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8,211 public-domain books, summarised. Page 166 of 172.

Cover of Heads and tales

Heads and tales

Unknown

Animals and humans have shared space for centuries, but their stranger, sweeter, and more comical intersections are rarely recorded in official histories.

Humour7 min read
Cover of Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Volume 2 (of 2): Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs

Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Volume 2 (of 2): Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs

Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird

A lone woman rides through the high passes of nineteenth-century Persia and Ottoman Kurdistan, recording with unyielding stamina and cool precision a rugged world of mountain strongholds and ancient Christian enclaves.

Travel Writing6 min read
Cover of Parents and children

Parents and children

Charlotte M. (Charlotte Maria) Mason

Spiritual depth and physical habit meet in this timeless Victorian study of parentage, where guiding a child's character is framed as both a divine trust and an exact daily science.

Parenthood & Family Relations7 min read
Cover of Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise

Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise

David Graham Phillips

A young woman casts off her family's shame and the brutal limits of small-town hypocrisy, choosing the perilous freedom of the road, the factory, and the stage over a life surrendered to other people's terms.

American Literature19 min read
Cover of The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His Time

The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His Time

David Masson

A blind Latin Secretary dictates political pamphlets in defense of a failing republic, while the military dictatorship around him collapses into royalist restoration. Beneath the grand political machinery of seventeenth-century England runs the intimate, unyielding record of a scholar's quiet labor.

Biographies11 min read
Cover of The Magic of the Horse-shoe, with other folk-lore notes

The Magic of the Horse-shoe, with other folk-lore notes

Robert Means Lawrence

A detailed comparative examination reveals how ancient pagan symbols, bodily functions, and ordinary domestic materials evolved into the modern world's most enduring protective charms and superstitious habits.

History - Other5 min read
Cover of The Opera: A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory

The Opera: A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory

R. A. (Richard Alexander) Streatfeild

Opera emerged in early seventeenth-century Italy, crossed the Alps into Germany, and transformed from courtly experiments into a global dramatic movement shaped by shifting artistic ideals, theatrical revolutions, and passionate rivalries.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of The Story of Lewis Carroll: Told for Young People by the Real Alice in Wonderland

The Story of Lewis Carroll: Told for Young People by the Real Alice in Wonderland

Isa Bowman

A gentle, intimate portrait of a legendary author, written by a child he once took under his wing, revealing the quiet, whimsical man behind the famous name.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 2 of 9]

The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 2 of 9]

William Shakespeare

Five distinct worlds of desire, deception, and renewal collide across these early plays, where quick-witted heroines and foolish suitors discover how easily human hearts are won, lost, and reclaimed.

British Literature9 min read
Cover of Hebrew Literature

Hebrew Literature

Unknown

Through a meticulous assembly of rabbinic law, mystical arcanum, and liturgical song, this compilation unveils the intellectual and spiritual foundations of the Jewish tradition.

Literature - Other7 min read
Cover of History of the Reign of Philip the Second King of Spain, Vol. 3: And Biographical & Critical Miscellanies

History of the Reign of Philip the Second King of Spain, Vol. 3: And Biographical & Critical Miscellanies

William Hickling Prescott

In the craggy folds of Andalusia, an entire people rises against the iron grip of Spanish intolerance, setting off a war that shakes an empire to its core.

History - European6 min read
Cover of Indian Currency and Finance

Indian Currency and Finance

John Maynard Keynes

In the early twentieth century, an intricate system of gold, silver, and paper money bound the economy of India to global financial markets.

Economics6 min read
Cover of John Thorndyke's Cases: related by Christopher Jervis and edited by R. Austin Freeman

John Thorndyke's Cases: related by Christopher Jervis and edited by R. Austin Freeman

R. Austin (Richard Austin) Freeman

A medical jurist and his loyal companion unravel London’s most bewildering crimes using microscope lenses, chemical reagents, and rigorous physical logic.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Lord Randolph Churchill

Lord Randolph Churchill

Winston Churchill

A fiery aristocratic renegade seizes control of Victorian politics through sheer audacity, only to see his meteoric rise collapse in a single miscalculated moment of resignation.

Biographies10 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 grand scientific expedition unfolds across South America, replacing outdated mythologies with precise barometric readings, physical observations, and the stunning reality of equinoctial nature.

Science - Biology9 min read
Cover of Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics

Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics

C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis

A soul trapped between the horror of earthly war and the pull of distant beauty seeks a way out through myth and dream.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Deipnosophists

The Deipnosophists

of Naucratis Athenaeus

Gathered around a table in ancient Rome, a host of scholars and connoisseurs spend endless evenings trading poetry, debating etiquette, and dissecting the nuances of food, wine, and song.

