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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 269 of 714.

Lightning Conductors: Their History, Nature, and Mode of Application
Anderson, Richard, F.C.S.
A practical guide to the science of atmospheric electricity, this work provides both a historical account of lightning protection and a technical manual for safeguarding buildings against the destructive force of nature’s most erratic element.

Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, 1652-1693
Arvède Barine
The Bourbon dynasty’s most powerful monarch meets his match in a cousin who expects a grand romance, only to find herself trapped in a world of stifling ceremony and heartbreak.

Moral Poison in Modern Fiction
R. Brimley (Reginald Brimley) Johnson
This critical study examines how the changing moral landscape of early 20th-century literature—specifically the rise of "sex-revolt" themes—threatens the stability of social values, family life, and the emotional development of post-war youth.

Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son
George Horace Lorimer
The seasoned merchant writes from a position of hard-won authority, mentoring his son through the complexities of professional advancement, courtship, and the responsibilities of leadership in a rapidly modernizing industrial world.

Once a week
A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne
This collection captures the lighthearted, witty spirit of Edwardian-era England, offering a series of humorous sketches that find absurdity in the mundane routines of comfortable, middle-class life.

Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land: Impressions of Travel in Body and Spirit
Henry Van Dyke
HOOK Seeking to reconcile faith with the physical reality of the Holy Land, a traveler embarks on a journey that finds the sacred not in stone, but in the wide, open air.

Over the Border: A Novel
Herman Whitaker
Three seasoned outlaws living in the Mexican wilderness find their lawless existence transformed when they adopt a young American woman caught in the chaotic grip of the Mexican Revolution.

Personae
Ezra Pound
HOOK Through the voices of ancient ghosts and forgotten wanderers, these verses reclaim the raw, untamed spirit of poetry from the stifling grip of modern lethargy.

Records of Later Life
Fanny Kemble
An aristocratic British actress marries into American society, only to find herself torn between two continents, caught in the crossfire of anti-slavery agitation, and forced back onto the stage to secure her own financial independence.

Rembrandt and His Etchings: A Compact Record of the Artist's Life, His Work and his Time. With the complete Chronological List of his Etchings
Louis A. (Louis Arthur) Holman
A master etcher’s life is captured through the lens of his most intimate work, mapping his journey from a young man in Leyden to the forgotten figure who died in poverty but achieved immortality.

Robert Kimberly
Frank H. (Frank Hamilton) Spearman
A wealthy, powerful man finds his life’s trajectory irrevocably altered when he falls for a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage. This intimate study of conscience and consequence spans the quiet tensions of high-society life.

Rung Ho! A Novel
Talbot Mundy
HOOK In the high-stakes intrigue of colonial India, a young officer and a brave missionary navigate a web of princely treachery, religious fervor, and shifting loyalties to survive a collapsing political order.

Sons and Fathers
Harry Stillwell Edwards
A young man seeks to uncover the truth of his parentage, only to find himself caught in a web of scandal, betrayal, and high-stakes mystery in the post-Civil War South.

South Wind
Norman Douglas
The south wind—the sirocco—has a habit of unhinging the orderly minds of those who visit the island of Nepenthe, where morality is treated more as a suggestion than a rule.

Special Days and Their Observance: September 1919
Anonymous
This instructional manual serves as a comprehensive guide for teachers to instill patriotism and civic virtue through the structured observance of holidays and daily classroom exercises. It transforms the schoolroom into a space for shaping the moral character and national identity of American youth.

The Adventure of Two Dutch Dolls and a 'Golliwogg'
Bertha Upton
In the quiet of a frosty Christmas Eve, the wooden inhabitants of a toy shop awaken to claim their one night of liberty. This whimsical chronicle follows two Dutch dolls and their newfound companion as they trade the confines of the counter for a series of high-stakes escapades, from reckless rides on wooden steeds…

The age of the crusades
James M. (James Meeker) Ludlow
The Crusades emerge not merely as a series of battles, but as the turbulent adolescence of European civilization. This study maps how a fractured, superstitious continent found a violent, transformative unity by looking eastward.

The Black Douglas
S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
A young knight finds his loyalties tested in a dark, sprawling tale of Scottish political intrigue and a terrifying, occult nightmare across the sea in fifteenth-century France.

The Blue Raider: A Tale of Adventure in the Southern Seas
Herbert Strang
Stranded on a hostile coast, a group of survivors must outwit a ruthless band of German pirates to secure their freedom and escape the island.

The Coming of Cuculain
Standish O'Grady
A legendary Irish hero rises from his humble boyhood to become the "star that is to shine forever" upon the forehead of his people, destined to defend the Red Branch Knights.

The Flying U Ranch
B. M. Bower
The Happy Family of the Flying U Ranch face the loss of their leader and the encroachment of rival sheepmen, testing their loyalty and grit in the wide Montana landscape.

The Green Hand: Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant
George Cupples
High seas adventure, romantic intrigue, and the sharp bite of maritime life converge in this classic story of an undercover midshipman.

The Land of Song, Book 2. For lower grammar grades
Unknown
The path into the "Land of Song" is a journey through the storied landscape of verse, where the rhythmic heartbeat of classic poetry serves as a guide for the curious and the young. It is a collection meant to stir the imagination and nurture a lifelong affection for the written word.

The Last of the Flatboats: A Story of the Mississippi and Its Interesting Family of Rivers
George Cary Eggleston
HOOK Five boys embark on a precarious flatboat journey down the Mississippi River, finding that navigating the currents requires as much intellectual rigor and character as it does physical strength.

The Later Works of Titian
Phillips, Claude, Sir
Titian’s later years reveal an artist whose mastery evolved from balanced, serene perfection into a darker, more emotionally charged, and technically bold expression of the human condition.

