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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 237 of 714.

Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume I
Charles Lever
A young Irishman’s search for identity pulls him from his family’s ruins into the heart of Napoleon’s empire, where he must navigate the brutal, glittering, and treacherous life of a soldier.

Travels in the interior districts of Africa: performed under the direction and patronage of the African Association, in the years 1795, 1796, and 1797
Mungo Park
A solitary traveler ventures into the heart of West Africa, surviving famine, captivity, and the unforgiving climate to document a world then unknown to European maps.

A Journey in Brazil
Louis Agassiz
This scientific travelogue documents an 1865 expedition across the Brazilian interior, offering a vivid window into the natural history and social landscape of the Amazon Basin during the mid-nineteenth century.

A Woman's War: A Novel
Warwick Deeping
The shadow of a secret habit threatens to undo a dedicated physician, forcing his family to endure a grueling, public fall from grace before a chance at redemption emerges from the wreckage of their former lives.

American Eloquence, Volume 4: Studies In American Political History (1897)
Unknown
The foundational debates of a nation unfold through the voices of those who shaped its trajectory, capturing a volatile century of constitutional struggle, industrial transition, and the painful pursuit of a more perfect union.

Arethusa
F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
A reckless Venetian soldier of fortune turns merchant in the treacherous, intrigue-filled streets of 14th-century Constantinople, only to find his life irrevocably altered by a beautiful, self-sacrificing slave.

Canada
John George Bourinot
This comprehensive history traces Canada’s evolution from the mist-shrouded Norse voyages to the early twentieth-century emergence of a modern, industrialized federal state. It serves as a narrative chronicle of a nation forged through colonial rivalry, political discord, and eventual compromise.

Costume: Fanciful, Historical and Theatrical
Mrs. (Eliza Davis) Aria
Fashion is more than mere vanity; it is a profound expression of culture, status, and the human desire to define oneself against the backdrop of history. This survey of costume, ranging from the classic era to the Edwardian period, explores how the silhouette, the sleeve, and the coiffure have evolved to reveal the…

Dream Days
Kenneth Grahame
Childhood is a kingdom of fierce imagination, where the distance between a nursery floor and a far-off, dragon-haunted mountain is bridged by nothing more than a stubborn refusal to accept the dullness of the adult world.

England under the Angevin Kings, Volumes I and II
Kate Norgate
Between the fall of the Anglo-Saxon world and the dawn of parliamentary England, an ambitious French dynasty transformed a fractured island into the cornerstone of a sprawling European empire.

Eskimo Life
Fridtjof Nansen
This portrait of Greenlandic life captures a culture of remarkable resilience, mapping the intricate intersection of ancient survival skills and the encroaching influence of European colonization.

Excursions in the mountains of Ronda and Granada, with characteristic sketches of the inhabitants of southern Spain, vol. 2/2
C. Rochfort (Charles Rochfort) Scott
This account offers a rugged, firsthand portrait of early nineteenth-century Andalusia, capturing the intersection of volatile politics, ancient history, and the enduring customs of the Spanish mountain people.

Famous composers and their works, Vol. 1
Unknown
This expansive historical survey illuminates the lives and artistic evolutions of the great masters who shaped Western music. It serves as a scholarly yet accessible bridge between early contrapuntal experiments and the emotional height of nineteenth-century opera.

German composition
Hermann Lange
Translation demands far more than raw vocabulary; it requires a deep, flexible command of syntax, idiom, and structural logic.

Heroes of To-Day
Mary Rosetta Parkman
Heroes of To-Day offers a collection of biographical sketches that redefine heroism for the modern age, moving away from ancient myths of conquest toward quiet, persistent service to humanity. It argues that the most profound adventures are found in science, exploration, and social reform.

History of the War in Afghanistan, Vol. 3 (of 3): Third Edition
Kaye, John William, Sir
A disastrous foreign invasion crumbles into a desperate salvage operation, where military honor, political survival, and human lives hang on every hesitant order from India.

