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47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 142 of 988.

Cover of The Knights of the Round Table: Stories of King Arthur and the Holy Grail

The Knights of the Round Table: Stories of King Arthur and the Holy Grail

William Henry Frost

A travel companion retells the legends of King Arthur directly to a young companion while exploring the historical, quiet landscapes of modern England.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture

Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture

Alexander Van Millingen

Architectural form meets imperial history as the surviving sanctuaries of Constantinople reveal how Byzantine master builders transformed raw brick and marble into light-filled visions of the divine.

Architecture5 min read
Cover of Canyons of the Colorado

Canyons of the Colorado

John Wesley Powell

A wooden boat plunges down an uncharted river into a labyrinth of sheer sandstone, driven by men who measure the earth while fighting for their lives.

History - American7 min read
Cover of Folk Lore Notes. Vol. I—Gujarat

Folk Lore Notes. Vol. I—Gujarat

A. M. T. (Arthur Mason Tippetts) Jackson

A regional tapestry of living beliefs, local shrines, and everyday rituals reveals how human communities make sense of hardship, nature, and the divine.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of France and England in North America, Part I: Pioneers of France in the New World

France and England in North America, Part I: Pioneers of France in the New World

Francis Parkman

Before European powers drew rigid borders across North America, rival movements of faith, commerce, and ambition fought fragile footholds into the vast forest, where small bands of men made choices that echoed across a continent.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

A young scholar sets out to prove that American life can nourish a magnificent national literature, using verse and gentle scholarship to build a quiet cultural revolution.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Notes on Life & Letters

Notes on Life & Letters

Joseph Conrad

A novelist steps into the open to deliver candid judgements on his craft, his fellow writers, and a world fractured by industrial pride, total war, and political tragedy.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Renaissance in Italy, Volume 3 (of 7): The Fine Arts

Renaissance in Italy, Volume 3 (of 7): The Fine Arts

John Addington Symonds

Art exalts the physical world, creating a profound friction with Christian ideals that urge the spirit to renounce earthly beauty.

Art6 min read
Cover of The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War

The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War

Annie Heloise Abel

A harrowing look at political betrayal, Annie Heloise Abel’s history uncovers how the Union and Confederacy used, abandoned, and shattered Native nations during the American Civil War.

History - American6 min read
Cover of The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde, and Other Stories

The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde, and Other Stories

Mary De Morgan

Behind radiant enchantments and shimmering glass lies a realm where vanity exacts a terrible price and true devotion requires perilous sacrifice.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Oriental tale in England in the eighteenth century

The Oriental tale in England in the eighteenth century

Martha Pike Conant

Driven by a growing appetite for exotic narrative, eighteenth-century English readers embraced imported Eastern fictions, transforming a wave of popular translations into a vital force that altered the trajectory of modern English prose.

History6 min read
Cover of Under the Rebel's Reign

Under the Rebel's Reign

Charles Neufeld

An adventurous young German ventures into nineteenth-century Egypt, where he finds himself trapped between imperial military campaigns, local uprisings, and personal rivalries.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Arthur Machen: Weaver of Fantasy

Arthur Machen: Weaver of Fantasy

William F. (William Francis) Gekle

A shadowy, quiet life yields a strange literature of ecstasy, ancient ritual, and cosmic terror.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Collected works of Padraic H. Pearse

Collected works of Padraic H. Pearse

Padraic Pearse

Sacrifice and uncompromising devotion shape this urgent collection of political writings and speeches. Padraic H. Pearse outlines a revolutionary vision designed to break foreign rule and spark a national rebirth through total dedication to complete independence.

General5 min read
Cover of Emerson and Other Essays

Emerson and Other Essays

John Jay Chapman

A sharp, unsparing intelligence interrogates the giants of nineteenth-century literature, dismantling institutional idolatry to rediscover the vital, erratic sparks of personal freedom and genuine artistic power.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Essays and Dialogues

Essays and Dialogues

Giacomo Leopardi

Despair turns into quiet clear-sightedness in these classical dialogues, which dismantle every human consolation from glory to progress with unrelenting, polished wit.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Famous Impostors

Famous Impostors

Bram Stoker

Driven by the endless appetite of society to be duped, tricksters and pretenders throughout history have risked prison and the gallows to trade off false identities.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of The Bishop and Other Stories

The Bishop and Other Stories

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

A weary bishop sees a ghost of his childhood in a crowded church, while across the vast Russian plains, a lonely boy rides a wagon train toward an uncertain future.