The Mirror of the Graces: Containing General Instructions for Combining Elegance, Simplicity, and Economy with Fashion in Dress
active 19th century Lady of distinction
True elegance requires a harmony of mind and body, where grace is not merely a fashion, but a virtue expressed through simplicity, health, and a well-regulated character.

The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536-1537, and the Exeter Conspiracy, 1538, Volume 1 (of 2)
Madeleine Hope Dodds
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a widespread, desperate northern uprising against the religious and political changes of Henry VIII. This exhaustive account reconstructs the collision between a monarch’s centralizing will and the traditional loyalties of the English north.

The Pirate of the Mediterranean: A Tale of the Sea
William Henry Giles Kingston
An elusive outlaw haunts the waters, masking his true identity behind the guise of nobility while a relentless officer pursues him across the Mediterranean.

The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees
Mary Caroline Crawford
These sketches trace the enduring human stories embedded in the architecture of historic New England homes. They offer a window into the lives of the figures who once dwelled within these hallowed walls.

Wounded and a Prisoner of War, by an Exchanged Officer
Malcolm V. (Malcolm Vivian) Hay
A raw, unflinching account of a British officer’s descent from the front lines into the grim reality of a prisoner-of-war camp, written with a sharp eye for the quiet tragedies of the Great War.

A century of children's books
Florence V. (Florence Valentine) Barry
This history of English children’s literature maps the evolution of the nursery shelf, tracing the tension between the boundless imagination of childhood and the persistent, often clumsy, efforts of adults to instruct it.

A Century Too Soon: The Age of Tyranny
John R. (John Roy) Musick
A historical drama set in colonial Virginia, this narrative explores the rising tensions between royalist tyranny and the first stirrings of American republicanism a century before the Revolution.

A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland, Etc. in the Year 1699
William Dampier
HOOK This account captures the raw curiosity of an eighteenth-century mariner navigating the uncharted corners of the Pacific, where every island is a potential discovery and every tide a treacherous mystery.

A Guide to the Mount's Bay and the Land's End: Comprehending the topography, botany, agriculture, fisheries, antiquities, mining, mineralogy and geology of West Cornwall
John Ayrton Paris
This comprehensive field guide serves as a scientific and cultural survey of West Cornwall, blending rigorous geological observation with a practical, medical assessment of the region’s climate for the nineteenth-century visitor.

A Voice on the Wind, and Other Poems
Madison Julius Cawein
The natural world is an enchanted tapestry where every breeze, bird, and blossom whispers secrets to those patient enough to listen. These verses map the transition from the vibrant heat of summer to the haunting quietude of winter’s threshold.

Alive in the jungle
Eleanor Stredder
A young child is snatched from his home by a wolf, setting off a desperate search across the wild, sun-scorched plains of Bengal. This story follows the harrowing rescue of a lost boy and his reintegration into a world he no longer recognizes.

All in a Life-time
Henry Morgenthau
A self-made titan of industry looks back from the twilight of his years, weaving a narrative that traces a personal journey from a quiet German childhood to the high-stakes corridors of global diplomacy.

Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 361-436
William Henry Holmes
This survey investigates the enduring legacy of the Mississippi Valley’s indigenous potters, documenting a sophisticated artistic tradition that flourished long before European contact.

Anna Seward, and Classic Lichfield
Stapleton Martin
Lichfield’s eighteenth-century literary scene found its center in the Episcopal Palace, where a poetess once reigned as the acknowledged queen of her circle. This work reconstructs the life and social world of that formidable figure.

Art
Auguste Rodin
This collection of conversations captures a master sculptor’s philosophy, revealing that the true purpose of art is not mere imitation, but the profound communication of human emotion and inner truth.

Beyond the Door
Philip K. Dick
A neglected spouse finds an unexpected companion in a clockwork bird, while her husband’s mounting resentment toward the device turns lethal. Domestic tension transforms into a dark, uncanny tale of psychological displacement and mechanical retribution.

From Newton to Einstein: Changing Conceptions of the Universe
Benjamin Harrow
This work serves as a foundational bridge between the classical mechanics of Sir Isaac Newton and the revolutionary physical theories of Albert Einstein. It documents a pivotal shift in humanity’s understanding of the cosmos, explaining how a rigid, mechanical universe transformed into a flexible, four-dimensional…

God and My Neighbour
Robert Blatchford
A cheerful, plain-spoken British journalist takes a stroll down the Strand, chuckles at being branded a dangerous infidel, and proceeds to dismantle orthodox Christian dogmas using natural science, historical criticism, and straightforward moral sense.

Great Singers, First Series: Faustina Bordoni To Henrietta Sontag
George T. (George Titus) Ferris
This survey of operatic luminaries captures the vanished era of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century stage, tracing the lives of women who commanded the adoration of kings and the devotion of audiences across Europe.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851
Various
The industrial ambitions and cultural preoccupations of the mid-nineteenth century converge in this anthology, capturing the earnest spirit of an era defined by steam-powered progress and a growing fascination with global human experience.

Hawkins Electrical Guide v. 08 (of 10): Questions, Answers, & Illustrations, A progressive course of study for engineers, electricians, students and those desiring to acquire a working knowledge of electricity and its applications
N. (Nehemiah) Hawkins
This practical manual serves as a definitive 1915-era handbook for engineers and electricians, detailing the design, installation, and maintenance of alternating current power stations and their associated switchboard infrastructure.

History of the English People, Index
John Richard Green
A sweeping chronicle of a nation’s life, this work traces the soul of England from its earliest tribal roots to its emergence as a global imperial power.

Honey-Bee: 1911
Anatole France
HOOK A luminous, bittersweet fairy tale where a princess and her noble companion navigate the hidden kingdoms of dwarfs and nixies to rediscover the path back to their own hearts.