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7,238 public-domain books, summarised. Page 144 of 151.

The Jest Book: The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings
Mark Lemon
Centuries of British wit, sharp retorts, and tavern banter converge in a expansive collection designed to capture the enduring architecture of humor.

The North-West Amazons: Notes of some months spent among cannibal tribes
Thomas Whiffen
Deep within the dense, dark rain forest between the River Issa and the River Apaporis, indigenous tribes live in complete isolation, bound by strict ancestral taboos, unrelenting intertribal warfare, and terrifying survival rituals.

The Origin of Thought and Speech
M. Moncalm
A shared ancestral urge to give voice to physical action formed the crucible from which human reason, language, and spiritual reflection gradually evolved.

The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 2 (of 4)
Unknown
A meticulously detailed nineteenth-century survey charts the parishes of Cornwall, weaving together coastal geology, local folklore, ancient genealogies, and bloody historical anecdotes into a tapestry of regional memory.

The Way of Peace
James Allen
Quiet meditation and the total abandonment of the selfish ego open a direct, practical pathway to inner serenity, transforming human suffering into divine love.

The Were-Wolf
Clemence Housman
When a mysterious, silver-clad stranger enters a isolated Nordic hall, one brother sees a beautiful maiden to be wooed, while the other sees a monstrous beast that feeds on those they love.

Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of Scotland
J. Maxwell (John Maxwell) Wood
Dark, wind-swept moorlands and lonely parish Kirks hold the vanishing secrets of Scottish folk belief, preserving a history written in fear, fire, and strange midnight rituals.

A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 3, Sep. 1809-Dec. 1810
Charles Oman
In the autumn of 1809, Napoleon’s supreme commanders converged on the Iberian Peninsula to break the Spanish defense and drive the British into the Atlantic, only to encounter a landscape transformed by scorched earth, fortress walls, and stubborn military resistance.

A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 02
Voltaire
Human reason constantly battles the absurdity of superstition, bad philosophy, and institutional cruelty. Through an alphabetical treasury of biting commentary, ancient myths and medieval dogmas are systematically dismantled to expose the mechanics of human credulity.

A Story of the Golden Age
James Baldwin
Before the great conflict at Troy begins, a rich tapestry of mythic heroes, tragic choices, and divine encounters shapes the world of ancient Hellas.

Agriculture for Beginners: Revised Edition
Charles William Burkett
A rigorous, practical manual written for rural schoolchildren, this handbook transforms traditional farming into a systematic, teachable science by connecting the fundamental principles of soil chemistry, botany, and biology to daily agricultural labor.

Andrew Melville
William Morison
A fiery scholar challenges a king for the soul of a national church, taking his stand in classroom, court, and prison cell.

Area Handbook for Romania
Eugene K. Keefe
An exhaustive institutional survey maps a nation balancing its Latin cultural identity against Soviet influence and state-planned industrialization.

Clarimonde
Théophile Gautier
A young priest’s single glance at a breathtaking woman shatters his holy vows, dragging him into an agonizing double life split between sacred duty and a nocturnal romance with a vampire.

Glimpses of Bengal: Selected from the letters of Sir Rabindranath Tagore, 1885 to 1895
Rabindranath Tagore
A young writer retreats to the rural waterways of late nineteenth-century Bengal, finding in the quiet rhythms of river life a vast mirror for human emotion and artistic awakening.

Great Sea Stories
Unknown
Storms sweep over high seas, mutineers seize control, and men face the vast expanse in search of gold and survival.

Poems Teachers Ask For: Selected by readers of "Normal Instructor-Primary Plans"
Various
A shared memory of recitations, schoolrooms, and shared values lives within these pages.

Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
Driven by personal tragedy and classical ideals, an extraordinary leader unites a fallen city against brutal aristocrats, only to discover that the mob's adoration vanishes the moment freedom demands sacrifice.

The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels: Given to the New York Public Library By Dr. Frank P. O'Brien
New York Public Library
An impressive collection of cheap pioneer fiction records the wild imagination and cultural memory of nineteenth-century popular reading in America.

The Decoration of Houses
Edith Wharton
True elegance in home design rests not on lavish ornament, but on the quiet discipline of classical proportion and architectural purpose.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.