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47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 148 of 988.

Cover of Scientific American Supplement, No. 841, February 13, 1892

Scientific American Supplement, No. 841, February 13, 1892

Various

A single issue of a nineteenth-century technical journal captures a world on the cusp of modern industrialization, mapping human curiosity from animal speech to high-speed dynamos.

Archaeology & Anthropology5 min read
Cover of St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Bernard, of Clairvaux, Saint

A devout twelfth-century reformer traverses rugged landscapes to dismantle deeply rooted regional customs and unify a fractured medieval institution.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of The Epidemics of the Middle Ages

The Epidemics of the Middle Ages

J. F. C. (Justus Friedrich Carl) Hecker

When unseen microbial horrors swept through medieval Europe, they reshaped human history, tore apart social bonds, and drove whole populations into collective, frantic madness.

Health & Medicine8 min read
Cover of The Man with Two Left Feet, and Other Stories

The Man with Two Left Feet, and Other Stories

P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

Across town houses, coastal resorts, and theatrical backstages, misfits and well-meaning bunglers stumble into romance, sudden heroism, and ridiculous misunderstandings. Every misstep somehow leads to an unexpectedly happy ending.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of An Outcast of the Islands

An Outcast of the Islands

Joseph Conrad

A disgraced white clerk banished to an isolated river settlement in Borneo betrayer his benefactor for the love of a native woman, precipitating a slow, inescapable descent into madness and moral ruin.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 2 of 2): The Turkish Provinces

Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 2 of 2): The Turkish Provinces

H. F. B. (Harry Finnis Blosse) Lynch

A high plateau of volcanic crags and ancient ruins becomes the stage for an extraordinary exploration of late nineteenth-century eastern Turkey.

History - Other12 min read
Cover of Buck Peters, ranchman

Buck Peters, ranchman

Clarence Edward Mulford

Hard men, open range, and dirty dealing in a wide Montana sky.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Ceylon

Ceylon

Tennent, James Emerson, Sir

A vibrant tropical landscape yields to a long narrative of physical isolation, royal devotion, and external conquest. Across the granite heights and dense forests of Ceylon, human empires rise and fall while nature reasserts its dominion over forgotten cities.

Archaeology & Anthropology10 min read
Cover of Insectivorous Plants

Insectivorous Plants

Charles Darwin

A single leaf bends its glistening tentacles to entrap a fly, revealing a startling world where plants digest meat like animals.

Science - Biology7 min read
Cover of Kant's Theory of Knowledge

Kant's Theory of Knowledge

H. A. (Harold Arthur) Prichard

Mind cannot construct the reality it seeks to know; to apprehend any truth at all is to find a world already standing over against the intellect.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)

James George Frazer

Early communities once held that human actions—from the marriage of a priest to the felling of an ancient oak—exerted a direct, binding control over the rise of sap, the fall of rain, and the continuation of earthly life itself.

Archaeology & Anthropology9 min read
Cover of The Life of Johannes Brahms (Vol 2 of 2)

The Life of Johannes Brahms (Vol 2 of 2)

Florence May

An artist's rise from hesitant ambition to enduring mastery requires patience, devotion, and an unyielding commitment to the craft. Florence May traces this quiet triumph through every performance, friendship, and score that shaped a musical titan.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Twilight

Twilight

Julia Frankau

A invalid author retreats to the English countryside, only to discover that her rest cure is haunted by the tragic lingering presence and lost manuscripts of the house's former occupant.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of A Maid at King Alfred's Court: A Story for Girls

A Maid at King Alfred's Court: A Story for Girls

Lucy Foster Madison

A displaced Saxon maiden uses her voice, her harp, and her courage to navigate the treacherous world of ninth-century England during King Alfred’s war with the Danes.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison

A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison

James E. (James Everett) Seaver

A young pioneer girl taken captive during the French and Indian War remains with the Senecas for life, choosing their quiet world over her lost heritage.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Custom and Myth

Custom and Myth

Andrew Lang

Human folklore across every continent reveals identical rituals, weird tales, and ancient habits. Beneath odd traditions lies a shared primitive mind rather than lost words or forgotten speech.

Archaeology & Anthropology7 min read
Cover of Deathworld

Deathworld

Harry Harrison

A high-stakes gambler travels to a deadly alien world where every plant, animal, and weather pattern is locked in an escalating war against human settlers.

