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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 493 of 714.

Cover of The Squatter's Dream: A Story of Australian Life

The Squatter's Dream: A Story of Australian Life

Rolf Boldrewood

The restless pursuit of fortune across the Australian wilderness leads a young man toward both spectacular success and devastating ruin. This narrative charts the high-stakes gamble of colonial life, where nature, markets, and human greed collide.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The Strand Magazine, Vol. 05, Issue 28, April 1893: An Illustrated Monthly

The Strand Magazine, Vol. 05, Issue 28, April 1893: An Illustrated Monthly

Various

This collection serves as a vibrant time capsule, offering a window into the varied curiosities, anxieties, and entertainments that occupied the Victorian public at the height of the fin de siècle. It captures the era's dual appetite for serious reportage and imaginative storytelling, grounding the reader in a…

Architecture6 min read
Cover of The strange career of the Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont

The strange career of the Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont

J. Buchan (John Buchan) Telfer

The life of the Chevalier d'Eon remains one of history’s most baffling puzzles, weaving together international espionage, high-stakes diplomacy, and the enigma of a shifting identity.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The True Story of the American Flag

The True Story of the American Flag

John Henry Fow

This rigorous historical investigation dismantles the enduring American myth that Betsy Ross designed the first national flag, favoring instead an analysis of verifiable naval records and archival evidence.

History - American6 min read
Cover of The Women's Victory—and After: Personal Reminiscences, 1911-1918

The Women's Victory—and After: Personal Reminiscences, 1911-1918

Fawcett, Millicent Garrett, Dame

The hard-won enfranchisement of British women is chronicled here by a central leader of the movement, tracing the shift from bitter parliamentary defeat to the final, necessary victory of 1918.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Through Colonial Doorways

Through Colonial Doorways

Anne Hollingsworth Wharton

This collection of essays serves as an intimate guide to the social and domestic landscape of late 18th-century America, focusing primarily on the refined circles of Philadelphia and New York. By peeling back the layers of formal history, it reveals the human side of the Revolutionary era through the private…

History - American6 min read
Cover of Tracked by a Tattoo: A Mystery

Tracked by a Tattoo: A Mystery

Fergus Hume

A labyrinthine murder mystery set in late Victorian London, where a detective follows a trail of hidden identities and poisoned needles to uncover a dark family secret.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Under Sail

Under Sail

Lincoln Colcord

The sea is a mirror for the human soul, reflecting the same intricate patterns of longing, honor, and madness that govern life on land. These stories capture the quiet intensity of men bound to the water and the ghosts they carry with them.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Vignettes of San Francisco

Vignettes of San Francisco

Almira Morey

This collection of evocative prose sketches captures the spirit of a city caught between its frontier heritage and the dawn of the machine age. With a keen eye for the peculiar, the author maps the soul of San Francisco through its bustling markets, fog-drenched mornings, and the quiet dignity of its diverse…

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Villa Elsa: A Story of German Family Life

Villa Elsa: A Story of German Family Life

Stuart Oliver Henry

The path to true peace lies not in treaties or armaments, but in the intimate, lived experience of foreign cultures. Only through the cross-pollination of national values can the world hope to bridge the deep, often violent, divide separating the German character from the rest of humanity.

German Literature7 min read
Cover of Walking-Stick Papers

Walking-Stick Papers

Robert Cortes Holliday

A wandering, inquisitive mind captures the small, overlooked curiosities of daily life in these lighthearted, observant essays. They transform the mundane—a walk down the street or a stroll past a shop window—into a deliberate, meditative art.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of War-Time Financial Problems

War-Time Financial Problems

Hartley Withers

London’s financial prestige faced unprecedented strain as the world conflict reshaped the global economy. This analysis examines the methods used to fund a total war and the precarious path toward postwar recovery.

Economics6 min read
Cover of Wyn's Camping Days

Wyn's Camping Days

Amy Bell Marlowe

A spirited group of friends swaps the comforts of home for the challenges of the wild, proving that independence and teamwork are the best tools for navigating both the lake and the local social scene.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of A First Year in Canterbury Settlement

A First Year in Canterbury Settlement

Samuel Butler

A young man leaves the comforts of Victorian England to seek his fortune as a sheep farmer in the rugged, untamed wilderness of New Zealand.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of A Mere Accident

A Mere Accident

George Moore

The quiet hills of Sussex become a stage for a young man’s collision between his aesthetic devotion to the past and the intrusive, violent demands of the present.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Midsummer Holiday and Other Poems

A Midsummer Holiday and Other Poems

Algernon Charles Swinburne

The sea, the child, and the song are the three pillars that hold up this vast, rhythmic exploration of the natural world and the human spirit. It is a work of deep, rolling music, capturing a mind at once reverent toward the masters of the past and fiercely defiant of the rigid hierarchies of its own day.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of A New Subspecies of Wood Rat (Neotoma mexicana) from Colorado

