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47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 199 of 988.

Cover of The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci

The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci

Unknown

Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches serve as a direct window into a restless, universal mind that refused to see art as anything less than a branch of science. These remnants of his labor reveal the internal life of a man who saw the world as a limitless continent of inquiry.

Art7 min read
Cover of The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 09: Friedrich Hebbel and Otto Ludwig

The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 09: Friedrich Hebbel and Otto Ludwig

Unknown

A collection of nineteenth-century German masterworks, this volume explores the weight of tradition, the fragility of honor, and the moral struggles of individuals caught in the machinery of fate. It captures the tension between the inner life and the demands of a rigid, external world.

German Literature7 min read
Cover of The Old Masters and Their Pictures, For the Use of Schools and Learners in Art

The Old Masters and Their Pictures, For the Use of Schools and Learners in Art

Sarah Tytler

This survey of Western painting distills centuries of artistic evolution into a series of intimate, accessible portraits of the masters. It serves as a grounded, pedagogical introduction for anyone seeking to understand the foundational figures of European art.

Art6 min read
Cover of The Professor at the Breakfast-Table

The Professor at the Breakfast-Table

Oliver Wendell Holmes

This observant, conversational collection of essays captures the intellectual and social life of a mid-19th-century Boston boardinghouse through the eyes of a scholarly narrator. It serves as a philosophical record of a changing American identity.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Works of Lucian of Samosata

The Works of Lucian of Samosata

of Samosata Lucian

This collection is a brilliant, stinging masterclass in skepticism, showcasing the wit of a second-century Syrian intellectual who transformed satire into a scalpel for dissecting the human condition.

Classics of Literature5 min read
Cover of Twentieth Century Culture and Deportment: Or the Lady and Gentleman at Home and Abroad

Twentieth Century Culture and Deportment: Or the Lady and Gentleman at Home and Abroad

Maud C. Cooke

Mastering the nuances of social grace is a fundamental pursuit for anyone seeking to navigate the complex landscape of polite society with confidence and ease. This comprehensive guide serves as an essential roadmap for achieving that goal.

How To ...7 min read
Cover of Two Tragedies of Seneca: Medea and The Daughters of Troy: Rendered into English Verse

Two Tragedies of Seneca: Medea and The Daughters of Troy: Rendered into English Verse

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

This volume presents two pillars of Roman tragic drama, offering a window into the intense, psychological storytelling that profoundly shaped the evolution of Western theater. These works explore the terrifying limits of human passion when pushed to the point of no return.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of United States Steel: A Corporation with a Soul

United States Steel: A Corporation with a Soul

Arundel Cotter

This account traces the emergence of the world’s first billion-dollar industrial giant, arguing that organizational scale and progressive management transformed the steel industry into a stable, "souled" institution.

Business/Management6 min read
Cover of Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna

Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna

La Garde-Chambonas, Auguste Louis Charles, Comte de

This vivid memoir captures the twilight of the Napoleonic era, chronicling a moment when the crowned heads of Europe gathered in Vienna to redraw the map of the world amid an endless swirl of balls.

History - European7 min read
Cover of Botchan (Master Darling)

Botchan (Master Darling)

Soseki Natsume

A hot-headed Tokyo youth leaves the capital for a teaching post in a backwater town, only to find himself in a bruising clash with corrupt superiors and unruly students.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Contemporary Russian Novelists

Contemporary Russian Novelists

Serge Persky

This critical survey serves as a vital introduction to the giants of early 20th-century Russian literature, exploring how writers navigated the crushing weight of political censorship to capture the profound, often melancholic, national soul. It offers a window into an era where fiction functioned as a desperate,…

Russian Literature7 min read
Cover of Iphigenia in Tauris

Iphigenia in Tauris

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A priestess stranded on a distant shore must choose between the cold demands of duty and the desperate, human ache of homecoming.

German Literature6 min read
Cover of Journal of a Voyage to Brazil: And Residence There During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823

Journal of a Voyage to Brazil: And Residence There During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823

Callcott, Maria, Lady

This observant travelogue captures the raw, shifting pulse of a nation in the throes of birth, documenting the daily life and political upheaval of Brazil during its transition to independence. It serves as a candid window into a world where the old colonial order clashes with the fervor of a new, uncertain empire.

History - Modern (1750+)7 min read
Cover of Mince Pie

Mince Pie

Christopher Morley

HOOK This collection of lighthearted, observant essays celebrates the quiet rhythms of domestic life, the curiosities of the city, and the enduring comfort of a good book.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Nurse and Spy in the Union Army: The Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields

Nurse and Spy in the Union Army: The Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields

S. Emma E. (Sarah Emma Evelyn) Edmonds

** A woman sets aside her civilian life to serve as both a field nurse and a clandestine scout, navigating the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War in a series of dangerous disguises.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology

Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology

William Healy

By peering into the minds of chronic deceivers, this clinical study unravels the complex, often tragic motives behind those who weave elaborate webs of fiction to navigate their own lives.

