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32,123 public-domain books, summarised. Page 85 of 670.

The Lighter Classics in Music: A Comprehensive Guide to Musical Masterworks in a Lighter Vein by 187 Composers
David Ewen
Melodic accessible compositions bridge the gap between heavy symphonic works and light popular entertainment.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Electrostatics" to "Engis": Volume 9, Slice 3
Various
A single slice of human knowledge captures the world at the turn of the twentieth century, balancing the mechanics of physical forces against the fragile remnants of our ancient past.

Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion, and the Hungry Tiger
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
A wooden chicken coop carried across a stormy ocean becomes the threshold to a realm where mechanical men think and subterranean monarchs hold royalty hostage in gold.

Stage-coach and Mail in Days of Yore, Volume 1 (of 2): A picturesque history of the coaching age
Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
Long before asphalt and locomotives tamed the English landscape, travel meant clinging to a swaying roof above rutted tracks, propelled entirely by horsepower and human stubbornness.

History of the United States
Charles A. (Charles Austin) Beard
A sweeping, structural reexamination of the American experiment, this text abandons superficial heroics to trace the deep economic drives, institutional conflicts, and social movements shaping a continent.

Journal 02, 1850-September 15, 1851: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume 08 (of 20)
Henry David Thoreau
A quiet, painstaking immersion into nineteenth-century New England, where daily excursions through woods and meadows become a profound practice of intellectual and spiritual awakening.

Ten From Infinity
Paul W. Fairman
A routine traffic accident in Manhattan uncovers a secret that threatens the entire human race.

The Story of the Hymns and Tunes
Hezekiah Butterworth
Across centuries of spiritual devotion, simple verses and melodies have quietly altered the course of human lives, carrying believers through deep sorrow, fierce trials, and triumphant awakenings.

The Women Who Make Our Novels
Grant M. (Grant Martin) Overton
An observer of modern literature captures thirty-five living women writers in their prime, detailing how popular art gets made in early twentieth-century America.

Chronicles of a pioneer school from 1792 to 1833
Unknown
A vibrant repository of diaries, school rules, letters, and student compositions captures the daily rhythms of early American female education in a quiet Connecticut town.

History of the Wars, Books III and IV: The Vandalic War
Procopius
In the sixth century, the Eastern Roman Empire set out to reclaim North Africa from the Vandals, setting off a relentless cycle of clash, betrayal, and total upheaval.

Jane's All the World's Aircraft. 1913
Unknown
An exhaustive, global directory captures humanity's early, ambitious attempts to conquer the skies through engineering, military organisation, and sheer daring.

The First Blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous regiment of Women
John Knox
When a realm submits to female authority, it upends the clear hierarchy of nature, divine command, and moral order, inviting sudden judgment upon an obedient populace that surrenders its right governance to a single crown.

The Piazza Tales
Herman Melville
A quiet domestic porch opens onto mountain illusions, masking the dark, unraveling world of human obsession, illusion, and quiet rebellion.

The Writings of Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Written with fiery conviction in the darkest hours of the American Revolution, this collection of political essays rallies a struggling nation, dismantling British imperial claims while forging a clear, uncompromising vision for self-governance and continental unity.

American nights entertainment
Grant M. (Grant Martin) Overton
A candid and charming slice of literary history, this guide reveals how modern publishing, author personalities, and early twentieth-century reading tastes collided to shape a nation's love for books.

Jacob's Room
Virginia Woolf
A young man moves through the world like a shadow in late afternoon light: clearly outlined, endlessly observed, yet inherently impossible to fully hold or know.

The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore: Collected by Himself with Explanatory Notes
Thomas Moore
A sweeping lifetime of verse moves from passionate classical translations and romantic ballads to sharp political satires and elaborate Oriental epics. It captures both the delicate heartache of private devotion and the fiery struggle for national freedom.

The Letters of William James, Vol. 1
William James
A brilliant, restless mind opens itself in unfiltered private letters, tracking the journey from an uncertain young student searching for a vocation to a foundational figure in modern philosophy and psychology.

A History of Horncastle, from the earliest period to the present time
J. Conway (James Conway) Walter
Tucked into the damp, green belly of Lincolnshire, a quiet market town preserves two thousand years of English life through parish ledgers, forgotten rebellions, and the lingering echoes of everyday folk.

Optimism: An Essay
Helen Keller
A quiet, resolute conviction that human joy is a deliberate spiritual duty, forged in total silence and darkness, can dismantle every cynical argument against the goodness of existence.

Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe: carried on in the secret meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati, and reading societies
John Robison
A meticulous Scottish natural philosopher uncovers a subterranean web of secret societies, alleging that covert fraternities transformed innocent Masonic lodges into engine rooms of total political and religious revolution.

Birds in the Calendar
Frederick G. (Frederick George) Aflalo
Where calendar meets countryside, a year of British birdwatching unfolds through sharp observation, gentle wit, and a naturalist's keen eye for life on the wing.

Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A comprehensive structural directory maps the entire printed legacy of a New England master, organizing decades of novels, sketches, short stories, and personal journals into a single reference volume.