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat (Neotoma mexicana) from Colorado

Robert B. Finley

This technical monograph identifies a previously unrecognized subspecies of wood rat inhabiting the canyonlands of southeastern Colorado, providing a definitive record for mammalogists and regional naturalists.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of A practical course in botany

A practical course in botany

Eliza Frances Andrews

This comprehensive manual serves as a bridge between the rigorous requirements of early twentieth-century college botany and the practical, daily realities of agriculture and home life. By emphasizing the functional and economic roles of plants, it encourages students to move beyond passive observation,…

Science - Biology6 min read
Cover of A way of life

A way of life

Osler, William, Sir

Living for the day alone, this quiet philosophy offers a practical framework for steadying the mind, silencing the ghosts of yesterday, and abandoning the paralyzing anxieties of tomorrow. It is a simple, enduring guide for navigating the inevitable stresses of a busy life.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of A Woman Intervenes

A Woman Intervenes

Robert Barr

A headstrong journalist and a pragmatic mineralogist collide on a transatlantic voyage, setting off a high-stakes competition for control of a Canadian mine.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Adventures of the Comte de la Muette during the Reign of Terror

Adventures of the Comte de la Muette during the Reign of Terror

Bernard Capes

A fugitive aristocrat navigates the lethal absurdity of the French Revolution, clinging to his wits and a newfound love while dodging the shadow of the guillotine. This atmospheric tale captures the erratic, nightmarish rhythm of survival in a world turned upside down.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of All About Your Canary

All About Your Canary

George Jackson French

A practical guide for the mid-century home, this manual serves as both an instructional handbook for canary care and a catalog of the era’s most prized avian varieties. It blends straightforward husbandry advice with the gentle encouragement of a hobbyist.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of Antoine of Oregon: A Story of the Oregon Trail

Antoine of Oregon: A Story of the Oregon Trail

James Otis

A young guide leads a party of settlers on a perilous five-month journey across the vast American wilderness to reach the promised land of Oregon.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Ariel: A Shelley Romance

Ariel: A Shelley Romance

André Maurois

A brilliant and volatile spirit caught in the friction of his own ideals, a young poet navigates the brutal conventions of the nineteenth century. This portrait captures the luminous, often tragic intersection of genius and ordinary human frailty.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Arminell: A Social Romance, Vol. 1

Arminell: A Social Romance, Vol. 1

S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

The rigid hierarchies of the Victorian countryside begin to buckle when a young woman of privilege discovers a secret that threatens to dissolve the distinction between the gentry and the rural poor.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Beside Still Waters

Beside Still Waters

Arthur Christopher Benson

Seeking a life of quiet reflection, one man turns away from the demands of the world to discover his own path. This meditation on personal growth and the pursuit of happiness remains a gentle guide for the introspective.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Birds and All Nature, Vol 7, No. 3, March 1900: Illustrated by Color Photography

Birds and All Nature, Vol 7, No. 3, March 1900: Illustrated by Color Photography

Various

This collection of nature writing and miscellany captures the inquisitive, moralizing spirit of turn-of-the-century natural history through vibrant color photography and earnest prose. It serves as both a field guide and a cultural repository for an era fascinated by the natural world’s intersection with human ethics.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of Britain at Bay

Britain at Bay

Spenser Wilkinson

This is a stark, urgent call for the complete reorganization of the British state to meet the existential threat posed by a rising Germany. It argues that a nation that prioritizes party politics over national readiness is already halfway to defeat.

History - British6 min read
Cover of British Highways and Byways from a Motor Car: Being a Record of a Five Thousand Mile Tour in England, Wales and Scotland

British Highways and Byways from a Motor Car: Being a Record of a Five Thousand Mile Tour in England, Wales and Scotland

Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler) Murphy

A five-thousand-mile motoring odyssey through Britain’s hidden corners captures the landscape of 1908, offering a vibrant, gas-lit glimpse of an era when the automobile was still a daring way to bridge the past and present.

History - British6 min read
Cover of "Chinkie's Flat": 1904

"Chinkie's Flat": 1904

Louis Becke

In the harsh, sun-drenched frontier of 1904 Queensland, a struggling mining camp finds new life through the grit of a determined prospector and the sudden arrival of an independent young woman.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Christianity and Islam

Christianity and Islam

Carl Heinrich Becker

Far from being alien forces, Christianity and Islam share a deeply intertwined history, rooted in the same medieval intellectual soil and forged through centuries of mutual influence.

