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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 42 of 714.

The Hindu-Arabic Numerals
David Eugene Smith
How did a simple set of ten symbols become the universal language of global commerce, and why did it take a millennium for the world to adopt them?

Friedrich Nietzsche
Georg Brandes
This introduction to a transformative thinker maps the development of a brilliant, isolated mind, tracing his intellectual evolution from a devotee of Wagner to a radical critic of Western morality and the culture of his time.

A Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483: Written in the Fifteenth Century, and for the First Time Printed from MSS. in the British Museum
Anonymous
A city’s heartbeat resonates through centuries in this stark, unadorned ledger of royal reigns, civic shifts, and the relentless churn of life in medieval London. It is a record where the grandeur of coronations meets the visceral reality of public hangings, capturing the fragile thread of history as it was lived.

A Color Notation: A measured color system, based on the three qualities Hue, Value and Chroma
A. H. (Albert Henry) Munsell
A COLOR NOTATION serves as a foundational guide for understanding color not as a collection of subjective opinions, but as a measurable, three-dimensional science. It transforms how we perceive and organize the visual world.

Peggy
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
Pentland School is a house of secrets, midnight feasts, and shifting loyalties, where a newcomer must learn to navigate the fragile boundary between adolescent mischief and true integrity. It is a story of how a single honest girl can quietly alter the moral landscape of a boarding school.

Sunny Boy in the Country
Ramy Allison White
A young boy leaves his city life behind for a transformative summer at his grandfather’s farm, discovering the delights and dangers of the rural world.

The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories
H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
This collection captures the fertile imagination of a writer who found wonder in the sudden, sharp disruptions of ordinary life. It serves as a definitive gathering of short stories that explore the uncanny, the scientific, and the miraculous.

Sentimental Education
Gustave Flaubert
A sweeping chronicle of a young man’s aimless passage through the mid-nineteenth century, this work captures the paralyzing nature of unfulfilled desire. It is a profound study of how personal ambition and revolutionary fervor often collide with the crushing weight of ordinary life.

The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5: Commander in Chief of the American Forces During the War
John Marshall
George Washington’s presidency is tested by the fires of international conflict, internal faction, and the emergence of partisan politics in the fragile American republic. This volume captures the strain of leadership under the weight of an unforgiving public.

The Biography of a Grizzly
Ernest Thompson Seton
The life of a legendary grizzly bear unfolds in the rugged wilderness, where he transforms from a terrified cub into a lonely monarch of the mountains, only to face the inevitable decline of age and displacement.

The Loyalist: A Story of the American Revolution
James Francis Barrett
The American Revolution is not merely a clash of armies, but a crucible for the soul, where personal loyalties and religious conviction ultimately determine the fate of a fledgling nation.

Make or Break
Oliver Optic
The resolute spirit of a young mechanic defines this story of upward mobility, where mechanical ingenuity and unwavering moral integrity serve as the primary currency in a world of rigid class distinctions and shifting fortunes.

The Cat in Grandfather's House
Carl Henry Grabo
A young girl discovers that her grandfather’s house is a living, breathing realm where antique furniture comes to life and moonlight reveals hidden worlds. This imaginative adventure follows her campaign against a sinister cat.

The Lilac Lady
Ruth Brown MacArthur
A vibrant, talkative orphan girl finds unexpected purpose when she befriends a reclusive invalid, bridging the gap between a lonely, high-walled garden and the wider world.

Robert Burns
John Campbell Shairp
HOOK This study examines the turbulent life of a national poet whose genius for song emerged from a landscape of crushing poverty, irrepressible passion, and profound personal failure.

Bibliomania in the Middle Ages
F. Somner (Frederick Somner) Merryweather
The love of books is a timeless pursuit, finding its most devoted champions in the quiet cloisters and scriptoriums of a world long vanished. This narrative revives the forgotten history of medieval bibliophiles, illuminating the delicate manuscripts and dedicated scholars that bridged the chasm between the fall of…

Theism or Atheism: The Great Alternative
Chapman Cohen
This work dissects the logical foundations of theism and argues that belief in a deity is an obsolete remnant of primitive ancestor worship. It presents a rigorous case for secular humanism as the inevitable successor to religious superstition.

A Dictionary of the First or Oldest Words in the English Language: From the Semi-Saxon Period of A.D. 1250 to 1300
Herbert Coleridge
A foundational cornerstone of linguistic history, this work offers a meticulous inventory of the English language as it stood during the transformative period between 1250 and 1300. It serves as an essential bridge between the era of Semi-Saxon and the emergence of a recognizable modern English vocabulary.

Chatterbox Stories of Natural History
Anonymous
These short, episodic accounts of animal life offer a window into the natural world, emphasizing the instinct, bravery, and intelligence of creatures great and small.

A Campfire Girl's Test of Friendship
Jane L. Stewart
A group of young women find their summer camping trip transformed into a daring rescue mission when they must outwit sinister pursuers to save their friends.

The Rider of Waroona
G. Firth Scott
The quiet of an Australian backwater is shattered when a series of daring, inexplicable robberies leads a determined investigator into a web of vengeance, hidden identities, and long-buried family grudges.

Four Years in Rebel Capitals: An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death
T. C. (Thomas Cooper) De Leon
This memoir offers a vivid, ground-level perspective on the Confederate experience, capturing the daily atmosphere and shifting fortunes of a society under siege from its inception to its final collapse.

The Book of Business Etiquette
Nella Braddy
The business world is not merely a theater of commerce, but a social arena where character, poise, and consideration determine one’s ultimate success and professional longevity.

