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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 289 of 714.

Cover of Barbarossa

Barbarossa

Conrad von Bolanden

The struggle between an ambitious emperor and the papacy defines this historical epic, which contrasts the brutal exercise of temporal power against the spiritual endurance of the Church in twelfth-century Europe.

Historical Novels6 min read
Cover of Collected Poems 1901-1918 in Two Volumes. Volume I

Collected Poems 1901-1918 in Two Volumes. Volume I

Walter De la Mare

The human heart is a haunted vessel, echoing with the ghosts of childhood, the silence of the woods, and the encroaching shadow of an inevitable end. Poetry here serves not as a decoration, but as a bridge across the darkening threshold of mortality.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of David Blaize

David Blaize

E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

Schoolboy freedom is a fragile kingdom, easily shattered by a master's footstep or a poorly aimed cricket ball, yet lived with fierce, absolute devotion.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of E. P. Roe: Reminiscences of his Life

E. P. Roe: Reminiscences of his Life

Mary A. (Mary Abigail) Roe

This collection of memoirs illuminates the life and character of a man who transitioned from the hardships of a Civil War chaplaincy to become one of the most widely read American novelists of the late nineteenth century.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Erasmus Against War

Erasmus Against War

Desiderius Erasmus

Humanity is born for friendship and kindness, not for the slaughter of war. This timeless appeal argues that the nature of man and the teachings of Christ stand in absolute opposition to the carnage of conflict.

History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)6 min read
Cover of Finding the Worth While in the Southwest

Finding the Worth While in the Southwest

Charles Francis Saunders

The American Southwest is a landscape of profound antiquity and strange, vibrant colors that demand a slow, observant approach. This guide invites the traveler to step out of the modern rush and into a world where ancient cultures still quietly endure.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Fresh Fields

Fresh Fields

John Burroughs

A naturalist crosses the Atlantic to weigh the wild charms of England against the rugged, untamed beauty of his American home.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of Gilbertus Anglicus: Medicine of the Thirteenth Century

Gilbertus Anglicus: Medicine of the Thirteenth Century

Henry E. (Henry Ebenezer) Handerson

A scholarly examination of a thirteenth-century medical text, this work reconstructs the life and methods of a forgotten English practitioner who straddled the divide between ancient theory and emerging surgical practice.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of In Convent Walls: The Story of the Despensers

In Convent Walls: The Story of the Despensers

Emily Sarah Holt

A chronicle of the fall of Queen Isabelle and her allies, this narrative observes the heavy price of ambition through the eyes of those trapped within the convent walls of a tumultuous England.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Lady Byron Vindicated: A History of the Byron Controversy

Lady Byron Vindicated: A History of the Byron Controversy

Harriet Beecher Stowe

A spirited defense of a maligned widow, this work seeks to clear Lady Byron’s reputation against the enduring, vitriolic legacy of her poet-husband’s accusations. It acts as an intimate, urgent corrective to the public narrative surrounding their volatile separation.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Le Petit Chose (Histoire d'un Enfant)

Le Petit Chose (Histoire d'un Enfant)

Alphonse Daudet

A fragile, idealistic young man navigates the harsh realities of mid-19th-century French society, seeking to restore his fallen family’s honor. This poignant narrative traces his journey from the innocence of childhood to the bitter disillusionments of adulthood.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

George Paston

These portraits of minor nineteenth-century figures illuminate the eccentricities, ambitions, and social textures of an era when art, travel, and literature often served as the defining boundaries of a person’s public identity.

Art7 min read
Cover of Little Miss Peggy: Only a Nursery Story

Little Miss Peggy: Only a Nursery Story

Mrs. Molesworth

A quiet, reflective tale of a young girl’s inner world, this narrative explores the gentle threshold between childhood innocence and the realities of a wider, shifting life. It remains a poignant study of how small fancies serve as anchors when the world feels uncertain.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Love and Marriage

Love and Marriage

Ellen Key

Love is the moral ground of human connection, yet centuries of rigid tradition have stifled its potential. This work argues that society must abandon outdated legal constraints to foster an era of genuine, elective intimacy.

Gender & Sexuality Studies6 min read
Cover of Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords]

Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords]

Gilbert Parker

A soldier and a Huguenot maiden find shelter in the shadow of Elizabeth’s court, where love is a precarious game played against the whims of a powerful, inscrutable Queen.

Historical Novels6 min read
Cover of Mobilizing Woman-Power

Mobilizing Woman-Power

Harriot Stanton Blatch

Women served as the unswerving second line of defense during the Great War, proving that the mobilization of their labor and intellect was essential to the survival of civilization itself.