Russian Literature7 min read
Cover of The Life of Johannes Brahms (Vol 1 of 2)

The Life of Johannes Brahms (Vol 1 of 2)

Florence May

A dedicated young artist navigates the unyielding demands of mastery, the clash of warring musical ideologies, and the transcendent spark of mentorship on his journey toward enduring creative independence.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Moors in Spain

The Moors in Spain

Stanley Lane-Poole

Eight centuries of vibrant Islamic rule in medieval Spain brought unparalleled science, art, and agricultural beauty to Europe, only to crumble under internal feuds and ruthless conquest.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Pocket R.L.S.: Being Favourite Passages from the Works of Stevenson

The Pocket R.L.S.: Being Favourite Passages from the Works of Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

A keen, luminous gaze captures the beauty of daily existence, finding quiet nobility in simple duties, open roads, and honest human fellowship.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Wellington's Army, 1809-1814

Wellington's Army, 1809-1814

Charles Oman

A vast imperial army moves not merely by grand strategy, but on a chaotic tide of iron, bread, and fallible human spirit.

History - British7 min read
Cover of Women Painters of the World: From the Time of Caterina Vigri, 1413-1463, to Rosa Bonheur and the Present Day

Women Painters of the World: From the Time of Caterina Vigri, 1413-1463, to Rosa Bonheur and the Present Day

Unknown

A comprehensive history of women painters from the 15th century to the present day.

Art7 min read
Cover of A Catalogue of Books in English Later than 1700, Vol. 3: Forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe

A Catalogue of Books in English Later than 1700, Vol. 3: Forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe

Unknown

An exhaustive inventory of post-1700 English literature transformed into an art object, this third volume of Robert Hoe’s private library catalogue preserves the physical and typographical history of rare books across centuries.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon

Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon

L. (Luise) Mühlbach

A Creole orphan ascends from a turbulent childhood in Martinique to become the heart of revolutionary France and the beloved wife of its conqueror. Her story tracks a dramatic rise and fall through blood, glory, and heartbreak.

Biographies8 min read
Cover of Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers

Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers

J. R. (James Robinson) Planché

An inventive spirit and a stroke of fortune may carry a humble youth higher than a grand inheritance. In this mid-nineteenth-century collection, fairy tales reveal how cleverness, patience, and true affection triumph over bizarre enchantments and cruel rivals.

French Literature11 min read
Cover of French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France

French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France

Marie, de France, active 12th century

Love requires total fidelity, absolute discretion, and the courage to endure profound grief when fortune turns its wheel.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of Hidden Water

Hidden Water

Dane Coolidge

When the Arizona rain breaks over Bender, it flushes out cattlemen, sheepmen, and adrift idealists, all looking for shelter or a second chance.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Ludwig the Second, King of Bavaria

Ludwig the Second, King of Bavaria

Clara Tschudi

A youthful dream of absolute art and unbridled kingship unravels into isolation, political ruin, and eventual madness.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804

Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804

Alexander von Humboldt

A single, rigorous eye turns the equatorial wilderness into a vast laboratory, mapping South America's uncharted waters, lost peaks, and living systems.

Archaeology & Anthropology9 min read
Cover of Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty

Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty

William George Jordan

Mastering our internal world requires recognizing that we are shaped less by external circumstances than by our own self-governance. True strength manifests when we claim full responsibility for our thoughts, actions, and character.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields

The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields

Gilbert Slater

The transformation of rural England through the systematic partition of communal lands permanently reshaped the nation’s social landscape, replacing shared agrarian traditions with private ownership and driving smallholders from the soil.

