# library.forgemesh.io Historical Novels Shelf

> library.forgemesh.io Historical Novels Shelf is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.003/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Returns a ranked list of up to 50 curated public-domain historical novels with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/historical-novels
- Price: $0.003/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-historical-novels-shelf-8a54abfa
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_NH06mJngc5avcmWNEyM4J

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability library-forgemesh-io-historical-novels-shelf-8a54abfa -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you pull up the top 10 historical novels from the forgemesh public-domain library — things like A Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, or Les Misérables — so I can browse what's available and get links to read the full texts?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a curated, pre-ranked list of well-known public-domain historical novels (including titles like A Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, and Les Misérables) without needing an API key or license. It is ideal over general web search when you want structured, machine-readable output with built-in drill-down routes for full-text access. Prefer sibling endpoints on library.forgemesh.io for other genres (gothic fiction, psychology, politics, drama).

## Known failure modes

- Invalid limit value (e.g. exceeding 50 or negative integer) may return a validation error
- Payment failure via x402 protocol results in 402 response and no data returned
- Service unavailability returns a 5xx error with no book list
- Empty or malformed request body may cause unexpected default behavior

## How this service works

Curated shelf: Historical Novels — 3891 public-domain books including The Lady of the Lake, Twenty years after, Under the Red Dragon: A Novel. Returns a ranked list with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval. No license, no API key required.

## Output

A ranked list of up to 50 public-domain historical novels (default 20), each with metadata such as title and author, along with drill-down routes that enable full-text retrieval of individual books. No authentication or licensing is required to access the content.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "limit": {
   "type": "integer",
   "description": "Max books to return (default 20, max 50)"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "books": [
   {
    "year": null,
    "title": "The Lady of the Lake",
    "author": "Scott, Walter",
    "book_id": 3011,
    "subjects": [],
    "download_count": 65496
   }
  ],
  "count": 5,
  "shelf": "Historical Novels",
  "coverage": {
   "target": 61015,
   "indexed": 61015
  },
  "drill_down": [
   "/book-metadata",
   "/book-chapter",
   "/book-quotes",
   "/literature-search"
  ]
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-historical-novels-shelf-8a54abfa/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from library.forgemesh.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/library.forgemesh.io/llms.txt)