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34,093 public-domain books, summarised. Page 118 of 711.
The Apple of Discord
Earle Ashley Walcott
A young lawyer is thrust into a high-stakes power struggle between warring industrial titans and the volatile, incendiary labor unrest of 1870s San Francisco.
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
A tapestry of Eastern storytelling, this collection weaves together the fantastic, the bawdy, and the scholarly to reflect the boundless imagination of a centuries-old oral tradition.
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 06 (of 12)
William Hazlitt
A combative critic dissects human nature, artistic genius, and political vanity through brilliant essays and sharp studio dialogue. In these pages, intellectual vanity encounters uncompromising scrutiny.
The Woman of Mystery
Maurice Leblanc
A French officer hunts for his kidnapped wife through the war-torn ruins of the First World War, encountering a shadowy, murderous conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the German Empire.
An essay on the foundations of geometry
Bertrand Russell
The quest to reconcile the logical necessity of space with the shifting landscape of non-Euclidean geometry defines this foundational work of rigorous philosophical inquiry. It remains a vital bridge between mathematical exploration and the nature of human knowledge.
Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in Woman
Alexander Walker
An examination of female aesthetics rooted in 19th-century anatomical science, this work attempts to categorize beauty through a rigorous, if rigid, classification of the human form. It seeks to elevate the study of grace from mere subjective preference to an objective system of natural laws.
Fernley House
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
HOOK In the sun-drenched gardens of an old estate, a group of young people learn that kindness, curiosity, and the courage to act are the greatest treasures of all.
Modern Prose And Poetry
Unknown
This collection serves as a pedagogical window into the early twentieth-century American classroom, gathering diverse voices to cultivate literary appreciation and critical thought in young readers.
Mysticism in English Literature
Caroline F. E. (Caroline Frances Eleanor) Spurgeon
This scholarly exploration traces the lineage of mystical thought through English literature, arguing that a profound sense of unity beneath the world's diversity has long served as a quiet, driving force for the nation's greatest writers.
The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 1
Emperor of Rome Julian
The final Roman emperor to champion the traditional gods offers a window into a mind caught between the weight of imperial duty and the pursuit of philosophical truth. These writings reveal a leader who sought to reconcile the mechanics of statecraft with a deeply felt, mystical devotion to the sun.
Who Was Who: 5000 B. C. to Date: Biographical Dictionary of the Famous and Those Who Wanted to Be
Unknown
This mock biographical dictionary playfully dismantles the reputations of history’s greatest figures, reducing legends and icons to the level of common, often absurd, human foibles.
Chats on Old Silver
Arthur Hayden
This guide to English silver offers a methodical entry into the world of hallmarks, artistic evolution, and the social history embedded in domestic plate. It serves as both a practical manual for the beginning collector and a historical survey of the silversmith’s craft.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Appendix: Author List
Various
This ledger of knowledge serves as a meticulous index of human inquiry, documenting the transition from the mid-18th century’s first printed volumes to the comprehensive, twenty-nine-volume capstone of the Edwardian era.
Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum, and other poems
Matthew Arnold
The currents of destiny and the quiet, persistent search for truth flow beneath these verses, marking a collection that bridges the classical world and the restless spirit of the nineteenth century.
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
Charles Babbage
The mind of a pioneer is a landscape of profound insight and grating frustration, where the pursuit of a universal mechanical language collides repeatedly with the immovable obstacles of bureaucracy, public indifference, and noisy neighbors.
Roderick Hudson
Henry James
The life of a gifted artist is a dangerous apprenticeship to his own ego. When a wealthy patron pulls a brilliant, restless sculptor from the stifling atmosphere of a New England town to the artistic crucible of Rome, he inadvertently sets in motion a tragedy of unchecked ambition and the volatile collision between…
The inequality of human races
Gobineau, Arthur, comte de
The rise and fall of great civilizations are governed not by laws, morals, or geography, but by the immutable, inherited quality of blood.
The Story of Milan
Ella Noyes
This historical chronicle traces the rise and fall of Milan, revealing a city shaped by its fierce spirit of independence and the shifting tides of European power. It offers a definitive portrait of a metropolis caught between the idealism of art and the brutal realities of war.
Youth, a Narrative
Joseph Conrad
The sea is a mirror for the passage of time, holding the wreckage of our past and the fleeting brilliance of our early ambitions. In this narrative, a veteran sailor recalls the impossible, doomed voyage that defined his own awakening.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker": Volume 10, Slice 5
Various
This volume captures the expansive, meticulous spirit of early twentieth-century scholarship, mapping the world through thousands of specialized entries. It serves as a monumental cross-section of human knowledge, from the mechanics of flight to the intricacies of colonial history.
Memoirs
Charles Godfrey Leland
A nineteenth-century intellectual captures the transition from a world of stagecoaches and gas-lit streets to the modern era, threading his personal history through the major political and cultural upheavals of his time. This memoir serves as a vivid, idiosyncratic record of a life spent at the intersection of…
Poems
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
Poetry is often a quiet art, but here it rings with the clamor of trumpets, the clash of iron, and the sudden, startling intimacy of a human voice speaking against the void. These verses act as a defiant manifesto for the common heart, finding the extraordinary in the mundane and the divine in the dust of the road.
Robert Browning
Edward Dowden
This guide tracks the development of a major Victorian intellect, mapping the internal evolution of a poet whose work transformed the landscape of English literature. It serves as both a biography and a key to his complex verse.
Scenes of Clerical Life
George Eliot
Deeply human lives unfold in the quiet corners of the English countryside, where the smallest gestures of kindness and the heaviest burdens of sorrow reveal the true character of the heart.