Gender & Sexuality Studies6 min read
Cover of Mother West Wind "Why" Stories

Mother West Wind "Why" Stories

Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess

The curious rabbit Peter and his forest companions seek the origins of their neighbors' habits, discovering that Old Mother Nature rewards industry and kindness with unique physical traits.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Pilots of the Republic: The Romance of the Pioneer Promoter in the Middle West

Pilots of the Republic: The Romance of the Pioneer Promoter in the Middle West

Archer Butler Hulbert

The American frontier was not merely conquered by armies or frontiersmen, but by visionary promoters whose faith in the nation’s expansion cemented the Union through roads, canals, and railways.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Poison-ivy, poison-oak and poison sumac

Poison-ivy, poison-oak and poison sumac

D. M. (Donald Mundell) Crooks

Learning to identify poisonous plants on sight is the most effective way to avoid the misery of a rash. This practical bulletin provides the essential knowledge needed to recognize and safely eradicate common botanical hazards.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of Rambles Beyond Railways

Rambles Beyond Railways

Wilkie Collins

This vibrant travelogue captures a remote, pre-industrial Cornwall, where the pace of life was dictated by tides and local tradition rather than the relentless march of the steam engine.

Travel Writing6 min read
Cover of Reed Anthony, Cowman: An Autobiography

Reed Anthony, Cowman: An Autobiography

Andy Adams

This autobiography traces the rise of a self-made cattleman from the post-Civil War era to the twilight of the open range. It is a detailed, grounded account of a life defined by the rhythmic demands of the trail.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Round About the North Pole

Round About the North Pole

W. J. (William John) Gordon

This survey of Arctic history chronicles centuries of human perseverance in the frozen North, charting the shift from early commercial ambitions to the singular, obsessive quest to reach the Pole.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Scientific American Supplement, No. 299, September 24, 1881

Scientific American Supplement, No. 299, September 24, 1881

Various

This collection of late nineteenth-century technical reports captures the rigorous, industrious spirit of an era defined by steam, steel, and the rapid expansion of applied science. It serves as a time capsule for the professional and practical concerns of engineers, chemists, and surgeons in 1881.

Art6 min read
Cover of Shakespeare Jest-Books: Reprints of the Early and Very Rare Jest-Books Supposed to Have Been Used by Shakespeare

Shakespeare Jest-Books: Reprints of the Early and Very Rare Jest-Books Supposed to Have Been Used by Shakespeare

Unknown

This collection of early jest-books preserves the sharp, often biting humor that echoed through English markets and taverns long before the modern age. It invites readers to look over the shoulder of the past to see what made a sixteenth-century audience laugh.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of St. Martin's Summer

St. Martin's Summer

Rafael Sabatini

The late-blooming romance between a battle-hardened soldier and a spirited noblewoman defies the chill of an autumn landscape. In the shadow of a dark, ancestral fortress, duty yields to a passion as unexpected as a summer day in November.

Historical Novels7 min read
Cover of St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 5, March, 1878

St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 5, March, 1878

Various

A window into the late Victorian imagination, this collection gathers the wonder of the natural world, the thrill of industrial progress, and the simple joys of childhood into a single, vibrant monthly chronicle.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Strong as Death

Strong as Death

Guy de Maupassant

The weight of passing time and the cruelty of aging haunt the heart of a celebrated painter, whose fixation on a fading love drives him to a tragic obsession with her daughter.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of Success with Small Fruits

Success with Small Fruits

Edward Payson Roe

This practical manual serves as both a philosophical argument for a return to the land and a technical guide for the successful cultivation of berries. It bridges the gap between the aesthetic pleasure of a home garden and the rigorous demands of commercial fruit farming.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of Tartarin of Tarascon

Tartarin of Tarascon

Alphonse Daudet

HOOK A legend in his own mind, a hunter who has never left home, sets out for Algeria to confront the lions of his vivid imagination.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of Taxidermy

Taxidermy

Leon Luther Pray

Taxidermy serves as a practical, hands-on manual for the sportsman who wishes to preserve his own trophies, demystifying the craft through step-by-step instruction rather than exhaustive scientific theory. It bridges the gap between the amateur hunter and the professional museum preparator, offering a clear,…

Art6 min read
Cover of The Academy Boys in Camp

The Academy Boys in Camp

Keene, S. F., Mrs.