Standards of Life and Service
Thomas Henry Howard
Faith requires more than passive belief; it demands a life forged in absolute obedience and active duty.

Temperamental people
Mary Roberts Rinehart
A hidden lover’s key, a stolen birthright, a blind sculptor’s dark retreat, and an officer’s petty revenge all collide in a world where intense passion clashes with social expectation.

Crito
Plato
A condemned philosopher sits in a dim cell, turning away a desperate escape plan to defend the quiet authority of his conscience.

A tin cup trophy
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
A trio of hapless Montana cowboys volunteer to guide three urban women on a big-game hunt, only to find themselves ambushed by fake treasure maps, stray livestock, and an unexpected herd of domestic goats.

Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
A pauper discovers a cave of gold, a tailor blindfolds his way to a murder, and a magical bird restores lost princes turned to stone.

Émile
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Nature alone holds the secret to shaping a human being who is both resilient and uncorrupted by society. To realize this potential, a teacher must clear away the artificial constraints of traditional instruction and let experience take the lead.

How to Succeed
Orison Swett Marden
To build a meaningful life, a person must cultivate unwavering internal character, fierce determination, and absolute focus rather than waiting for external fortune or inherited wealth. True achievement is not an accident of birth, but the direct result of personal effort, disciplined action, and moral integrity.

The General Historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles (Vol. I): Together with the True Travels, Adventures and Observations, and a Sea Grammar
John Smith
A single hand at the helm transforms raw, uncharted wilderness into a precarious new world through sheer force of will, grit, and tireless obsession.

U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1964 July - December
Library of Congress. Copyright Office
A meticulous ledger of intellectual survival captures the formal persistence of American letters, science, and popular culture across a single pivotal half-year. It records the exact moment creative works claim extended legal protection.

German Science Reader: An Introduction to Scientific German, for Students of Physics, Chemistry and Engineering
Charles Frederick Kroeh
Mastering technical literature in a foreign language requires a direct bridge between abstract concepts and specific vocabulary. Clear structure turns complex equations, physical laws, and chemical transformations into accessible reading material.

Louise de la Vallière
Alexandre Dumas
Courtiers whisper in shadowy corridors, lovers exchange dangerous promises, and the four legendary musketeers find themselves drawn into a maze of political ambition and personal betrayal.

The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman
Laurence Sterne
A baby is born into a world where a broken nose, a mischosen name, and a father's convoluted theories shape a life before it even properly begins.

The Man Who Would Be King
Rudyard Kipling
Two ambitious, down-on-their-luck British adventurers set out from colonial India to conquer Kafiristan, crowning themselves kings before their own human flaws expose their divine charade and spark a ruinous downfall.

Excursions
Henry David Thoreau
A quiet revolution awaits the reader who steps onto the trail of the American wilderness, where the rustle of fallen oak leaves and the scent of wild apples offer a richer education than any university.

More English Fairy Tales
Unknown
Ancient folklore comes to life through spirited English tricksters, shape-shifting spirits, and clever rustic fools.

Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts of the United States of America
A comprehensive manual transforms daily life into an arena of outdoor mastery, practical citizenship, and self-reliant domestic skill. Designed for young women, it grounds personal growth in observation, physical fitness, and community service.

The Jew and American Ideals
John Spargo
When a sudden wave of conspiracy theories threatens to fracture a nation's social fabric, defending a targeted minority becomes the ultimate test of a republic's core values.

Fireside Stories for Girls in Their Teens
Margaret W. (Margaret White) Eggleston
A quiet choice on a mountain trail, a strike in a lonely city, or a shared craft in a camp-fire circle can alter the direction of a young life forever.

Riders of the Purple Sage
Zane Grey
Deep in the Utah borderlands, a courageous woman fights to protect her home, her hearth, and her freedom, only to discover that her greatest sanctuary lies in the arms of an infamous gunman.

Stage-coach and Mail in Days of Yore, Volume 2 (of 2): A picturesque history of the coaching age
Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
Long before locomotives reshaped the landscape, a network of horse-drawn mail coaches pulsed across Britain, defining the pace, architecture, and social rhythm of an era.

The conquest of happiness
Bertrand Russell
Human beings should be happy, yet modern life leaves the vast majority trapped in quiet misery. Escape requires no mystical revelation or complex philosophy, but a straightforward, practical effort to dismantle self-absorption and engage directly with the surrounding world.

The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life
Francis Parkman
Bound for the high plains and Rocky Mountains in 1846, a young Bostonian braves disease, wilderness, and erratic companions to record the vanishing wilderness of the American West.

The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1
Alexander Pope
Mastering every shade of verse from delicate rural landscapes to razor-sharp social satire, this volume captures an entire era’s intellectual life through one poet's unmatched mastery of heroic couplets.

The Science of Human Nature: A Psychology for Beginners
William Henry Pyle
Human behavior is not an insoluble mystery, but a predictable sequence of physical stimuli and neural responses that can be systematically observed, measured, and improved.