bookstacks

Bookstacks

Bookstacks is a Jekyll static site for reading public domain literature at https://bookstacks.org.

The library is organized directly as Markdown source under authors/. Jekyll layouts build the author pages, book tables of contents, and individual chapter reading pages from that content.

Project Structure

• _layouts/: Jekyll layouts for the default page shell, author indexes, book indexes, and chapter pages.
• _includes/: shared header and footer markup.
• assets/css/style.css: theme, index, table of contents, and reader styles.
• assets/js/theme.js: light/dark theme, accent color, and seasonal UI behavior.
• assets/*.html: temporary raw Gutenberg import files, removed after they are converted or identified as duplicates.
• authors/<author-slug>/index.md: author landing pages.
• authors/<author-slug>/<book-slug>/index.md: book table of contents pages.
• authors/<author-slug>/<book-slug>/chapter-N.md: chapter source files.
• img/: image assets, generally grouped by author slug.
• seed_indexes.py: utility script for creating missing author and book index files from existing chapter front matter.

Content Model

Author index pages use:

---
layout: author_index
title: "Jane Austen"
author_name: "Jane Austen"
---

Book index pages use:

---
layout: book_index
title: "Pride and Prejudice"
book_title: "Pride and Prejudice"
author: "Jane Austen"
---

Chapter pages use:

---
layout: book
title: "Chapter 1"
chapter_order: 1
book: "Pride and Prejudice"
author: "Jane Austen"
---

Chapter ordering is controlled by chapter_order, not filename sorting. Keep book and author consistent across every chapter in the same book.

Optional TOC fields can refine book tables of contents:

toc_section: "Volume I"
toc_title: "Chapter 1. A Beginning"

Book TOCs render as regular trees. Plain headings come from toc_section or from leading Markdown/HTML headings inside chapter bodies; chapter entries are the operative links.

Adding A Book

1. Create authors/<author-slug>/<book-slug>/.
2. Add one Markdown file per rendered chapter, usually chapter-1.md, chapter-2.md, and so on.
3. Add layout: book, title, chapter_order, book, and author front matter to every chapter.
4. Put only the chapter body after the front matter. The chapter layout renders the chapter title automatically.
5. Add the book index.md and author index.md, or run:

python seed_indexes.py

seed_indexes.py only creates missing index files. It does not split books, rewrite chapters, or update existing indexes.

Raw Gutenberg Imports

Raw Project Gutenberg HTML can be placed in the root of assets/ for import. Before creating new Markdown, check whether the title already exists as a book or as a chapter within an existing book for that author.

Converted works belong under authors/<author-slug>/<book-slug>/ as a book index.md plus one Markdown file per rendered chapter or section. Strip Gutenberg boilerplate, generated contents, license text, and HTML navigation. After each raw file has been converted or classified as a duplicate, remove it from assets/.

Local Development

Requirements:

• Ruby
• Jekyll
• Python, only for seed_indexes.py

This repo does not currently include a Gemfile, so use an environment where the jekyll command is available. The current local setup has been tested with Jekyll 4.4.1.

Serve locally:

jekyll serve

Build the site:

jekyll build

The corpus is large, so full builds can take a while.

Public Domain Notice

Works hosted here are intended to be public domain in the United States. Users outside the United States should verify the copyright status in their own jurisdiction.

This site is open source. Improve this page.