeare, Trollope, Trotsky, etc. (Did I not say variety?)
 
 

HTI Modern English Collection
    A fairly short, alphabetical list of authors, mostly 19th Century (although there is one Maya Angelou poem, "On the Pulse of Morning.") There is a good amount of Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle and Edith Wharton here.
 
 

Blackmask Online
    Great site that offers a large variety of subjects in easily browsable categories, such as "Gothic Tales", "Australia", "Canada" ,"Mystery", "Political Science", "Religion" and many others.
 
 
 

Bibliomania
    Site similar to Project Bartleby, with classics, short stories, drama, author bios., reference, etc. Also has educational supplements for some works, such as study guides and notes for teachers.
 
 
 

Bralyn Archives
    Categories include Classics, Poetry, Reference and Misc. So far has 1,862 texts archived and they are adding more all the time. Offers three methods of access: author, title, and by a directory tree.
 
 
 

Flora's Library
    Nicely categorized--very easy to browse. Three general categories of "Books, authors, poets", "Reference Materials", and "Objectivist Philosophy and other Rational Resources." Within these are various sub-headings (such as American and Other World Literature: American Romanticism/Pre-WWI/Post-WWI)
 
 
 

Litrix Reading Room
    A small assortment of odds and ends, from the Kenneth Starr Report to the only two Agatha Christie novels in the public domain (Secret Adversary and The Mysterious Affair at Styles). Also includes some good classics like H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone, as well as Tolstoy, Hardy and Jane Austen.
 
 
 

The Online Books Page
   University of Pennsylvania's own massive undertaking to put all possible public domain works online. Hard to browse just because of the sheer volume of works (over 16,000). It does feature subject categories, however. If you can't find it on Gutenburg, try here. Terrific page on Banned Books.
 
 
 

Online Literature Library
    Short list of classics, from Aesop to Voltaire and H.G. Wells.
 
 
 
 

Page by Page Books
    Items categorized by author and by title. Great works of American literature as well as speeches by American presidents and historical documents such as the U.S. Constitution and works by early American revolutionaries like Thomas Paine. There are some British authors and poets here but mostly it's works by Americans.
 
 
 

University of Maryland Reading Room
    Directs users to selected e-texts on Project Gutenburg. Divides them into the subject categories Drama, Fiction, Religion, Poetry, Speeches, Historical Documents, Nonfiction. Provides links to other resources online. Only a small portion of what Gutenburg encompasses but an easy interface to manage. Much more browsable due to smaller size.
 
 
 

University of Virginia Electronic Text Center
    Another massive endeavor like Gutenburg and UPenn's. Collections in numerous languages (not only English and Western European languages but also Apache, Hebrew, Tibetan and Icelandic, to name a few.) English collection covers the Medieval period to Modern under every conceivable category. It is nicely laid out and easy to use. Also offers ebook downloads in formats for Microsoft Reader and Palm Pilot.
 
 
 

World Wide School Library
    An ambitious site of which the library is only a part. They offer  free online courses that change from time to time, such as "Freud", "Volcanoes", "Free Speech", etc. The library is highly browsable, with subject areas broken down into sub-headings (such as "History: African/Ancient/Asian/Biography/English" etc.).
 
 

Self Knowledge--Classical Authors Index
    Self-described as "1258 online books of classical literature
extensively enhanced with 2,510,227 annotations from the Encyclopedia of the Self."
 
 

Gaslight E-texts
    Gaslight is a Canadian discussion board where they review stories "from the genres of mystery, adventure and The Weird, written between 1800 and 1919." You can get involved in the discussions or just avail yourself of their story archive, which can be accessed by author or chronologically by date of first publication. This is one of my favorite sites, with a pleasing variety of 19th and early 20th Century American, British and Canadian authors.
 
 
 

Literary Gothic
    This is a rather scholarly site on gothic literature. Here is their own description statement:  "The Literary Gothic is a Web guide to all things concerned with literary Gothicism, which includes ghost stories, "classic" Gothic novels and Gothic fiction (1764-1820), and related pre- and post-Gothic and supernaturalist literature written prior to the mid-20th century." Terrific site to find things that are no longer in print or hard to find and also to do some critical research on the genre.
 