The Example of Vertu: The Example of Virtue
Stephen Hawes
This allegorical poem follows a young man’s perilous journey to achieve moral perfection, charting his evolution from a soul beset by temptation into a virtuous figure worthy of spiritual union.
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 8, 1923
Various
This collection of primary research, essays, and documents serves as a vital archive of early twentieth-century scholarship regarding the black experience in America and abroad. It remains a foundational text for understanding the systematic recovery of a neglected history.
The Story of the Great War, Volume 6: History of the European War from Official Sources
Unknown
This volume chronicles the pivotal years of 1916 and 1917, tracing the transformation of a stalemated European conflict into a total global struggle that ultimately compelled the United States to abandon its neutrality.
Thirty Strange Stories
H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
These thirty tales explore the fragile border between scientific curiosity and human obsession, revealing the terrifying, often ironic consequences of looking too closely at the unknown.
A New History of the United States: The greater republic, embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year
Charles Morris
A continental wilderness becomes a world power as thirteen coastal colonies expand westward, weather civil war, and ultimately claim overseas territories.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 5
Geoffrey Chaucer
An editor's rigorous commentary on the textual architecture and critical context of Geoffrey Chaucer's seminal works.
Selections from Viri Romae
C. F. L'Homond
A collection of heroic lives, this classic reader traces the rise of Rome through the triumphs and tragedies of its legendary figures. It serves as an enduring foundation for understanding the Roman spirit.
South African Memories: Social, Warlike & Sporting from Diaries Written at the Time
Wilson, Sarah Isabella Augusta, Lady
A spirited observer documents the tumult of the Boer War, offering an intimate, ground-level account of life in a besieged town and the shifting political landscape of a continent in conflict.
The English Novel
George Saintsbury
The English novel is a complex, sprawling garden of narrative art, and this survey provides the essential map for navigating its winding paths from medieval romance to the high Victorian era.
The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 05: Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English
Unknown
This collection serves as a portal into the intellectual and imaginative vigor of German Romanticism, gathering philosophical essays, folk-inspired tales, and lyrical verse that shaped a century of European thought.
The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Complete
John Greenleaf Whittier
A quiet, lifelong commitment to human equality, spiritual stillness, and political courage shapes a vast body of American writing.
A History of the Old English Letter Foundries: with Notes, Historical and Bibliographical, on the Rise and Progress of English Typography
Talbot Baines Reed
Typography is the quiet engine of civilization, yet the craft of creating the metal letters that build our books remains a mystery to most who read them.
Eirik the Red's Saga
John Sephton
This stark, ancient record chronicles the Norse voyages to North America, blending harsh maritime reality with the quiet, persistent spirit of the explorers who sought a new horizon.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XI, North Carolina Narratives, Part 2
United States. Work Projects Administration
HOOK These oral histories capture the raw, unfiltered memories of North Carolina’s last living former slaves, documenting a vanished world of profound hardship, sudden liberation, and the long struggle for dignity that followed.
Synonyms and antonyms
Edith B. (Edith Bertha) Ordway
This reference work serves as a practical, alphabetical guide for precision in language, pairing common terms with their shades of meaning and their direct opposites. It acts as a bridge between the fluidity of thought and the structural requirements of clear expression.
The Physiology of Marriage, Complete
Honoré de Balzac
HOOK Marriage, as framed here, is not a natural state but a battlefield of wits, where husbands must play the part of kings, diplomats, and jailers to maintain the fragile illusion of domestic harmony.
A doctor enjoys Sherlock Holmes
Edward J. (Edward Jerald) Van Liere
A practicing physician examines the Sherlock Holmes canon, mining the stories for insights into Victorian medicine, natural history, and the enduring physiological habits of the world’s most famous detective and his companion.
Adventures Among Books
Andrew Lang
These essays offer a quiet, erudite sanctuary for the reader who finds more companionship in the pages of old books than in the company of the living. A lifelong devotee of letters reflects on the literary adventures that shaped his mind, from the formative thrill of ancient classics to the ghostly allure of…
Droll Stories
Honoré de Balzac
These tales serve as a ribald, exuberant recreation of the French Renaissance, capturing the earthy spirit of an era where laughter and lust were as vital as prayer.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Gassendi, Pierre" to "Geocentric": Volume 11, Slice 5
Various
This volume is a testament to the Victorian era’s exhaustive hunger for knowledge, presenting a sprawling, meticulously researched survey of the world through the lens of late-19th-century scholarship. It acts as an anchor to a specific moment in intellectual history, offering a dense, authoritative, and…
The Catholic World, Vol. 19, April 1874‐September 1874
Various
A sweeping nineteenth-century compendium gathers formal philosophy, political critique, serialized fiction, and travel sketches to defend Catholic faith against modern materialism, secular politics, and cultural drift.
The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 04
Unknown
An expansive chronicle traces the turbulent decline of classical Greek independence, following internal civil strife, the meteoric rise and fatal collapse of Alexander’s empire, and the eventual, overwhelming conquest of the Mediterranean by Rome.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle
The legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest lives again in these pages, captured not as a dusty historical figure but as a vibrant, laughing soul who finds joy in the greenwood. This is a journey into a world where honor is found in the company of thieves and justice is measured by the length of an oaken staff.
Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings
Joel Chandler Harris
The trickster Brer Rabbit outwits his stronger, hungrier adversaries through sheer cunning, forever escaping the brier-patch and the snare. Within the quiet cabin of an elderly storyteller, ancient animal lore meets the complex social landscape of the post-Reconstruction South.