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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 410 of 714.

Cover of Bessie's Fortune: A Novel

Bessie's Fortune: A Novel

Mary Jane Holmes

A young woman’s journey from poverty to unexpected prosperity reveals the long-buried secrets of her ancestors, testing her resilience and the strength of the love she shares with a man of noble character.

Historical Novels8 min read
Cover of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 389, March 1848

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 389, March 1848

Various

This collection captures the anxious pulse of mid-nineteenth-century Britain, where traditional defenses feel increasingly fragile against the rapid, unpredictable tides of modern economic and political change. It serves as a vivid, polemical window into the Victorian establishment’s deepest fears.

History - Modern (1750+)6 min read
Cover of British birds

British birds

W. H. (William Henry) Hudson

This comprehensive guide to British birdlife captures the behavior, appearance, and habitat of various species with the observant, sympathetic eye of a dedicated field naturalist. It transforms technical observation into a living record of the English countryside.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of By the deep sea

By the deep sea

Edward Step

The tide retreats to reveal a hidden, living kingdom, inviting the patient observer to look closely at the wonders left behind on the rocky shore.

Science - Biology6 min read
Cover of Canada in Flanders, Volume II

Canada in Flanders, Volume II

Beaverbrook, Max Aitken, Baron

The Canadian Corps’ ascent from a colonial contingent to a disciplined, hardened fighting force is captured here through the immediate, visceral lens of the First World War’s bloodiest sectors.

History - Modern (1750+)7 min read
Cover of Capturing a Locomotive: A History of Secret Service in the Late War

Capturing a Locomotive: A History of Secret Service in the Late War

William Pittenger

The daring 1862 mission to seize a Confederate locomotive and disrupt the Western & Atlantic Railroad remains one of the Civil War’s most harrowing tales of espionage and sacrifice.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Christmas Comes but Once a Year: Showing What Mr. Brown Did, Thought, and Intended to Do, During That Festive Season

Christmas Comes but Once a Year: Showing What Mr. Brown Did, Thought, and Intended to Do, During That Festive Season

John Leighton

A suburban social climber finds his festive season upended by the arrival of a charismatic, penniless family of impostors. This satirical observation exposes the hollow rituals and desperate pretenses of mid-19th-century middle-class life.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Confessions of a Young Man

Confessions of a Young Man

George Moore

The life of a young man is defined by his appetites, his insatiable curiosity, and his relentless search for an artistic identity in the fading light of the Victorian era.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Dante: Six Sermons

Dante: Six Sermons

Philip H. (Philip Henry) Wicksteed

This volume offers a series of sermons delivered from the pulpit, providing a thoughtful, accessible gateway into the life and moral vision of the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Early voyages and travels in the Levant

Early voyages and travels in the Levant

John Covel

A master organ-maker encounters the splendors and perils of the Ottoman Empire, documenting a vanishing world through the eyes of a curious, seventeenth-century traveler.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Elsie's children

Elsie's children

Martha Finley

A mother’s steady hand guides her family through life’s inevitable storms, proving that kindness and faith are the surest anchors in an unpredictable world.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Evidently not

Evidently not

W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle

The dusty, high-stakes comedy of two drifters mistaken for traveling preachers offers a sharp, spirited look at the absurdities of frontier justice.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Fort Laramie National Monument, Wyoming

Fort Laramie National Monument, Wyoming

David L. Hieb

Standing at the junction of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers, this site served as the essential crossroads for fur traders, gold seekers, and the pioneers of the American West.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D

Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D

John Gerardus Fagg

A dedicated missionary leaves behind a comfortable life in America to plant the seeds of a self-governing church in nineteenth-century China. This account traces a life of rigorous faith, cultural negotiation, and quiet, persistent administrative reform.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales

Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales

William Henry Giles Kingston

This collection of tales captures the Victorian spirit of adventure, blending moral instruction with the thrilling, often supernatural, experiences of young men navigating a vast and unpredictable world.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Frances Waldeaux: A Novel

Frances Waldeaux: A Novel

Rebecca Harding Davis

A doting mother’s secret life as a satirical writer funds her son’s lofty, pampered existence, only for her illusions to shatter when he marries into a dark, foreign past.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Friends on the Shelf

Friends on the Shelf

Bradford Torrey

A quiet, contemplative invitation to explore the lives and legacies of literary figures, this volume celebrates the profound and sustaining friendship found between a reader and the books upon their shelves.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Gallantry: Dizain des Fetes Galantes

Gallantry: Dizain des Fetes Galantes

James Branch Cabell

These ten interconnected vignettes capture the fragile, performative elegance of a bygone aristocratic world. They present life as a grand, often reckless masquerade where the only cardinal sin is the lack of a graceful gesture.