History - British6 min read
Cover of The Fortune of the Rougons

The Fortune of the Rougons

Émile Zola

A small Provincial town in Southern France becomes a blood-soaked arena as one scheming family leverages political upheaval to seize wealth and power.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5

The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5

Edmund Spenser

A vast landscape of human ambition and divine beauty crumbles into dust, leaving only song to preserve what time relentlessly destroys.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Subterranean World

The Subterranean World

G. (Georg) Hartwig

Beneath our feet lies a world of terrifying force and immense treasure, where subterranean fires, deep caverns, and rich mineral seams shape human destiny.

Science - Earth/Agricultural/Farming8 min read
Cover of The Three Devils: Luther's, Milton's, and Goethe's

The Three Devils: Luther's, Milton's, and Goethe's

David Masson

Three historical visions of evil reveal how humanity's moral imagination shifts from literal demons to majestic rebels and cold, modern cynics.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of A history of criticism and literary taste in Europe, from the earliest texts to the present day. Volume 3 (of 3), Modern criticism

A history of criticism and literary taste in Europe, from the earliest texts to the present day. Volume 3 (of 3), Modern criticism

George Saintsbury

A rigorous journey across European literature reveals how the modern mind abandoned rigid, ancient formulas to judge art by the immediate, living joy it creates in the reader.

History - European11 min read
Cover of Chopin

Chopin

James Huneker

A frail body contained a fierce, implacable soul whose quiet outward life belied the storm of psychological battle waging within his music. He transformed the piano into a canvas of chromatic ecstasy and tragic national memory.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Dreams

Dreams

Henri Bergson

Dreams are not merely random artifacts of the sleeping mind; they are the result of a precise, energetic mental relaxation. By understanding the mechanism behind them, we uncover the hidden architecture of our own consciousness.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Memories and Portraits

Memories and Portraits

Robert Louis Stevenson

A boy’s imagination takes root among northern rocks, stormy sea-lights, and quiet graveyards, eventually growing into a life devoted entirely to the craft of sentences and the enduring magic of written stories.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon

Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon

Robert Armitage Sterndale

A rich field companion to the wild beasts of South Asia blends systematic taxonomy with vivid hunting encounters and keen personal observations.

Nature/Gardening/Animals11 min read
Cover of The heart of an orphan

The heart of an orphan

Amanda Mathews Chase

An orphan’s written pleas to her memory of a settlement-house teacher open a doorway from a grim institution into a world of unexpected belonginess. Written as a series of letters from a fiercely loving young girl, this narrative traces the path from tenement poverty to the warm hearth of adoption.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume I

The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume I

Burton Jesse Hendrick

A young man raised in the post-Civil War South challenges his home state's intellectual paralysis, learns the craft of publishing, and ultimately finds himself representing American interests in London during the opening salvoes of the First World War.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Play of Man

The Play of Man

Karl Groos

Play is not merely a frivolous escape from the demands of reality, but a profound evolutionary mechanism that prepares us for the serious business of existence. This exploration examines how the urge to play shapes the human spirit from infancy through adulthood.

Archaeology & Anthropology7 min read
Cover of A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume 1 (of 2)

A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume 1 (of 2)

Johann Beckmann

A lifelong curiosity about how everyday things came to be reveals the hidden history of human ingenuity, turning simple tools and forgotten customs into windows on the past.

History - Other10 min read
Cover of A Voyage to the Moon

A Voyage to the Moon

Cyrano de Bergerac

A launch using vials of dew gives way to an extraordinary journey beyond the atmosphere, where an adventurous voyager discovers a surreal lunar civilization that mirrors, mocks, and utterly redefines every earthly certainty.

Classics of Literature7 min read
Cover of Common Sense

Common Sense

Thomas Paine

A fiery, unsparing plea for immediate American separation from British rule that strips monarchy of its ancient majesty and treats independence as a simple, urgent necessity.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Essays

Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Essays

Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

A brilliant, sharp-eyed intelligence tears through centuries of European history and literature, measuring celebrated statesmen, flawed philosophers, and bloated books against the unyielding standards of practical reason and clear writing.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read