History - Medieval/Middle Ages7 min read
Cover of Clinical Investigations on Squint

Clinical Investigations on Squint

C. Schweigger

Strabismus is more than a mere visual misalignment; it is a complex physiological puzzle that demands a rigorous departure from dogma in favor of empirical observation.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of Collectors' Items: Fifty Superb Recipes from Spice Islands

Collectors' Items: Fifty Superb Recipes from Spice Islands

Spice Islands Company

Elevating the home kitchen through the precise application of curated seasonings, these recipes invite the cook to treat flavor as a deliberate, refined art. This collection serves as a portal to an era of culinary sophistication, where pantry staples are transformed into global delicacies.

Cooking & Drinking6 min read
Cover of Criminals

Criminals

George Middleton

A newlywed bride flees her hotel on her wedding night, returning to her parents' home in a state of traumatized shock. Her sudden arrival forces three people to confront the dangerous silence surrounding the realities of marriage.

Plays/Films/Dramas6 min read
Cover of Daisy's Necklace, and What Came of It

Daisy's Necklace, and What Came of It

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

This work is a spirited, unconventional literary episode that blends a sentimental, Victorian-era tale of mystery and family secrets with a self-aware, satirical commentary on the act of writing itself. It serves as both a story of lost identities and a playful deconstruction of the publishing industry.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Democritus Platonissans

Democritus Platonissans

Henry More

A striking philosophical vision, this work argues for an infinite universe populated by countless worlds, reconciling vast cosmological freedom with a deeply personal commitment to the divine.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of Diddie, Dumps, and Tot

Diddie, Dumps, and Tot

Louise Clarke Pyrnelle

Set on a Southern plantation during the antebellum era, this narrative follows three sisters and their interactions with the enslaved community, preserving the stories, games, and folklore of a vanished way of life.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Dynevor Terrace

Dynevor Terrace

Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

A young man of idealistic temperament and a dutiful, high-minded woman navigate the crushing weight of family expectations, pride, and poverty. Their journey from stifling social obligations to personal integrity defines this mid-nineteenth-century domestic drama.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Earthwork out of Tuscany: Being Impressions and Translations of Maurice Hewlett

Earthwork out of Tuscany: Being Impressions and Translations of Maurice Hewlett

Maurice Hewlett

The Renaissance lives as a breathing, human landscape where the spirit of the past and the beauty of the present entwine. Through the eyes of a wanderer, ancient art and modern life reveal their shared, eternal pulse.

Art7 min read
Cover of English Songs and Ballads

English Songs and Ballads

Unknown

These verses capture the heartbeat of a nation’s history, collecting the poems and songs that define the English spirit through love, loss, war, and the quiet rhythms of the countryside. It is a mosaic of voices ranging from anonymous medieval lyrics to the polished stanzas of nineteenth-century masters.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Fairy Fingers: A Novel

Fairy Fingers: A Novel

Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie

A noble French family’s financial collapse forces an exiled heiress into the trade of dressmaking, setting up a clash between aristocratic pride and self-made independence.

Novels8 min read
Cover of Fifteen years in hell

Fifteen years in hell

Luther Benson

The path to ruin is often paved with small, seemingly innocuous choices, yet for some, the descent is swifter and more absolute than the world can comprehend.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. Part 1

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. Part 1

Mark Twain

A world-traveling lecture tour becomes a sprawling, irreverent meditation on the absurdities of human belief, the failures of colonial ambition, and the strange, stubborn persistence of the traveler’s own bad habits.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Food Habits of the Thrushes of the United States

Food Habits of the Thrushes of the United States

F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles) Beal

This is a meticulous, data-driven report detailing exactly what American thrushes consume to survive. It offers a fascinating, granular look at the intersection of avian biology and agricultural interests in the early 20th century.

Environmental Issues6 min read
Cover of Four Girls at Chautauqua

Four Girls at Chautauqua

Pansy

Four young women embark on a summer journey to a forest camp meeting, unaware that the experience will fundamentally alter their personal beliefs and the direction of their lives.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Guy in the Jungle

Guy in the Jungle

William Murray Graydon

Duty calls in the dark of a London fog, pulling a young officer away from his peaceful life and into a perilous world of desert intrigue and hidden subterranean mysteries.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Hawaii National Park: A Guide for the Haleakala Section, Island of Maui, Hawaii

Hawaii National Park: A Guide for the Haleakala Section, Island of Maui, Hawaii

George Cornelius Ruhle

The summit of Haleakala, an immense volcanic landscape on the island of Maui, serves as both a sanctuary for rare, ancient life and a testament to the powerful geological forces that shaped the Hawaiian archipelago.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore6 min read
Cover of History of flagellation among different nations

History of flagellation among different nations

Unknown

The history of human correction is a long and often brutal one, spanning from the ancient Roman arena to the private chambers of the pious and the powerful.

General6 min read
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