Rollo in Paris
Jacob Abbott
A young boy’s educational tour of Paris reveals the complexities of a new culture, testing his discipline, his curiosity, and his understanding of right and wrong.

The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 4 (of 5)
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
A collection of sharp, courtly vignettes reveals the hidden vices of the nobility and the clergy, where every pursuit of pleasure is met with a reckoning of equal gravity.

A Son of the Immortals
Louis Tracy
The son of a gold miner finds himself cast as a Balkan prince, only to discover that the truest kingdom lies beyond the reach of crowns and conspiracies.

Chapters in Rural Progress
Kenyon L. (Kenyon Leech) Butterfield
Improving the quality of rural life requires more than just better crops; it demands a deliberate, coordinated effort to elevate the social, intellectual, and institutional standards of the American farming class.

Seen and Unseen
E. Katherine (Emily Katherine) Bates
A woman traverses the globe to document the inexplicable, bridging the divide between the physical world and a persistent, unseen realm. This account serves as a firsthand chronicle of a life defined by spiritual investigation.

The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851
Various
This mid-century periodical captures the intellectual fervor and social anxieties of 1851, offering a vibrant mosaic of literature, global politics, and the relentless march of human progress.

The Children of Wilton Chase
L. T. Meade
Beneath the polished surface of a grand English estate, a web of impulsive secrets and small rebellions tests the bonds of a fractured family.

The Lion's Mouse
C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson
A chance encounter on a train leads to a high-stakes web of jewel theft, political conspiracy, and hidden identities. This fast-moving story blurs the line between protector and criminal in a breathless race across New York.

The Young Treasure Hunter
Frank V. Webster
A determined young man ventures into the frozen Alaskan wilderness to recover a legendary buried fortune and secure his crippled father’s future.

Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Report: Wooster, Ohio, September 3, 4, 5, 1946
Unknown
The Northern Nut Growers Association’s 1946 proceedings offer a practical, time-capsule glimpse into the mid-century push to transform nut cultivation from a rustic hobby into a disciplined, science-backed agricultural industry.

The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness: Being a Complete Guide for a Gentleman's Conduct in All His Relations Towards Society
Cecil B. Hartley
This guide serves as a comprehensive manual for the nineteenth-century gentleman, navigating the complex social codes, personal conduct, and moral expectations of an era defined by strict formality and an emerging American middle-class identity.

The Brighton Boys in the Radio Service
James R. Driscoll
Three young telegraphers leave their quiet lives in Brighton to join the Signal Corps, finding themselves at the center of espionage and combat during the First World War.

2 B R 0 2 B
Kurt Vonnegut
The future is a perfect garden where death is a voluntary, administrative convenience. In a world with no poverty, war, or aging, the only way to make room for a new life is to offer up an old one.

It's like this, cat
Emily Neville
HOOK A boy in Manhattan navigates the quiet complexities of family and friendship, anchored by the unpredictable spirit of his cat.

The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume II
Jules Lermina
A sprawling, high-stakes sequel, this adventure traces the desperate struggles of a new generation living in the shadow of a legendary father’s immense, complicated legacy.

The Bibliotaph, and Other People
Leon H. (Leon Henry) Vincent
A collection of observant literary sketches that explores the lives of writers and the quiet, obsessive habits of those who love books most dearly.

The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark
John William Burgon
The authenticity of the final passage of the second Gospel remains a cornerstone of textual inquiry, challenging the very foundations of how we approach the sacred record.

Tutors' Lane
W. S. (Wilmarth Sheldon) Lewis
This quiet portrait of early twentieth-century academic life captures the subtle friction between professional ambition and the messy, unpredictable business of falling in love. It is a gentle, observational study of people navigating the rigid social expectations of a traditional New England college.

The cult of incompetence
Émile Faguet
Modern democracy is a fragile, self-defeating system that naturally trends toward the worship of the mediocre. By prioritizing equality over excellence, it systematically excludes the competent from the very offices that require their expertise.

Nights With Uncle Remus
Joel Chandler Harris
In these Georgia plantation tales, an elderly storyteller guides a young boy through a rich, mythic world where clever animals outwit their larger, more powerful neighbors.

The Curlytops and Their Playmates
Howard Roger Garis
A group of spirited children and their eccentric uncle find themselves swept up in a series of winter adventures that lead from the excitement of the first snowfall to a joyful Christmas homecoming.

The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner
J. (John) Wilkinson
A seasoned Confederate naval officer recounts the high-stakes gamble of slipping through Federal blockades, revealing the grit and strategic complexity of maritime operations during the American Civil War.

Which? Or, Between Two Women
Ernest Daudet
This historical romance weaves together the turbulent political upheaval of the French Revolution with the quiet, agonizing dilemmas of a domestic love triangle. It explores how personal virtue and private loyalty endure when the foundations of society collapse.

Christmas: Its Origin and Associations: Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries
W. F. (William Francis) Dawson
This expansive chronicle traces nineteen centuries of Christmas, documenting how the festival evolved from early Christian observance into a cornerstone of global tradition, royal pageantry, and domestic life. It serves as an exhaustive historical ledger, gathering the scattered remnants of how the holiday was…

Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age
Unknown
These verses represent the delicate, artful heart of the Elizabethan song-book tradition, capturing the fleeting joys and enduring sorrows of love in the language of a bygone era. They serve as a lyrical bridge between the courtly refinement and the rustic simplicity of the early seventeenth century.