 
 

Dark Side of the Net: Online Horror/Dark/Gothic Literature
    A more popular than scholarly look at gothic and horror fiction that includes Fan Fiction and Episodic Web Serials. It features an alphabetical-by-title list of horror e-texts by such authors as J.S. LeFanu, Lovecraft, Henry James, Edward Gorey, Oliver Onions, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen King, etc.
 
 
 

Horror Fiction Online (part of the Classic Horror and Fantasy Page)
    Just as the title indicates, classic horror from the likes of Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Walter de la Mare, E.F. Benson and many others. Not so easy to browse but great if you know exactly what you are looking for or if you have some free time in which to look around. Also includes links to horror fiction available on other sites, which is very helpful.
 
 
 

Literature of the Fantastic
    Small list of classic, must-read works of horror, ghost stories and the fantastic. Also contains links to other sites which contain e-texts or resources on authors and genres.
 
 
 

The Supernatural Omnibus (on Gaslight)
    Collection of ghost stories by classic authors such as Dickens, Amelia B. Edwards,
J.S. LeFanu, etc. Some are listed but not linked (disappointingly) but perhaps in the future? Who can tell.
 
 

Classic Horror Short Stories
    Lots of Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Lovecraft and M.R. James. A few good items by lesser-knowns as well.
 
 
 

Supernatural Fiction : Selected Online Resources
    Not a whole lot of e-texts given here directly, however, there is a large collection of links to other resources on the net.
 
 

MIMI: American Literature and E-texts
    U.K site featuring 18th and 19th Century American authors including Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Stephen Crane, Ben Franklin, etc.
 
 
 
 

SALLY ANNE: 20th Century American Literature
    From our friends "across the pond" who bring us "MIMI", this site provides resources on 20th Century authors who are not in the public domain (like Truman Capote and J.D. Salinger) as well as e-texts by early 20th Century writers such as Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc.
 
 

Tarlton Law Library
    Law narratives and critical works. The main reason I like this page is that it has the Complete Newgate Calendar, listing the people in Newgate Prison, London, with descriptions of their crimes and trials from 1700-1885.
 

Victorian Women Writers Project
    Well done scholarly site from Indiana University on British women writers of the 19th Century. Essays, fiction, poetry and criticism included.
 
 
 

Documenting the American South--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries
    Scholarly project documenting life in the South during the Civil War that "includes over four hundred digitized and encoded contemporary printed works and manuscripts, accompanied by ca. 1,000 images of currency, manuscript letters, maps, broadsides, title pages, illustrations, and photographs." I recently found this while looking up another e-text site and thought it was worth mentioning.
 
 

G.K. Chesterton's Works on the Web
     Many of Chesterton's works are available here. This site features his nonfiction works (some criticisms on Charles Dickens, some theology, and others), fiction (Club of Queer Trades, The Man Who Was Thursday, two collections of Father Brown short stories, etc.), along with essays, poems and quotes.
 
 
 

The George MacDonald Homepage
    This resource on all things George MacDonald also contains a large assortment of his works in etext form. It divides it into nonfiction, poetry and fiction and contains a full text version of one of my favorite novels, Lilith. If you think you've never heard of George MacDonald (who was a fantasy writer and theologian at the end of the 19th c.) you may possibly have heard of his children's books The Princess and the Goblin, and The Princess and Curdie, which are also included on this site.
 
 
 
 

E-texts of Work by Wilkie Collins
    Comprehensive site of works by Wilkie Collins, including novels, short stories and non-fiction.
 
 
 
 

Fergus Hume site on Gaslight
    Contains the novel Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Australian author Fergus Hume and his short story collection Hagar of the Pawn Shop (about a gypsy girl who works in her uncle's pawn shop and solves mysteries).
 
 
 

Robert W. Chambers
    A site containing the short stories collected in the Chambers books The Mystery of Choice, which revolves around an American in Breton, France and his adventures solving mysteries with a local girl, and the King in Yellow. Very attractive site, once you get into the individual book pages, and most of the stories are now completed (though there are still a few that still say "coming soon").
 
 

The Chronicles of Clovis by Saki (H.H. Munro)
    Around 30 stories by Saki (also known as H.H. Munro) centering around his whimsical character Clovis.
 
 
 

Mary Elizabeth Braddon--Aurora Floyd (from the University of North Carolina)
    Victorian Sensation novelist M.E. Braddon's second novel in full text. No links to chapters, so you have to read straight through or use the "find" feature on your browser. There are clear, scanned pictures of the first few pages of the 1863 edition.