A group of schoolboys spends a summer on an island, navigating the challenges of nature, their own morality, and the firm, guiding hand of their teacher.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 23, September, 1859: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 23, September, 1859: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

Various

This volume serves as a quintessential time capsule of mid-nineteenth-century intellectual life, capturing the era’s urgent preoccupations with art, theology, social reform, and the emerging American identity. It offers a diverse survey of a culture balancing between inherited European traditions and a restless,…

Art6 min read
Cover of The City of Delight: A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem

The City of Delight: A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem

Elizabeth Miller

The end of an era looms over the ancient world as a city faces its final, desperate reckoning. Amidst the rising smoke of a doomed capital, a young woman’s search for her identity becomes inextricably tangled with the shifting allegiances of war.

Historical Novels6 min read
Cover of The Diamond Pin

The Diamond Pin

Carolyn Wells

A locked-room mystery hinges on a cryptic inheritance and a series of bizarre pranks. A young woman must navigate a web of suspicion and abduction to clear her companion’s name.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of The Discovery of Muscovy

The Discovery of Muscovy

Richard Hakluyt

The northern seas hold mysteries of commerce and survival, where brave men seek new paths to distant empires and often pay the ultimate price for the hope of discovery.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Duke in the Suburbs

The Duke in the Suburbs

Edgar Wallace

A titled nobleman and his American companion navigate the social minefield of a London suburb, proving that true aristocratic poise is often found in the most unlikely of places.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Fifth Ace

The Fifth Ace

Isabel Ostrander

An adventurous young woman, raised in the rough-and-tumble of Mexican mining camps, must navigate the treacherous waters of high-society deception to claim her true identity and the inheritance that belongs to her.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Five Knots

The Five Knots

Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White

A ship-owner’s dark past returns to haunt him through cryptic, knotted strings that appear inside sealed letters, signaling a lethal reckoning from Borneo.

Crime, Thrillers and Mystery5 min read
Cover of The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes

The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes

Israel Zangwill

This collection gathers diverse tales of late-Victorian and Edwardian life, exploring the tension between social facades and the private, often messy, realities of the human heart. It is a portrait of people navigating the constraints of class, ambition, and memory.

Short Stories6 min read
Cover of The Guns of Shiloh: A Story of the Great Western Campaign

The Guns of Shiloh: A Story of the Great Western Campaign

Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

The American Civil War unfolds through the eyes of a young soldier whose journey captures the raw, escalating intensity of the Western campaign, leading inevitably to the horrific, pivotal confrontation at Shiloh.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Invisible Lodge

The Invisible Lodge

Jean Paul

The world is an unfinished romance where every life is merely a knot waiting for a resolution beyond the grave. This sprawling, idiosyncratic novel captures the fragile, shifting architecture of human connection through a lens of profound melancholy and whimsical satire.

Humour7 min read
Cover of The Last Trail

The Last Trail

Zane Grey

A rugged frontiersman and a spirited woman find their fates intertwined within the perilous, untamed wilderness of the Ohio Valley, where survival depends on sharp instincts and steady nerves.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African Traveller

The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African Traveller

Head, Francis Bond, Sir

A man of indomitable spirit traverses the perilous, uncharted deserts and highlands of Africa, driven by a singular, obsessive quest to locate the hidden source of the Nile.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of The Life of Lord Byron

The Life of Lord Byron

John Galt

A complex, often misunderstood poet meets his biographer’s scrutiny in this candid exploration of genius, vanity, and the heavy burden of a celebrated name.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of The Little Manx Nation - 1891

The Little Manx Nation - 1891

Caine, Hall, Sir

The mists of legend and the salt spray of the Irish Sea enshroud this portrait of a small, resilient island nation. It invites readers to look beyond the great world’s roar and find the heartbeat of a people who have long lived by their own quiet rhythms.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. III. (Complete), 1891

The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. III. (Complete), 1891

Various

The world of 1891 unfolds through the lens of early scientific inquiry, mapping the unknown reaches of Alaska and the complex political shifts of South America. This volume serves as an early chronicle of global discovery.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of The Patriarchs: Being Meditations upon Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job

The Patriarchs: Being Meditations upon Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job

J. G. (John Gifford) Bellett

These meditations re-examine the foundational figures of Genesis, framing their domestic lives and deep faith as a timeless template for the modern believer’s spiritual walk.

Religion/Spirituality6 min read
Cover of The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White

The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White

Henry Kirke White

A precocious, feverish talent burns bright and vanishes, leaving behind a collection of verse that maps the intersection of intense academic ambition, early religious conversion, and the crushing weight of physical decline.

Biographies6 min read
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