Hodge and His Masters
Richard Jefferies
This collection of sketches provides a panoramic view of late 19th-century English rural life, where the traditional agricultural order buckles under the pressure of shifting economics and social change. It documents the fragile, interconnected world of the laborer, the tenant farmer, and the landlord.

Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft: Illustrated Investigations into the Phenomena of Spiritualism and Theosophy
Henry Ridgely Evans
The pursuit of the unseen is a persistent human urge, yet beneath the veil of the supernatural often lies the clever hand of the performer. This investigation exposes the mechanics behind the mysticism of a bygone era.

In the Wilderness
Robert Hichens
A husband's hidden hunger for a total devotion his high-minded wife cannot yield drives him into the net of a destructive socialite, setting off a tragedy that scatters their quiet lives across England and the Levant.

Liza of Lambeth
W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham
The streets of Lambeth are suffocatingly hot, but for a young factory girl, the true heat comes from the dangerous, illicit fire of an affair that threatens to consume her life.

Magic Shadows: The Story of the Origin of Motion Pictures
Martin Quigley
Moving pictures did not spring into existence overnight; they are the culmination of centuries of experimentation with light, optics, and the stubborn persistence of human vision.

Memoirs of the Empress Josephine, Vol. 2 of 2
Madame de (Claire Elisabeth Jeanne Gravier de Vergennes) Rémusat
A firsthand account of Napoleon’s inner circle, this work captures the atmosphere of a court dominated by a man who treated his closest associates as clerks and his empire as a stage for his own glory.

Monsieur, Madame, and Bébé
Gustave Droz
This is a gentle, intimate portrait of mid-19th-century domesticity that finds the profound within the mundane. It captures the small, private comedies of a young couple navigating the transition from the thrill of courtship to the quiet, sometimes challenging realities of married life and parenthood.

Old world masters in new world collections
Esther Singleton
The grandest treasures of European art have crossed the Atlantic, finding permanent sanctuary within the private galleries of America’s most prominent collectors.

On the Spanish Main
John Masefield
These chronicles recount the relentless, often brutal, pursuits of the English buccaneers and privateers who sought to break the Spanish monopoly on the riches of the Isthmus of Darien and the South Sea.

Practical Ethics
William De Witt Hyde
A structured guide to moral living, this work bridges the gap between abstract philosophical theory and the concrete, daily choices that define a person's character. It offers a blueprint for building a life of integrity, balance, and purpose.

Royalty Restored
J. Fitzgerald (Joseph Fitzgerald) Molloy
A vibrant, meticulously researched account of the Restoration era, this history captures the glittering excess, political volatility, and social transformation of 17th-century England under the reign of King Charles II.

Short-story masterpieces, Vol. 4
John Cournos
This collection showcases the heavy, haunting power of Russian masters, proving that a short story can carry the weight of an entire world. It offers a window into a culture defined by both profound suffering and an unwavering search for truth.

Soldiers Three
Rudyard Kipling
This collection of linked short stories captures the rough, sun-scorched vitality of British-Indian colonial life, centered on the unbreakable bond between three irrepressible infantrymen.

Sylvia's Lovers
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Set in a late eighteenth-century Yorkshire whaling port, this story traces the quiet wreckage of a young woman’s life after a lie separates her from the sailor she loves.

Tales and Legends of the English Lakes
Wilson Armistead
The English Lake District serves as the backdrop for a collection of folklore, historical anecdotes, and poetic reflections, weaving together the rugged beauty of northern valleys with the lives of those who have haunted or inhabited them.

The Age of Erasmus: Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London
P. S. (Percy Stafford) Allen
A vivid reconstruction of the Northern Renaissance, these lectures bridge the gap between abstract history and the intimate, messy lives of the scholars who lived through a world in transition.

The Black Tortoise: Being the Strange Story of Old Frick's Diamond
Christian Sparre
A stolen diamond, a suspicious photograph, and a web of false accusations entangle a private detective and the woman he loves. This narrative of deception unfolds across the quiet villas and courtrooms of Norway.