Novels7 min read
Cover of Forty Thousand Miles Over Land and Water: The Journal of a Tour Through the British Empire and America

Forty Thousand Miles Over Land and Water: The Journal of a Tour Through the British Empire and America

Ethel Gwendoline Vincent

A world tour taken at the height of Victoria’s reign captures the physical scale of an expanding global order while recording the everyday friction, beauty, and culture shock of long-distance Victorian travel.

Travel Writing8 min read
Cover of Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 01: Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great

Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 01: Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great

Elbert Hubbard

A brisk walk through history, geography, and personal encounter reveals how human genius takes root in the quiet, everyday soil of domestic life.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches

Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches

Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Macaulay’s speeches and essays trace the relentless march of human progress, arguing that political survival demands adapting ancient institutions to an ever-evolving society.

Essays, Letters & Speeches8 min read
Cover of New Hampshire, A Poem

New Hampshire, A Poem

Robert Frost

A quiet, stubborn pride runs through a landscape where beauty refuses to be packaged for sale and where human lives are shaped by hard soil, harsh winters, and sudden sparks of wonder.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Space Viking

Space Viking

H. Beam Piper

A aristocratic wedding on the cloud-veiled world of Gram ends in blood, launching a lifelong pursuit across two hundred billion cubic light-years of collapsing galactic civilization.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The Empress Frederick: a memoir

The Empress Frederick: a memoir

Anonymous

A brilliant English princess marries the heir to the Prussian throne, only to spend decades caught between her adopted country's rigid autocratic court and her own unyielding commitment to liberal reform.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The poetry of Robert Browning

The poetry of Robert Browning

Stopford A. (Stopford Augustus) Brooke

A critical mind weighs two giant Victorian voices against each other, charting how one poet abandoned smooth English harmonies to dissect the complex, imperfect souls of forgotten times and far-off lands.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Pope, the Kings and the People: A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to the Close of the Vatican Council

The Pope, the Kings and the People: A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to the Close of the Vatican Council

William Arthur

A mid-nineteenth-century papal crusade to strip nations of secular governance and enthrone the Roman Pontiff as absolute master of the world culminates in a quiet, high-stakes parliamentary siege inside St. Peter’s.

History - European11 min read
Cover of The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Beatrix Potter

An fastidiously clean wood-mouse spends her days scrubbing her intricate underground home, only to be overwhelmed by a succession of uninvited insect guests and a large, damp toad who turns her immaculate world upside down.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Anton Tchekhov, and Other Essays

Anton Tchekhov, and Other Essays

Lev Shestov

Russian literature yields a philosophy far darker than formal dogma: when life confronts inescapable tragedy, reason crumbles and human hope quietly withers away.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of England of My Heart

England of My Heart

Edward Hutton

To walk the ancient tracks across southern England is to discover a landscape where every valley, village, and ruin bears the quiet weight of three thousand years.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Handbook of Universal Literature, From the Best and Latest Authorities

Handbook of Universal Literature, From the Best and Latest Authorities

Anne C. Lynch (Anne Charlotte Lynch) Botta

A sweeping survey of global intellectual history maps the evolution of human expression from the invention of written alphabets to nineteenth-century romanticism and scientific idealism.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference10 min read
Cover of How to Live: Rules for Healthful Living Based on Modern Science

How to Live: Rules for Healthful Living Based on Modern Science

Irving Fisher

A methodical manual for individual well-being shows how daily choices in breathing, eating, posture, and mental outlook form an essential defense against chronic disease and premature physical decline.

Health & Medicine5 min read
Cover of Legends of Loudoun: An account of the history and homes of a border county of Virginia's Northern Neck

Legends of Loudoun: An account of the history and homes of a border county of Virginia's Northern Neck

Harrison Williams

A stretch of red Virginia clay along the Potomac holds centuries of forgotten choices, where royal patents, Quaker farms, and the quiet residue of war carved out the character of a single border county.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day

Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day

Ferdinand Gregorovius

Behind the sensational scandals of the Italian Renaissance lies a human history written in official ledgers, diplomatic dispatches, and private correspondence, stripping away centuries of myth to reveal a woman governed entirely by political necessity.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of One Thousand Ways to Make a Living

One Thousand Ways to Make a Living

Harold Morse Dunphy

A practical compendium of early twentieth-century American hustle, offering hundreds of actionable schemes for ambitious workers, homesteaders, and disabled veterans seeking financial independence.

