Library
Free Dutch books for people learning Dutch
40 books in Dutch, all public domain and all free to download as EPUB from Project Gutenberg. Sorted by length rather than by difficulty: Gutenberg publishes no reading-ease figure, and the one used on the English shelf is tuned to English, so quoting it here would be a number that looks precise and means nothing.
Length is the thing that actually stops people, so start shorter than you think you need — coverage matters more than ambition. Word counts are estimated from each book’s plain-text size.
Short enough to finish 9 books
Under fifty thousand words. The first book you finish in a language is worth more than three you start.
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Multatuli: Onze groote schrijvers, deel 2
About 6 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Het Nieuwe Leven (La Vita Nuova)
About 6 hours at a learner’s pace.
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A full novel 13 books
The length most novels actually are. A few weeks at twenty minutes a day.
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De Vurige Oven: Een verhaal uit den tijd der dragonades in Nederland
About 7 hours at a learner’s pace.
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De Vegetarische Keuken: Kookboek van den Nederlandschen Vegetariërsbond
About 7 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Sexueele Zeden in Woord en Beeld: Liefde en Zinnelijkheid
About 8 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Zoölogische Philosophie: Of beschouwingen over de Natuurlijke Historie der dieren etc
About 9 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Wonderlijke avonturen van een Chinees, gevolgd door Muiterij aan boord der 'Bounty'
About 10 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Mathias Sandorf [1] — Een verijdelde samenzwering; Dokter Antekirrt
About 10 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Nederlandsche Doopnamen: Naar Oorsprong en Gebruik
About 10 hours at a learner’s pace.
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De grondbeginselen der Nederlandsche spelling: Regeling der spelling voor het woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal
About 12 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Longer 18 books
Worth it once a book from the band above has stopped feeling like work.
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Een strijd om de schatten van Alva: of De watergeuzen in 1572
About 13 hours at a learner’s pace.
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De Geschiedenis van Woutertje Pieterse, Deel 1: Uit de 'ideen' verzameld
About 14 hours at a learner’s pace.
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De Zonderlinge Lotgevallen van Gil Blas van Santillano, deel 1 van 2: De Spaansche Avonturier
About 15 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Reisontmoetingen van Joachim Polsbroekerwoud en zijne Vrienden
About 16 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Noli me tangere: Filippijnsche roman
About 18 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Andersens Sproken en vertellingen: Morgenrood
About 18 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Kamerplanten: Handboek tot het kweeken van planten in de kamer
About 19 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Het ivoren aapje: Een roman van Brusselsch leven
About 19 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Sagen van Koning Arthur en de Ridders van de Tafelronde
About 23 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Eene Egyptische Koningsdochter: Historische Roman van George Ebers
About 27 hours at a learner’s pace.
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Open one and tap a word
Download any of these as EPUB, import it into ClickBook, and tap a word you do not know. The explanation is written on your phone, in your mother tongue, without a connection.
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