The Canadian Elocutionist: Designed for the Use of Colleges, Schools and Self Instruction, Together with a Copious Selection in Prose and Poetry of Pieces Adapted for Reading, Recitation and Practice
Anna K. (Anna Kelsey) Howard
Mastering the art of public speaking requires both technical precision and emotional resonance, a balance achieved through dedicated study and the rigorous practice of classic literary selections.

The Chemistry of Hat Manufacturing: Lectures Delivered Before the Hat Manufacturers' Association
Watson Smith
This technical volume serves as a bridge between Victorian industrial craftsmanship and the nascent power of applied science. It provides a detailed, practical guide to the chemical processes underpinning a once-dominant trade.

The Diary of a Resurrectionist, 1811-1812: To Which Are Added an Account of the Resurrection Men in London and a Short History of the Passing of the Anatomy Act
James Blake Bailey
The resurrectionist trade was a grim necessity of early 19th-century medicine, fueled by a legal system that demanded dissection for science but provided only the bodies of executed murderers to satisfy that demand. This document captures the cold, transactional reality of the men who filled the gap.

The evolution of the steam locomotive (1803 to 1898)
George Augustus Nokes
This technical history documents the rapid transformation of steam-powered rail travel from experimental novelty to the iron backbone of British industry between 1803 and 1898.

The Laughter of Peterkin: A retelling of old tales of the Celtic Wonderworld
William Sharp
A boy awakens in a moonlit room to hear ancient legends, which frame three tragic epics of magic, transformation, and betrayal from the ancient Gaelic world.

The Moonlit Way: A Novel
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
HOOK A young artist finds his quiet New York life upended by a mysterious woman fleeing a web of international intrigue, only to discover that his own destiny is inextricably linked to hers.

The Practical Garden-Book: Containing the Simplest Directions for the Growing of the Commonest Things about the House and Garden
L. H. (Liberty Hyde) Bailey
Gardening is more than the growing of plants: it is the expression of desire. This guide provides the foundational wisdom necessary to cultivate a thriving home garden, honoring the simple, perennial joy of working the earth.

The Romance of Industry and Invention
Unknown
The nineteenth century stands as a monument to human ingenuity, where the relentless drive of the inventor transformed the primitive tools of the past into the industrial backbone of a global empire. This collection chronicles the pivotal breakthroughs in steel, communication, and manufacturing that defined an era…

The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself
Cole Younger
This narrative offers a measured, firsthand account of a life defined by the Border War, the notoriety of the post-Civil War West, and a quarter-century of imprisonment. It is a sobering reflection on the consequences of political violence and the long shadows cast by reputation.

The Story of the East Riding of Yorkshire
Horace B. (Horace Baker) Browne
This history captures the enduring spirit of the East Riding of Yorkshire, tracing the region’s evolution from the primitive tools of the Stone Age to the bustling industrial docks of the modern era.

The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. VII. Being the Third of the Third Voyage
James King
The final chapter of an era, this chronicle captures the closing of a legendary maritime legacy amidst the unfamiliar and unforgiving landscapes of the North Pacific. It offers a sober, firsthand look at the human cost of discovery.

Tobias o' the Light: A Story of Cape Cod
James A. Cooper
A wily lighthouse keeper intervenes in the lives of his neighbors, orchestrating a series of clever deceptions to mend two fractured romances on the coast of Cape Cod.

Toy-Making in School and Home
R. K. (Ruby Kathleen) Polkinghorne
Hook Crafting playthings from everyday scraps—matchboxes, corks, and spare wood—builds more than toys; it fosters the patience and ingenuity necessary for a lifetime of creative problem-solving.

True Stories of the Great War, Volume 3 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
Unknown
A kaleidoscopic collection of firsthand reports, these pages capture the raw, immediate intensity of the First World War through the eyes of those who lived it.

Unconscious Memory
Samuel Butler
Biological evolution is not merely a matter of blind accidents or mindless mechanics, but an expression of deep, inherited memory passed down through the ages.