Business/Management13 min read
Cover of The Heroic Enthusiasts (Gli Eroici Furori) Part the First: An Ethical Poem

The Heroic Enthusiasts (Gli Eroici Furori) Part the First: An Ethical Poem

Giordano Bruno

A solitary seeker climbs past the world of ordinary appetite, driven by a devotion so absolute that every step upward feels like both a glorious rebirth and a slow, agonizing death.

Philosophy & Ethics7 min read
Cover of The Night-Side of Nature

The Night-Side of Nature

Catherine Crowe

Unseen forces operate just beneath our sensory awareness, revealing through visions, premonitions, and strange hauntings the persistent reality of an unseen spiritual world.

Philosophy & Ethics8 min read
Cover of The Scottish Fairy Book

The Scottish Fairy Book

Elizabeth W. (Elizabeth Wilson) Grierson

A highland realm of mischievous brownies, elusive fairies, treacherous monsters, and historical prophecy comes alive through traditional lore shaped by Scotland's rugged landscape and austerity. <Image alt="Cover of The Scottish Fairy Book featuring a fairy with butterfly wings framed by thistles" caption="The…

Mythology, Legends & Folklore6 min read
Cover of Trees Worth Knowing

Trees Worth Knowing

Julia Ellen Rogers

The delicate machinery of trees reveals itself to anyone willing to stop and observe the quiet, constant work happening right beneath the bark.

Nature/Gardening/Animals5 min read
Cover of Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages: Including a System of Vegetable Cookery

Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages: Including a System of Vegetable Cookery

William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

A century-old prescription for human vitality grounds its radical claims not in trend or dogma, but in medical testimony and strict physiological reason.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of When We Dead Awaken

When We Dead Awaken

Henrik Ibsen

Two artistically burned-out souls reunite at a Norwegian spa, attempting to reclaim their lost creative passion before ascending into the mountain mists together.

Plays/Films/Dramas6 min read
Cover of A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations: Consisting of Choice Passages from the Sacred Poetry of All Ages and Countries, Classified and Arranged, for Facility of Reference, Under Subject Headings

A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations: Consisting of Choice Passages from the Sacred Poetry of All Ages and Countries, Classified and Arranged, for Facility of Reference, Under Subject Headings

Unknown

Spiritual expression finds its highest art when religious thought meets poetic craft, elevating everyday devotion into timeless, soul-stirring literature.

Poetry9 min read
Cover of Ancient and Modern Ships, Part 1: Wooden Sailing Ships

Ancient and Modern Ships, Part 1: Wooden Sailing Ships

Holmes, George Charles Vincent, Sir

A long tree trunk drifts down an ancient river, floating far more weight than its own. From this simple realization begins the vast history of wooden vessels, spanning the Nile’s earliest reeds to the swift nineteenth-century ocean clippers.

History - Ancient6 min read
Cover of History of Halifax City

History of Halifax City

Thomas B. Akins

Founded as a cold British military stronghold in 1749, a remote northern outpost evolves into a bustling maritime capital through war, trade, and community resilience.

History - British7 min read
Cover of Index of the Project Gutenberg works of Thomas Carlyle

Index of the Project Gutenberg works of Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle

An elaborate architectural blueprint maps out a massive historical epic, capturing the vast sweep and minute detail of a Prussian king's turbulent life.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Life of John Keats

Life of John Keats

William Michael Rossetti

A delicate young poet fights against poverty, frail health, and bitter critical hostility while attempting to capture the pure essence of beauty in English verse.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Medical Jurisprudence, Volume 3 (of 3)

Medical Jurisprudence, Volume 3 (of 3)

John Ayrton Paris

A rigorous early nineteenth-century survey reveals how medical science and English law intersect to establish proof, assign guilt, and protect human life.

Health & Medicine7 min read
Cover of Nonsense Songs

Nonsense Songs

Edward Lear

Animals and everyday objects escape domestic routines to embark on grand, absurd journeys across uncharted oceans and fantastical lands, encountering bizarre creatures before vanishing into history or ending in sudden catastrophe.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Notable Voyagers, From Columbus to Nordenskiold

Notable Voyagers, From Columbus to Nordenskiold

William Henry Giles Kingston

Mariners battle uncharted oceans, treacherous currents, mutinous crews, and crushing ice fields in an expansive chronicle tracing centuries of human exploration across the globe.

Adventure9 min read
Cover of Outwitting our nerves

Outwitting our nerves

Josephine A. (Josephine Agnes) Jackson

A mind trapped by its own bodily alarms can be freed through clear logic, honest self-scrutiny, and a steady understanding of subconscious drives.

Health & Medicine6 min read