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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 639 of 714.
Memoir of a Brother
Thomas Hughes
A portrait of an unassuming country gentleman, this work serves as an affectionate testament to the quiet, reliable strength of the English character. It captures the essence of a life defined by duty rather than ambition.
Miss Philly Firkin, The China-Woman
Mary Russell Mitford
A village shopkeeper and her boisterous publican neighbor move from bitter feud to unexpected romance through the clever meddling of a local lad. This witty tale of provincial life captures the absurdity of small-town rivalries.
Modern Fiction
Charles Dudley Warner
This incisive inquiry into the state of literature argues that the highest calling of the novel is not the mere mechanical recording of life, but the artistic transformation of it. It serves as a stern yet hopeful manifesto for the power of the storyteller’s craft.
Mohawks: A Novel. Volume 2 of 3
M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon
A decadent, treacherous Georgian society serves as the backdrop for a high-stakes struggle between forbidden love and a sinister, long-concealed past.
More Tales of the Birds
W. Warde (William Warde) Fowler
This collection of avian narratives bridges the gap between natural history and human sentiment, offering a series of vignettes where birds serve as both protagonists and mirrors to our own fleeting lives.
Motor Matt's Close Call
Stanley R. Matthews
A resourceful young mechanic and his friends find their submarine hijacked by a duplicitous diplomat, forcing them to fight for control of their own vessel while navigating the turbulent waters of a Central American revolution.
Mr. Turtle's Flying Adventure: Hollow Tree Stories
Albert Bigelow Paine
The Hollow Tree people and their neighbors, including the clever Mr. Turtle and the imaginative Mr. 'Possum, navigate the wonders and perils of their forest home through a series of whimsical, interconnected adventures.
Mufti
H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile
This postwar exploration of the "lost generation" captures the profound disorientation of returning to a civilian world that no longer fits the men who survived the trenches.
My First Cruise, and Other stories
William Henry Giles Kingston
A young sailor’s first voyage and a collection of tales featuring magical gates, mythical beasts, and quiet farm life offer a window into nineteenth-century adventure. These stories capture the thrill of discovery and the steady persistence of faith.
Nacogdoches
Robert Bruce Blake
Nacogdoches serves as the storied gateway to Texas, a town whose history is defined by the shifting flags of empires, the indomitable spirit of its pioneers, and the enduring legacy of its frontier roots.
No Abolition of Slavery: Or the Universal Empire of Love, A poem
James Boswell
HOOK This polemic verse presents a staunch, contrarian defense of the slave trade, framing the institution as an essential component of social order and the "Universal Empire of Love.
Notes and Queries, Number 43, August 24, 1850
Various
This mid-nineteenth-century periodical functions as a bustling intellectual crossroads, where Victorian scholars and curious amateurs trade obscure facts, solve literary puzzles, and preserve disappearing fragments of folklore.
Oowikapun, or, How the Gospel reached the Nelson River Indians
Egerton Ryerson Young
The inner life of a hunter, ignited by a chance encounter, transforms into a mission to bring a new faith to his people in the vast, unforgiving wilderness of the Canadian North.
Patty at Home
Carolyn Wells
Patty Fairfield, a spirited and affectionate young girl, embarks on the challenges and joys of setting up a new home, discovering that true maturity is found in domestic warmth and the steady exercise of common sense.
Philistine and genius
Boris Sidis
The tragedy of modern childhood is that society treats brilliance as an illness, systematically training children to be fearful, obedient machines rather than free-thinking individuals.
Poems of West & East
V. (Victoria) Sackville-West
This collection of verse captures the restless spirit of a young woman poised between the heavy, hallowed traditions of an English ancestral estate and the sensory, sun-drenched allure of the Orient. It is a lyrical meditation on the tension between belonging and wandering, written with a blend of aristocratic…
Poseidon's paradise: the romance of Atlantis
Elizabeth G. Birkmaier
The legend of the lost continent finds new life in this sweeping tale of ancient hubris, where the inevitable sinking of an island becomes the backdrop for a story of love and moral awakening.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, April 22, 1893
Various
A vibrant, chaotic window into the Victorian mind, this collection captures the wit, political fervor, and social satire of 1893 London in one quintessential weekly dispatch.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, May 19, 1920
Various
This collection captures the frantic, witty, and weary pulse of London in the spring of 1920. It serves as an essential historical artifact, blending sharp political satire with the mundane frustrations of post-war life, from coal shortages to the bizarre inventions of the day.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, August 29, 1891
Various
This volume captures the frantic, biting, and often absurd energy of Victorian London at the close of the summer season in 1891. It is a mosaic of satire, social commentary, and light verse that reveals a society both obsessed with appearances and exhausted by the relentless pace of "modernity.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, September 10, 1892
Various
The wit of late Victorian London lives on in these pages, capturing the restless, satirical spirit of a world obsessed with news cycles, social decorum, and the absurdities of daily life. This collection serves as a vibrant, multifaceted mirror of a bygone era.
Radio Boys Cronies
Wayne Whipple
Two inseparable friends prove that ingenuity and persistence can overcome both physical limitations and local skepticism. Through a shared passion for invention and radio technology, they transform their modest circumstances into a path toward personal and communal success.
Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants
William Pittman Lett
These verses serve as a spirited, personal chronicle of Ottawa’s origins, transforming the muddy, raw village of Bytown into a gallery of rugged characters and vanishing landscapes.
Remarks upon the proposed destruction of the tower of the Parish Church of St. John, Hampstead
Scott, George Gilbert, Sir
This focused architectural plea argues that a historic parish tower should be preserved, challenging the belief that the structure is dangerously unstable and urging a more thoughtful approach to church restoration.