Classics of Literature8 min read
Cover of The Man Who Was Afraid

The Man Who Was Afraid

Maksim Gorky

Money, pride, and an aching conscience tear a young merchant apart along the banks of the Volga River.

Novels7 min read
Cover of The Russian Army and the Japanese War, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being Historical and Critical Comments on the Military Policy and Power of Russia and on the Campaign in the Far East

The Russian Army and the Japanese War, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being Historical and Critical Comments on the Military Policy and Power of Russia and on the Campaign in the Far East

A. N. (Alekseĭ Nikolaevich) Kuropatkin

A commander who held the highest post in the field steps forward to account for a catastrophic military collapse, laying bare the structural rot and political folly that turned an empire’s army into a defeated force.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 2 (of 3)

The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 2 (of 3)

Aegineta Paulus

A manual of practical operative logic, clinical pathology, and systemic therapeutics compiled by a Byzantine physician and exhaustively annotated by a nineteenth-century scholar.

Health & Medicine11 min read
Cover of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 22: Juvenilia and Other Papers

The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 22: Juvenilia and Other Papers

Robert Louis Stevenson

A young writer tests his voice across history, light, landscapes, and war games, leaving a paper trail of brilliant early craft.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India

A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India

Robert Sewell

A metropolis of unbelievable wealth and military might vanishes into ruin, erased from memory until two forgotten Portuguese travelogues resurrect its lost world.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04

A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04

Voltaire

An encyclopedic survey of human folly dismantles religious dogmas, historical myths, and philosophical absurdities to expose the cruelty of absolute certainty. It champions practical reason and simple virtue over theological dictates and brutal state persecutions.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of Canadian Postal Guide

Canadian Postal Guide

Canada. Post Office Department

Across a vast and rugged wilderness, a network of couriers, steamships, and local postmasters transformed isolated colonial outposts into an interconnected nation.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of In Darkest Africa, Vol. 2

In Darkest Africa, Vol. 2

Henry M. (Henry Morton) Stanley

A relentless march through swamp, forest, and mountain reveals how easily human authority unravels when stripped of its familiar borders.

History - Modern (1750+)8 min read
Cover of The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

Arthur Conan Doyle

A summer heatwave in London brings Sherlock Holmes a dark, visceral mystery: a respectable spinster receives a yellow cardboard box in the post containing two severed human ears packed in coarse salt.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The book of the ladies: Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Régime

The book of the ladies: Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Régime

Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme

A courtier’s eye captures the grand, tumultuous spectacle of Renaissance Europe through the royal women who held its thrones and shaped its political destiny.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of The City of the Mormons

The City of the Mormons

Henry Caswall

A frontier river trip becomes an eyewitness exposure of religious delusion when an English clergyman crosses the Mississippi to confront a self-proclaimed prophet face-to-face.

History - American6 min read
Cover of The Curiosities of Dudley and the Black Country, From 1800 to 1860: Also an Account of the Trials and Sufferings of Dud Dudley, with His Mettallum Martis: Etc

The Curiosities of Dudley and the Black Country, From 1800 to 1860: Also an Account of the Trials and Sufferings of Dud Dudley, with His Mettallum Martis: Etc

C. F. G. Clark

Black Country coal pits, roaring blast furnaces, and furious parliamentary elections come alive through archival local notices, mid-century electoral rolls, and seventeenth-century metallurgical treatises.

History - British7 min read
Cover of The Lost Continent

The Lost Continent

C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne

Before the great island sank beneath the waves, its rulers grew so arrogant they challenged the Gods themselves.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The suppressed Gospels and Epistles of the original New Testament of Jesus the Christ, Complete

The suppressed Gospels and Epistles of the original New Testament of Jesus the Christ, Complete

William Wake

An expansive collection of early Christian writings reveals the vibrant, unstandardized landscape of faith before central authorities drew rigid boundaries around sacred scripture.

History - Religious6 min read
Cover of Archimedes

Archimedes

Heath, Thomas Little, Sir

Long before modern calculus gave formal language to the infinite, an ancient thinker weighed geometric shapes on imaginary levers and counted the grains of sand required to fill the universe.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Extinct Monsters: A Popular Account of Some of the Larger Forms of Ancient Animal Life

Extinct Monsters: A Popular Account of Some of the Larger Forms of Ancient Animal Life

H. N. (Henry Neville) Hutchinson

Enormous ancient skeletons once sparked legends of giants and dragons. Unearthing these remains transformed old fables into the rigorous science of paleontology, revealing an era when massive reptiles and giant mammals ruled the primeval earth.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of Hunting in Many Lands: The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club

Hunting in Many Lands: The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club

Unknown

Across vast wild terrains, hunters share tales of pursuit, physical peril, and rugged wilderness, ultimately turning their sights toward wildlife conservation and the defense of public lands.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Illuminated Manuscripts

Illuminated Manuscripts

John William Bradley

A meticulous, sweeping history traces how hand-written books transformed from plain Roman scripts into lavishly gilded masterpieces across a thousand years.

