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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 181 of 714.

Cover of Overland through Asia

Overland through Asia

Thomas Wallace Knox

A journalist traverses the vast, frozen expanse of Northern Asia on a grand mission to connect the Old and New Worlds via telegraph, capturing the immense scale of the Russian Empire and its diverse cultures.

Travel Writing8 min read
Cover of The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century

The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century

William Lyon Phelps

Poetry in the early twentieth century stands at a crossroads, caught between the echoes of Victorian grandeur and the urgent, often jarring, arrival of the modern world. This guide illuminates the transition, charting the path from established masters to the burgeoning voices of a new, fractured era.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Anatomy of Suicide

The Anatomy of Suicide

Forbes Winslow

The desire to end one’s own life is a medical crisis, not a moral failing. A Victorian physician argues that the mind’s tragic unraveling is a phenomenon rooted in physical health and physiological disturbance.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of The History of Creation, Vol. 2 (of 2): Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes

The History of Creation, Vol. 2 (of 2): Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes

Ernst Haeckel

Natural forces, acting over immense spans of geological time, have sculpted the staggering variety of life on Earth from a single, primordial ancestor. This foundational work of evolutionary science traces the unbroken biological lineage connecting the simplest organisms to the complex anatomy of man.

Science - Biology6 min read
Cover of The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Volume 2

The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Volume 2

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The critic’s eye is a lens that brings the vast architecture of English drama into focus, revealing how genius mirrors the shifting nature of the human mind. This collection captures the essential observations of a profound thinker on the craft of his greatest predecessors.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Pearl Story Book: Stories and Legends of Winter, Christmas, and New Year's Day

The Pearl Story Book: Stories and Legends of Winter, Christmas, and New Year's Day

Unknown

The frost of a long-ago winter settles on every page of this collection, gathering legends, poems, and folktales that transform the cold season into a landscape of moral clarity and wonder. It is a quiet, atmospheric treasury designed to turn the darkest nights of the year into a time for reflection and storytelling.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and Technology

The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and Technology

Stanley Isaac Levy

HOOK This work charts the emergence of the rare earth elements from scientific obscurity into the essential building blocks of modern industrial civilization. It captures a moment of intense transition when chemistry moved from confusion to precision.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of The theory and practice of archery

The theory and practice of archery

Horace A. (Horace Alfred) Ford

This treatise offers a definitive look at the mechanics and discipline of archery, distilled from the expertise of a Victorian-era champion. It serves as both a manual for the aspiring marksman and a historical record of the sport’s evolution.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of Welsh Fairy Tales

Welsh Fairy Tales

William Elliot Griffis

These tales emerge from a rich, ancient cultural bedrock, where the line between the natural world and the realm of myth is forever blurred by mist, music, and the shifting geography of the Welsh hills.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore6 min read
Cover of A Yankee doctor in paradise

A Yankee doctor in paradise

S. M. (Sylvester Maxwell) Lambert

A veteran physician navigates the islands of Oceania, fighting unseen parasites while grappling with the complex collision of ancient tribal traditions and modern colonial administration.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Character Building: Being Addresses Delivered on Sunday Evenings to the Students of Tuskegee Institute

Character Building: Being Addresses Delivered on Sunday Evenings to the Students of Tuskegee Institute

Booker T. Washington

These addresses serve as a blueprint for moral fortitude and practical self-reliance, capturing the guiding philosophy of a foundational American educator speaking to the students he helped shape.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Essays of Michel de Montaigne

Essays of Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne

To explore this book is to walk through the corridors of a restless, brilliant mind that refuses to be categorized. It is an invitation to examine the messy, contradictory nature of being human by watching a single man examine himself.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of Great Inventions and Discoveries

Great Inventions and Discoveries

Willis Duff Piercy

Humanity’s rise from cave-dwelling to the mastery of the skies is marked by the relentless ingenuity of those who refused to accept the limitations of their age. This chronicle maps the evolution of the tools and discoveries that fundamentally altered the course of civilization.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Nala and Damayanti and Other Poems

Nala and Damayanti and Other Poems

Henry Hart Milman

The ancient legend of a king and his queen separated by divine malice and reunited by the strength of their devotion is a foundational tale of classical Indian literature. This translation captures the solemn, sweeping beauty of a story that has endured as a cornerstone of epic tradition.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore6 min read
Cover of One of Clive's Heroes: A Story of the Fight for India

