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9,354 public-domain books, summarised. Page 186 of 195.

Animals' Rights Considered in Relation to Social Progress
Henry S. Salt
The moral evolution of humanity requires us to abandon the archaic belief in a fundamental divide between mankind and the rest of the living world. True progress is measured by how we extend the Golden Rule.

Books and bidders
A. S. W. (Abraham Simon Wolf) Rosenbach
The thrill of the chase, the agony of the missed opportunity, and the quiet triumph of securing a rare manuscript define the life of a dedicated book hunter.

Missing Link
Frank Herbert
HOOK A junior investigator infiltrates a hostile alien world to save a lost survey ship, relying on his wits to outmaneuver a race of predatory, glass-building humanoids.

Negro workaday songs
Howard Washington Odum
This study gathers the itinerant music and hard-luck blues of early twentieth-century laborers, documenting a restless, traveling population through the songs they sang on chain gangs, railroads, and construction sites.

Original Short Stories
Guy de Maupassant
These masterfully crafted tales strip away the social veneers of nineteenth-century France to reveal the raw, often uncomfortable truths of the human condition.

Planet of the Damned
Harry Harrison
A desperate, high-stakes countdown forces a trained empathetic to confront a hostile alien culture, ultimately questioning the nature of humanity and the responsibilities we owe one another.

Principles of Mining: Valuation, Organization and Administration
Herbert Hoover
The practice of engineering is a complex fusion of geological science, financial strategy, and human management. This foundational text serves as a definitive guide to the rigorous, often unforgiving, realities of professional mining.

Sagas from the Far East
Unknown
The heart of these tales lies in the enduring human hunger for wonder, where ancient myths of the East travel across borders to transform into the wisdom of the steppes.

The art of music, Vol. 04 (of 14)
Unknown
This survey charts the evolution of American musical culture, tracing its development from early colonial psalmody to the rise of professional orchestras and the emergence of a distinct national voice.

The Battle of Life: A Love Story
Charles Dickens
In the quiet shadow of an old English battlefield, a father’s cynicism and a sister’s hidden sacrifice collide, revealing that the most enduring struggles are those fought within the human heart.

The English Home from Charles I. to George IV.: Its Architecture, Decoration and Garden Design
J. Alfred (John Alfred) Gotch
This architectural history chronicles the transformation of the English residence from the post-Jacobean era to the early nineteenth century, documenting how shifting tastes and social requirements reshaped the domestic landscape. It offers a meticulous survey of the evolution of design, from the rigid symmetry of…

The Grey Fairy Book
Unknown
Travel across vast landscapes and into the darkest of enchanted forests, where logic bends to the whims of fairies and the simple-hearted often outwit the cruel.

The High History of the Holy Graal
Sebastian Evans
This high-medieval romance weaves a tapestry of chivalry and spiritual yearning, following a quest for the Holy Grail that tests the limits of knightly virtue and endurance. It presents a world where the boundary between the physical and the metaphysical is thin, and where a single unanswered question can doom a…

The Key to Success
Russell H. Conwell
The path to greatness is not a destination found in textbooks or distant halls of power, but a practical art discovered through the sharp, intentional observation of the everyday world.

The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B.: Interspersed with notices of the celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh, and comprising brief memoirs of Daniel De Lisle Brock, Esq., Lieutenant E.W. Tupper, R.N., and Colonel W. De Vic Tupper
Brock, Isaac, Sir
This biography chronicles the life of a distinguished British officer, tracing his journey from the Napoleonic wars to his defining role in the defense of Canada during the War of 1812.

The Mediæval Hospitals of England
Rotha Mary Clay
The medieval hospital was rarely a place of medical cure, serving instead as a sanctuary for the weary, the aged, and the spiritually burdened. This study uncovers the quiet, compassionate history of these forgotten refuges.

The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races: An Interpretation
Sanger Brown
The fundamental impulses of early human civilization persist in the shadows of modern life, revealing a history etched in stone, myth, and ritual. By examining the evolution of phallicism and sex worship, this inquiry traces the unconscious origins of religious symbolism and its enduring, often misunderstood,…

The travels of Pedro de Cieza de Léon
Pedro de Cieza de León
A firsthand chronicle of a lost civilization, this work captures the rise and eventual dissolution of the Inca Empire through the eyes of a Spanish soldier who arrived shortly after the conquest.

A Pagan of the Hills
Charles Neville Buck
HOOK A mountain woman rejects the traditional constraints of her gender, navigating a treacherous landscape of floods, outlaws, and rival suitors with the steely independence of a forest deity.

A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga
William Walker Atkinson
Discover the hidden architecture of your own consciousness through this practical guide to self-mastery, where ancient meditative techniques meet the rigorous demands of personal development and mental discipline.

All the Sad Young Men
F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald
This collection of short stories documents the quiet, often devastating friction between youthful ambition and the inevitable hardening of the adult soul. It captures a generation caught between the remnants of an old world and the hollow, shimmering promises of a new one.

An economic interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
Charles A. (Charles Austin) Beard
A foundational work of American historiography, this investigation moves past political theory to examine the direct financial interests of the men who drafted the United States Constitution.

Becket and other plays
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
This collection of dramas explores the heavy toll of duty, the volatility of human affection, and the collision between personal conviction and the rigid demands of the state.

English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History: Designed as a Manual of Instruction
Henry Coppée
English literature is more than a collection of poems and novels; it is a vital, living record of the national spirit across the centuries. This manual maps the essential connection between the written word and the unfolding history of the English people.

Essays
Arthur Christopher Benson
A collection of biographical and critical studies, these essays explore the lives and works of writers who possess a subtle, elusive charm. They reflect on the nature of genius, failure, and the dignity of human expression.