Humour6 min read
Cover of George Silverman's Explanation

George Silverman's Explanation

Charles Dickens

A lonely man recounts his life of quiet sacrifice and the devastating irony of being branded a mercenary for the very acts of self-denial he undertook to avoid worldliness.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Glass Manufacture

Glass Manufacture

Walter Rosenhain

Glass is as much a product of precise chemical manipulation as it is of fire and artistic craft. This study demystifies the transformation of humble raw materials into the transparent, durable, and highly specialized substances defining modern life.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of Gloria and Treeless Street

Gloria and Treeless Street

Annie Hamilton Donnell

A sheltered young heiress discovers a decrepit tenement street and resolves to fix it, only to learn that her own inherited wealth is the source of the misery she seeks to cure.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Great Epochs in American History, Volume 1.: Voyages of Discovery and Early Explorations: 1000 A.D.-1682

Great Epochs in American History, Volume 1.: Voyages of Discovery and Early Explorations: 1000 A.D.-1682

Unknown

The first centuries of American exploration reveal a continent of mythic proportion, where the desperate ambitions of European crowns collided with the vast, uncharted realities of a New World.

History - American7 min read
Cover of Historical Record of the Fifth Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland Fusiliers: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1674, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1837

Historical Record of the Fifth Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland Fusiliers: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1674, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1837

Richard Cannon

Formed in the crucible of seventeenth-century European conflict, this regiment’s legacy is defined by centuries of service across global battlefields and its eventual evolution into a storied Fusilier unit.

History - British7 min read
Cover of History of the United States, Volume 1

History of the United States, Volume 1

Elisha Benjamin Andrews

The tapestry of the American past is woven from threads of exploration, survival, and a quiet, persistent growth toward self-governance.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Huts in Hell

Huts in Hell

Daniel A. (Daniel Alfred) Poling

The American soldier serves as the central subject of this immersive, firsthand account of the Great War. Written by an influential religious official with full access to the front, the narrative captures the spirit, morale, and daily hardships of the men who fought in France.

History - American7 min read
Cover of In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year: Showing the Most Successful Treatment for all Plants Cultivated in the Greenhouse, Conservatory, Stove, Pit, Orchid, and Forcing-house

In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year: Showing the Most Successful Treatment for all Plants Cultivated in the Greenhouse, Conservatory, Stove, Pit, Orchid, and Forcing-house

Keane, William, gardener

This guide offers a methodical, week-by-week calendar for maintaining a flourishing indoor garden throughout the year. It provides precise instructions for managing greenhouses, conservatories, and forcing-houses to ensure healthy plant growth in every season.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of Intestinal irrigation

Intestinal irrigation

Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton) Jamison

Neglected internal hygiene creates a foundation for systemic illness that only consistent, deliberate irrigation can resolve. This guide advocates for a radical shift in how individuals maintain their physical well-being.

Health & Medicine5 min read
Cover of Jewish Immigration to the United States from 1881 to 1910: Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Vol. LIX, No. 4, 1914

Jewish Immigration to the United States from 1881 to 1910: Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Vol. LIX, No. 4, 1914

Samuel Joseph

The vast migration of Eastern European Jews to the United States between 1881 and 1910 marks a defining shift in modern history. This analytical survey documents the structural forces that transformed millions of lives.

History - American6 min read
Cover of King Richard III

King Richard III

William Shakespeare

A chilling portrait of absolute ambition, this drama tracks a ruthless nobleman’s bloody climb to the English throne and his inevitable descent into paranoia and ruin.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of La cuisine creole

La cuisine creole

Lafcadio Hearn

Creole cuisine is a vibrant, cosmopolitan tapestry woven from French, Spanish, Italian, West Indian, and Mexican influences, all converging in the unique cultural landscape of nineteenth-century New Orleans.

Cooking & Drinking6 min read
Cover of Latitude 19°: A Romance of the West Indies in the Year of Our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Twenty

Latitude 19°: A Romance of the West Indies in the Year of Our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Twenty

Crowninshield, Schuyler, Mrs.