Renaissance Fancies and Studies: Being a Sequel to Euphorion
Vernon Lee
This collection of essays offers an intimate, erudite exploration of the Italian Renaissance, treating art not as a dry academic subject, but as a living, breathing testament to the human imagination.
Richard Richard
Hughes Mearns
A wandering, penniless intellectual finds himself drawn into the tangled emotional life of a wealthy, fractured family. This story explores whether deep-seated neuroses and broken spirits can be mended through the power of human connection.
Samantha among the Brethren
Marietta Holley
The struggle for women’s voices in the church is a comedy of manners and a serious debate over who holds the keys to authority. It captures the clash between domestic devotion and the rigid structures of institutional power.
Steve Brown's Bunyip, and Other Stories
John Arthur Barry
The sea and the outback are not merely settings in these tales, but volatile characters that test the limits of human endurance, morality, and survival in the harsh, expansive landscape of nineteenth-century Australia.
Sweated industry and the minimum wage
Clementina Black
Poverty is often dismissed as a mere superstition of the sentimental, yet for the laborer, it is a relentless, crushing fact of daily existence. This study exposes the mechanics of that struggle.
The American Missionary
Various
This collection of dispatches chronicles the late 19th-century efforts of the American Missionary Association, documenting the intersection of religious conviction, educational outreach, and the complex social tensions of a rapidly changing nation.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
This volume captures the urgency of a nation in conflict, blending topographical observation with the fevered political discourse of the mid-nineteenth century. It stands as a vivid, diverse archive of a society grappling with its own survival.
The Battle of Principles: A Study of the Heroism and Eloquence of the Anti-Slavery Conflict
Newell Dwight Hillis
This work examines the moral and political collision of the American anti-slavery struggle, tracing how a nation’s foundational principles were tested and ultimately reaffirmed through a long, violent trial.
The Books of Chilan Balam: The Prophetic and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan
Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison) Brinton
The Books of Chilan Balam represent a vital, vanishing bridge to the ancient Maya intellect, preserving sacred indigenous history and prophecy through the transformative lens of the post-Conquest era. These manuscripts offer an unparalleled, if fragmented, glimpse into a civilization that once recorded its world in…
The Butterflies and Moths of Teneriffe
A. E. Holt White
This guide to the Lepidoptera of Tenerife offers both a practical manual for amateur naturalists and a vivid glimpse into the island’s rugged, sun-drenched landscapes at the end of the nineteenth century.
The Carnivore
Katherine MacLean
In the aftermath of humanity’s self-inflicted extinction, a sole survivor awakens to find her world inherited by terrified, peace-loving aliens. She soon discovers that their offer of salvation is merely a mask for a final, calculated containment.
The Chicago Massacre of 1812: With Illustrations and Historical Documents
Joseph Kirkland
The Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812 stands as a singular, harrowing point of origin for one of the world’s greatest cities, a moment where the frontier’s brutal uncertainty gave way to modern history. This work serves as an essential, meticulously assembled archive of that tragedy, sifting through the layers of myth…
The Coming of the Ice
Green Peyton
This story explores the harrowing trajectory of humanity through the eyes of its final survivor, an immortal man who sacrifices his capacity for love to witness the planet's slow, frozen expiration.
The Damned
Algernon Blackwood
The reader follows a skeptical writer into a sprawling country mansion that seems to possess a sinister, sentient malice. This unsettling narrative explores how the weight of extreme, hateful beliefs can leave a lasting, physical stain upon a place.
The Dope on Mars
Jack Sharkey
HOOK A satirical diary of a space mission goes disastrously wrong when a cynical journalist and his crew accidentally trigger a planetary invasion. It is a cautionary tale about the perils of unchecked curiosity.
The Einstein See-Saw
Miles J. (Miles John) Breuer
A brilliant criminal engineer accidentally discovers a way to fold space, only to find himself trapped by the very laws of physics he sought to exploit.
The Escape
William Wells Brown
The pursuit of liberty transforms an intimate, domestic struggle into a desperate race toward the Canadian border. Through a series of harrowing confrontations, those bound by iron and law gamble everything to reach a place where they are finally recognized as human.
The faithful steward
Sereno D. (Sereno Dickenson) Clark
A rigorous call to integrate financial generosity into the daily life of a believer, this treatise argues that Christian charity should be as deliberate, orderly, and disciplined as any successful secular business venture.
The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig: A Novel
David Graham Phillips
A whirlwind of political ambition and social collision, this story traces the turbulent courtship and marriage of a man who possesses raw, unstoppable power and a woman who prides herself on her refined, impenetrable poise.
The first American King
George Gordon Hastings
The American experiment dissolves into a gilded autocracy, leaving two men to awaken in a future where their lost Republic has been traded for the crushing weight of imperial chains.
The Gospel of Evolution: From "The Atheistic Platform", Twelve Lectures
Edward B. Aveling
A new and better Gospel is now preached to men, founded not on supernatural faith, but on the enduring, demonstrable realities of the natural world. This scientific shift offers a path to universal human brotherhood that ancient creeds have failed to provide.
The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, Part 37
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
A fragile old man clings to his sanity by living as a knight-errant, seeking glory in a world that remembers him only as a punchline. This descent into the bustling reality of Barcelona marks the twilight of his quest.
The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain
This chronicle of a grand excursion captures the collision between romanticized expectations of the Old World and the gritty, often absurd reality of nineteenth-century travel. It offers a skeptical, irreverent, and deeply human look at the cradle of Western civilization.
The King of Alsander
James Elroy Flecker
A young English grocer abandons his mundane life to claim a throne in a sun-drenched, imaginary land. This whimsical yet melancholic romance explores the heavy cost of trading reality for a dream.