Historical Parallels, vol. 1 (of 3)
Arthur Thomas Malkin
History repeats itself, providing a mirror in which the triumphs and failures of the past illuminate the struggles of our own time. By placing ancient narratives alongside medieval and modern accounts, these pages reveal the enduring patterns of human behavior.

Let's Get Together
Isaac Asimov
A century of fragile peace rests upon a delicate, global stalemate. When a young, suspicious agent arrives with news that the enemy has infiltrated the nation with humanoid robots, the balance of power teeters on the brink of total annihilation.

Life on a Mediaeval Barony: A Picture of a Typical Feudal Community in the Thirteenth Century
William Stearns Davis
This study offers a comprehensive, immersive reconstruction of thirteenth-century life, detailing the rigid structures, daily routines, and social hierarchies that defined a typical feudal barony.

Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, Part 1 of 2: With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870
Edward Edwards
This expansive chronicle offers a meticulous, archival record of the individuals whose private obsessions and social status fueled the creation of one of the world’s greatest repositories of human history. It maps the transition of dispersed, often vulnerable collections into the protected, permanent custody of the…

Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Third Annual Meeting: Lancaster, Pennsylvania, December 18 and 19, 1912
Unknown
A pioneering assembly of early 20th-century horticulturists meets in Pennsylvania to transform the landscape by championing the scientific cultivation of hardy nut-bearing trees.

Pirates from Piperock
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
The high-altitude town of Horse Heaven is a vertical trap of crooked saloons, where law is nonexistent and life is cheap. Two wandering drifters stumble into the mayhem, only to find themselves orchestrating the final, explosive cleanup.

Something New
P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
A stolen Egyptian scarab, a bumbling aristocrat, and a pair of resourceful Americans collide in a sprawling English country house, setting off a chain of delightfully chaotic mishaps.

The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1
Harry Furniss
The life of a professional satirist is less about the finished drawing than the relentless observation of the world, a trade where one must learn to see the sublime before twisting it into the ridiculous.

The Earliest Arithmetics in English
Unknown
The transition from Roman numerals to the Arabic system changed how humanity calculates, and this collection of early English treatises serves as a primary record of that momentous shift. These texts capture the moment when calculation moved from the counting board to the parchment, codifying the rules that…

The Fairy Ring
Unknown
This collection gathers timeless folktales and moral fables from around the world, weaving together the magic, mischief, and wonder of the oral tradition.

The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story
Gordon Hall Gerould
A long-standing narrative tradition follows a hero who pays to bury a stranger’s remains, only to have that debt repaid by a ghost who shepherds him through impossible trials and marriage.

The Market-Place
Harold Frederic
A self-made financier rises from obscurity to the heights of English society, only to find that his hard-won, predatory triumph leaves him adrift in a world of aristocratic manners he does not fully understand.

American Boy's Life of Theodore Roosevelt
Edward Stratemeyer
This portrait of a legendary leader captures the relentless drive of a man who transformed his own physical weakness into a symbol of national vitality and purpose. It serves as both a chronicle and a call to action.

Letters of John Calvin, Volume II: Compiled from the Original Manuscripts and Edited with Historical Notes
Jean Calvin
A man of intense intellect and fragile health navigates the fires of sixteenth-century Europe, using the power of the written word to anchor a movement in the face of plague, exile, and theological warfare.

Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise
P. Gerald (Percy Gerald) Sanford
This technical treatise offers a rigorous, detailed examination of the chemistry and industrial production of nitro-explosives, providing an essential snapshot of late-nineteenth-century chemical engineering. It serves as both a historical record and a comprehensive reference manual.

Quotes and Images From The Works of Charles Dudley Warner
Charles Dudley Warner
The observant wit of a nineteenth-century essayist meets the quiet frustrations of daily life in this expansive collection. Here, the humdrum of gardening and the absurdity of social conventions are laid bare with sophisticated, gentle humor.

Richard Steele: Edited, with an Introduction and Notes by G. A. Aitken
Steele, Richard, Sir
A life lived in the public eye, marked by both literary triumph and financial ruin, defines the enduring legacy of a celebrated eighteenth-century wit and playwright.

Rural Wealth and Welfare: Economic Principles Illustrated and Applied in Farm Life
Geo. T. (George Thompson) Fairchild
Economic prosperity is not a matter of chance, but the result of aligning human effort with the unchangeable laws of nature and the steady habits of industry.

Sexual Neuroses
J. T. (James Tyler) Kent
This clinical monograph examines the physiological and psychological consequences of sexual dysfunction, advocating for a rigorous, non-judgmental approach to treating conditions previously hidden by social modesty. It serves as both a medical guide and a historical document of late 19th-century attitudes toward…

The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume II
Richard Crashaw
This collection preserves the Latin and Greek verse of a seventeenth-century poet, offering a window into the intellectual and spiritual landscape of a mind caught between two worlds. It serves as a scholarly recovery of a forgotten tradition, gathering the work of a writer who moved from the rigorous Protestantism…

The Crux: A Novel
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A young woman discovers that the man she loves carries a venereal disease, forcing a painful confrontation with the hidden dangers beneath traditional courtship. This narrative serves as a stark, urgent warning about the consequences of social silence.

The early court of Queen Victoria
Clare Jerrold
A young, isolated princess matures into a queen, navigating the rigid, often hypocritical protocols of a court defined by dynastic maneuvering and personal conflict. This account strips away the hagiography of the Victorian era to reveal the human tensions behind the crown.

The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07
Unknown
This collection presents a sweeping tapestry of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, capturing the rise of modern states and the human spirit through the eyes of diverse, renowned scholars. It chronicles the transformative period that bridged the medieval world and the Renaissance.