One of Clive's Heroes: A Story of the Fight for India

Herbert Strang

The winds of fortune blow hard across the Indian subcontinent, where a young man’s courage becomes the only currency that matters in the struggle between colonial ambition and ruthless treachery.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold

Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold

These essays map the intellectual landscape of the Victorian era, arguing that a life of quiet reflection and critical judgment is the only remedy for a society obsessed with material progress.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources

Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources

Unknown

These tales offer a window into the rich, supernatural tapestry of Slavonic imagination, where ordinary lives intersect with ancient, haunting forces.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore6 min read
Cover of Surnames as a Science

Surnames as a Science

Robert Ferguson

Unlocking the hidden histories of our family names requires more than mere guessing; it demands a rigorous, scientific approach to linguistic roots. By tracing the echoes of the past, everyday surnames reveal their ancient origins.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Apple: The Kansas Apple, the Big Red Apple

The Apple: The Kansas Apple, the Big Red Apple

Unknown

This collection serves as both a practical guide and a historical record for cultivating the apple, celebrating the fruit as the "healthful, hearty heart of the darling dumpling.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of The Art of Story-Telling

The Art of Story-Telling

Marie L. Shedlock

Mastering the spoken word requires more than a natural gift; it demands the deliberate cultivation of one's own imagination to truly inhabit the stories shared with others.

How To ...7 min read
Cover of The History of the Twenty-ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry: in the Late War of the Rebellion

The History of the Twenty-ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry: in the Late War of the Rebellion

William H. Osborne

This account documents the steady endurance of a Massachusetts infantry regiment throughout the American Civil War, tracing their path from raw volunteers to battle-hardened veterans.

History - American7 min read
Cover of The Night-Born

The Night-Born

Jack London

This collection of short stories explores the thin, often permeable boundary between civilized restraint and the primal, predatory nature lurking within the human spirit. Through settings ranging from the high-society clubs of San Francisco to the brutal, unforgiving landscapes of the Klondike and the boxing rings…

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales

The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales

Jean-Pierre Camus

True sanctity is not found in grand gestures, but in the quiet, persistent practice of gentleness, humility, and the disinterested love of God.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1956 July - December

U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1956 July - December

Library of Congress. Copyright Office

This directory serves as a vital historical ledger, documenting the formal extension of legal ownership over thousands of literary and intellectual works during a pivotal six-month window in 1956.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of Where Love is There God is Also

Where Love is There God is Also

Tolstoy, Leo, graf

The shoemaker who spends his days watching the world through a street-level window finds that the divine is not found in grand gestures, but in the humble acts of service he performs for his neighbors.

Novels6 min read
Cover of A Prisoner of the Khaleefa: Twelve Years Captivity at Omdurman

A Prisoner of the Khaleefa: Twelve Years Captivity at Omdurman

Charles Neufeld

A harrowing, first-hand account of twelve years spent in the brutal Omdurman prison, this narrative serves as both a testament to human endurance and a stark, unvarnished window into the fall of the Mahdist state.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of A Short History of Astronomy

A Short History of Astronomy

Arthur Berry

To look up at the night sky is to inherit a legacy of wonder, yet the mechanics of the heavens were only unlocked through centuries of painstaking observation and mathematical intuition. This historical survey traces the slow, methodical transformation of astronomy from early conjecture to the rigorous science of…

History - Other8 min read
Cover of Astounding Stories, April, 1931

Astounding Stories, April, 1931

Various

This periodical is a quintessential artifact of early 1930s pulp science fiction, delivering high-stakes adventures that prioritize rapid-fire action, cosmic peril, and the wonder of extraterrestrial discovery. It serves as a time capsule for an era when the boundaries of science were treated as vast, untapped…

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Essays Before a Sonata

Essays Before a Sonata

Charles Ives

These are the meditations of a visionary composer, reflecting on the profound, untamable spirit of the American Transcendentalists and the eternal struggle to translate the soul’s deepest intuitions into the fragile language of art.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Forging Ahead in Business

Forging Ahead in Business

Alexander Hamilton Institute (U.S.)

Success in the modern era belongs to those who transcend narrow specialization by mastering the foundational principles of business. True professional advancement requires a comprehensive understanding of the entire commercial machine.

Business/Management6 min read
Cover of Four Months Afoot in Spain

Four Months Afoot in Spain

Harry Alverson Franck

A schoolteacher trades his classroom for a thousand-mile trek across Spain, proving that a modest budget is no barrier to witnessing the soul of a nation.