A stranded ship’s company faces the perils of the Haitian wilderness and the court of the infamous King Christophe. Survival demands both courage and a quick wit in this journey through a treacherous, tropical landscape.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Legends of Switzerland

Legends of Switzerland

H. A. (Hélène Adeline) Guerber

High in the jagged peaks and verdant valleys of the Alps, ancient spirits and heroic patriots dwell in a landscape where nature’s fury meets the human heart. These collected tales capture the enduring soul of a nation shaped by both miracle and mountain storm.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore6 min read
Cover of Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume 2 (of 2)

Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume 2 (of 2)

Henry Glassford Bell

The life of a sovereign becomes a tragedy of state, where personal virtue struggles against the inexorable machinery of political betrayal and historical revisionism. This account follows the descent of a queen from the heights of a throne to the finality of the scaffold.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Little Tony of Italy

Little Tony of Italy

Madeline Brandeis

HOOK A street-smart orphan and a stolen circus dog find redemption in this charming, nostalgic portrait of 1930s Italy. It is a simple tale of transformation, blending moral lessons with a young boy’s wide-eyed discovery of his country.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Little Yellow Wang-lo

Little Yellow Wang-lo

M. C. Bell

A young boy’s errand to provide his father with dinner spirals into an unlikely alliance with a family of talking pigs, leading to a fortune that changes his life forever.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of Mademoiselle Blanche: A Novel

Mademoiselle Blanche: A Novel

John D. (John Daniel) Barry

In this sharp-edged portrait of obsession, a young woman’s perilous circus act becomes the stage for a hollow man’s undoing. It is a haunting study of how easily we mistake the spectacle of another person for love.

French Literature5 min read
Cover of Mamma's Stories about Birds

Mamma's Stories about Birds

Mary Elizabeth Southwell Dudley Leathley

A feathered guide for the young naturalist, this collection of sketches celebrates the variety, intelligence, and peculiar habits of birds through a lens of Victorian wonder and moral instruction.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Manual of the apiary

Manual of the apiary

Albert John Cook

Practical, methodical, and deeply grounded in the natural sciences, this guide transforms the complex biology of the honeybee into a manageable, flourishing pursuit for any dedicated student or gardener.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1893

McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1893

Various

This issue of a prominent late-Victorian periodical offers a wide-ranging survey of the intellectual and social currents defining the 1890s, blending political biography with emerging scientific inquiry and historical storytelling.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Mightier than the Sword

Mightier than the Sword

Alphonse Courlander

The young man, scorned by his elders in all the periods of the nineteenth century except those last years of development, found himself suddenly caught up on the high wave that was sweeping away the rubbish and the sentiment and the lumber of the old customs, and borne above them all.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Miss Merivale's Mistake

Miss Merivale's Mistake

Clarke, Henry, Mrs.

The secret of a lost inheritance and a hidden family identity unravels within the walls of a quiet country estate, challenging the rigid social pretensions of a young woman’s elite ambitions.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Notes on the Book of Leviticus

Notes on the Book of Leviticus

Charles Henry Mackintosh

The pages of Leviticus, often regarded as a dense thicket of ancient ritual, are here transformed into a map of spiritual devotion. This work serves as an intensive, verse-by-verse commentary designed to reveal the deeper meaning behind the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. It is a foundational text of…

Religion/Spirituality7 min read
Cover of Old and rare Scottish tartans

Old and rare Scottish tartans

Donald William Stewart

This scholarly record illuminates the origins and evolution of Highland textiles, tracing the transition from practical, regional patterns to the codified, symbolic clan tartans recognized today.

Art6 min read
Cover of Olla Podrida

Olla Podrida

Frederick Marryat

This collection of essays, narratives, and plays serves as a literary mosaic, capturing the restless, observational spirit of a nineteenth-century naval officer turned writer. It offers a candid look at travel, cultural critique, and the mechanics of storytelling itself.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of One Man's Initiation—1917

One Man's Initiation—1917

John Dos Passos

The innocence of a young man meets the machine-like devastation of the First World War in this haunting, impressionistic chronicle of a volunteer ambulance driver. It is a stark, unadorned meditation on how the machinery of global conflict systematically strips away the illusions of a generation.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Our Churches and Chapels: Their Parsons, Priests, & Congregations: Being a Critical and Historical Account of Every Place of Worship in Preston

Our Churches and Chapels: Their Parsons, Priests, & Congregations: Being a Critical and Historical Account of Every Place of Worship in Preston

Atticus

A journalist wanders through the pews and pulpits of a bustling Victorian town, recording with sharp wit and candid observation the characters of the men who lead the faithful and the buildings they inhabit.

History - Religious6 min read
Cover of Our Philadelphia

Our Philadelphia

Elizabeth Robins Pennell

A nostalgic yet sharp-eyed portrait of a changing city, this work captures the intersection of colonial tradition and modern progress through the eyes of a writer rediscovering her native home after decades abroad.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Outward Bound Or, Young America Afloat: A Story of Travel and Adventure

Outward Bound Or, Young America Afloat: A Story of Travel and Adventure

Oliver Optic

The voyage of the Young America is a journey of moral navigation, where a shipful of spirited students must learn that true authority is earned through character rather than force.

Adventure6 min read
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