Art5 min read
Cover of Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris, or, A garden of all sorts of pleasant flowers which our English ayre will permitt to be noursed vp: a kitchen garden of all manner of herbes, rootes & fruites for meate or sauce vsed with vs, and, an orchard of all sorte of fruitbearing trees and shrubbes fit for our land, together with the right orderinge, planting & preseruing of them and their vses & vertues

Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris, or, A garden of all sorts of pleasant flowers which our English ayre will permitt to be noursed vp: a kitchen garden of all manner of herbes, rootes & fruites for meate or sauce vsed with vs, and, an orchard of all sorte of fruitbearing trees and shrubbes fit for our land, together with the right orderinge, planting & preseruing of them and their vses & vertues

John Parkinson

An English garden designed in the early seventeenth century is an earthly copy of Paradise, a deliberate gathering of God’s creations brought together under variable skies to delight the senses and sustain the household.

History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)18 min read
Cover of Rupert of Hentzau: From The Memoirs of Fritz Von Tarlenheim: Sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda

Rupert of Hentzau: From The Memoirs of Fritz Von Tarlenheim: Sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda

Anthony Hope

A lost love letter, an intercepted courier, and a dead king’s substitute spark a desperate, silent war in the dark corridors of Ruritania.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Sawdust & Spangles: Stories & Secrets of the Circus

Sawdust & Spangles: Stories & Secrets of the Circus

W. C. (William Cameron) Coup

Behind the painted wagons, glittering acts, and roaring menageries lies a brutal nineteenth-century trade defined by mud, runaway trains, and fierce commercial battles.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of The Chaldean account of Genesis

The Chaldean account of Genesis

George Smith

Long before Hebrew scribes set pen to parchment, ancient Mesopotamians pressed tales of world-shattering floods, primordial chaos, and hubristic towers into raw clay tablets.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The music of the spheres

The music of the spheres

Florence Armstrong Grondal

Ancient myths and modern astrophysics converge across the night sky, transforming the static dome of stars into a living theater of legend, physical law, and cosmic history.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of The Rāmāyana, Volume 1. Bālakāndam and Ayodhyākāndam

The Rāmāyana, Volume 1. Bālakāndam and Ayodhyākāndam

Valmiki

A righteous prince is exiled on the eve of his coronation to fulfill an old promise, trading his crown for a forest life while his family and kingdom fracture in his absence.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore8 min read
Cover of The Tempest

The Tempest

William Shakespeare

A exiled duke uses tempestuous magic to draw his betrayers to an enchanted island, orchestrating a series of reckonings, illusions, and unexpected romances to reclaim his lost title.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Comprehensive History of Norwich

A Comprehensive History of Norwich

A. D. Bayne

A dense, vibrant urban portrait reveals how a singular East Anglian city grew from an ancient Celtic settlement into a powerhouse of medieval industry, religious zeal, and modern civic ambition.

History - British10 min read
Cover of Botany: The Science of Plant Life

Botany: The Science of Plant Life

Norman Taylor

A clear-eyed journey into the hidden mechanics of the plant world reveals how vegetation feeds, moves, reproduces, and shapes the planet.

Science - Biology6 min read
Cover of Hania

Hania

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Youthful passion, bitter rivalry, and tragic misunderstanding collide against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Polish estate life, where an idealistic young noble loses the woman he loves to his charismatic Tartar friend.

Historical Novels7 min read
Cover of Monarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to date

Monarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to date

Edw. Le Roy (Edward Le Roy) Rice

An exhaustive biographical encyclopedia of American blackface minstrelsy, this 1911 reference work documents hundreds of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century performers, troupes, and theatrical innovations through concise, data-rich entries.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A quiet reckoning with human frailty, these classic short stories measure the weight of pride, secret guilt, and the elusive nature of perfection.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Primitive & Mediaeval Japanese Texts: Transliterated into Roman with introductions, notes and glossaries

Primitive & Mediaeval Japanese Texts: Transliterated into Roman with introductions, notes and glossaries

Unknown

A early-Japanese textual voyage through ancient imperial long-lays, folk tales, courtly prefaces, and drama.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore5 min read
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