Travel Writing6 min read
Cover of General Scott

General Scott

Marcus J. (Marcus Joseph) Wright

This military biography chronicles the long, distinguished career of Winfield Scott, tracing his rise from a youthful officer in the War of 1812 to his status as the venerable commander of the Union armies.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist

Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist

Samuel Smiles

This portrait of a humble artisan turned literary titan reveals how one man’s verse bridged the divide between the forgotten folk traditions of the French South and the cultural elite of Paris. It is a testament to the power of art to elevate the common life and serve the needs of the impoverished.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Lives of the English Poets

Lives of the English Poets

Samuel Johnson

A titan of eighteenth-century letters turns his sharp, discerning eye toward the architects of English verse, weighing their genius, their inconsistencies, and their moral characters with uncompromising honesty.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Memorials of Old Lincolnshire

Memorials of Old Lincolnshire

Unknown

This collection of essays serves as a scholarly gazetteer for the traveler and antiquary, documenting the layered history of an English county through its stone, steel, and records. It captures the transition of a landscape from prehistoric iron-smelting sites to the sophisticated architectural achievements of the…

History - British7 min read
Cover of My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales

My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales

Edric Vredenburg

The old tales remain ever new, returning to delight each generation with their timeless magic and wonder. This collection gathers the most cherished fairy stories, presenting them in a style that feels both classic and fresh.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Golden Age

The Golden Age

Kenneth Grahame

The boundaries between a child's imaginative dominion and the indifferent, often incomprehensible world of adults form a fragile borderland of wonder and resentment. In these quiet, sun-drenched episodes, the sharp divide between the "Olympians"—the tall, dull, and authority-wielding grown-ups—and the vibrant,…

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Heart of Nature

The Heart of Nature

Younghusband, Francis Edward, Sir

The world’s most formidable peaks are not merely geological accidents to be measured; they are living, breathing embodiments of a spiritual purpose that invites humanity into a deeper communion with the universe.

Environmental Issues7 min read
Cover of The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old

The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old

Unknown

This collection brings together legendary tales of survival, enchantment, and moral discovery, preserving the foundational narratives that have shaped the literary imagination for generations.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of The Life of Cervantes

The Life of Cervantes

Albert Frederick Calvert

The life of Miguel de Cervantes is as dramatic and adventurous as the fiction he created, tracing the arc of a man who survived war, slavery, and poverty to change literature forever.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Lushei Kuki Clans

The Lushei Kuki Clans

John Shakespear

The Lushai and Kuki clans emerge from these pages not as remote subjects, but as a complex society shaped by migration, intricate laws, and a profound, living connection to the spirit world. This study provides an enduring ethnographic foundation for understanding the hill peoples of the Assam borderlands.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Old English Baron: a Gothic Story

The Old English Baron: a Gothic Story

Clara Reeve

A dispossessed youth, hidden in plain sight, seeks to reclaim his noble heritage from a usurping kinsman. This foundational Gothic tale masterfully blends moral instruction with the unsettling atmosphere of a haunted ancestral home.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Red Room

The Red Room

August Strindberg

An idealistic young man arrives in the capital, only to find that in a world of charlatans and institutions, truth is a commodity to be bought and sold by the highest bidder.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The Voyages of Captain Scott

The Voyages of Captain Scott

Charles Turley

A haunting chronicle of human endurance, this account traces the final, tragic Antarctic journeys of a legendary explorer. It maps the thin line between scientific triumph and absolute, frozen isolation.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1950 January - June

U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1950 January - June

Library of Congress. Copyright Office

A catalog of intellectual property renewals from the early twentieth century serves as a vital map for scholars, tracing the legal endurance of literature, music, and commerce from a pivotal historical moment. It acts as a bridge between the vibrant creative output of the 1920s and the bureaucratic machinery of the…

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of A History of Aeronautics

A History of Aeronautics

Evelyn Charles Vivian

The dream of human flight moves from impossible speculation to a mechanical reality, chronicling the transition from visionary theory to the roar of the internal combustion engine. This record preserves the rapid, often perilous, evolution of aviation.

Engineering & Technology7 min read
Cover of Across the Plains, with Other Memories and Essays

Across the Plains, with Other Memories and Essays

Robert Louis Stevenson

The vast, indifferent beauty of the American plains and the quiet dignity of the human struggle define this collection of essays, where the author finds wonder in the most unlikely of places.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of John Ruskin

Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of John Ruskin

John Ruskin

This expansive collection serves as a comprehensive index and compendium of the vast intellectual legacy left by one of the nineteenth century’s most formidable thinkers on art, nature, and social morality.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
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