Law & Criminology6 min read
Cover of Salve Venetia, gleanings from Venetian history

Salve Venetia, gleanings from Venetian history

F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford

This is a sweeping, elegiac exploration of the Venetian Republic’s long decline, tracing the city’s transformation from a Mediterranean powerhouse into a stage for decadence and eventual collapse. It reads as both a love letter to a vanishing world and a sharp-eyed autopsy of its political and social disintegration.

History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)6 min read
Cover of The Golden Censer

The Golden Censer

John McGovern

The golden censer of our daily life must be kept burning with the frankincense of high endeavor, for our actions in the present serve as the only reliable foundation for our eternal future.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts

The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts

Daniel Defoe

This satirical inquiry into the biography of Satan reveals a figure who is less a terrifying cosmic adversary and more a bumbling, overly busy bureaucrat whose greatest trick is convincing humanity to own its own sins.

History - Religious6 min read
Cover of The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac: Studies upon its Origin, Development, and Position in the Arthurian Romantic Cycle

The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac: Studies upon its Origin, Development, and Position in the Arthurian Romantic Cycle

Jessie L. (Jessie Laidlay) Weston

This scholarly exploration dissects the evolution of the Lancelot legend, tracing its transformation from independent folk motifs into the sprawling, interconnected Arthurian cycles familiar to modern readers.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Miraculous Medal: Its Origin, History, Circulation, Results

The Miraculous Medal: Its Origin, History, Circulation, Results

Jean-Marie Aladel

Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee! May the following pages draw hearts to follow your example of maternal tenderness and divine grace.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of The Negro in American fiction

The Negro in American fiction

Sterling A. Brown

This critical study examines the evolution of African American representation in literature, tracing how social biases and shifting political climates have shaped the fictional construction of Black identity in the United States.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Tik-Tok of Oz

Tik-Tok of Oz

L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

A girl and a mule find their way to a land where roses have human faces, and an army of sixteen officers prepares to march on the most peaceful kingdom in existence.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1973 July - December

U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1973 July - December

Library of Congress. Copyright Office

This bureaucratic ledger preserves a fleeting moment in mid-century American intellectual life. It serves as a formal record of the legal claims that sustained the livelihoods of writers, scholars, and creators during the post-war transition.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference5 min read
Cover of Antic Hay

Antic Hay

Aldous Huxley

A group of aimless London intellectuals drift through a post-war landscape of disillusionment, seeking meaning in hedonism, anatomy, and the "antic hay" of their own absurd social performances.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Apu Ollantay: A Drama of the Time of the Incas

Apu Ollantay: A Drama of the Time of the Incas

Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir

This dramatic tale of forbidden love and imperial power offers a rare window into the traditional stories of the Incas, preserved through memory and later transcribed in the Andean highlands. It explores the tension between rigid social hierarchy and the irrepressible nature of human affection.

Historical Novels6 min read
Cover of Ballads

Ballads

Robert Louis Stevenson

The sea and the mountain hold secrets that weigh heavier than any treasure, waiting to pull the living into the silence of the dead. These narratives explore the friction between ancient codes and the relentless march of fate.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century

Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century

Georgiana Fullerton

A woman caught in the tightening grip of Elizabethan religious persecution fights to hold onto her faith, her family, and the man she loves despite the looming threat of the scaffold.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "France" to "Francis Joseph I.": Volume 10, Slice 8

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "France" to "Francis Joseph I.": Volume 10, Slice 8

Various

This volume is a fragment of a monumental reference work, capturing the state of history, politics, and biography in the early 20th century. It offers a dense, authoritative survey of the French nation and the lives of various figures named Francis.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of From Immigrant to Inventor

From Immigrant to Inventor

Michael Pupin

This memoir chronicles a journey from a Serbian village to the heights of American science, tracing how an immigrant boy’s curiosity became a cornerstone of modern electrical engineering. It is an enduring testament to the power of intellectual idealism.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VII, December 1850, Vol. II

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VII, December 1850, Vol. II

Various

This expansive periodical offers a snapshot of mid-nineteenth-century intellectual life, blending literary excerpts, historical narratives, and international news. It serves as a bridge between the Victorian era’s artistic preoccupations and the burgeoning concerns of the American public.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Henry Dunbar: A Novel

Henry Dunbar: A Novel

M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

A dispossessed daughter and a fugitive father collide in a high-stakes game of identity and murder, where the weight of a fortune rests on the shadow of a man’s past.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Hilaire Belloc: No Alienated Man

Hilaire Belloc: No Alienated Man

Frederick D. Wilhelmsen

A portrait of a writer as a bastion of tradition, this study examines how one man’s deeply integrated life offers a vital alternative to the alienation of the modern age.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1861-November 1863

Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1861-November 1863

Jacob D. (Jacob Dolson) Cox

The story of the American Civil War is often told through the grand, impersonal lens of strategy and statistics. This narrative offers a rare, ground-level perspective from a leader who served with distinction from the war's first shots through the pivotal campaigns of 1863.

Biographies8 min read
Cover of Principles of Freedom

Principles of Freedom

Terence J. (Terence Joseph) MacSwiney

The call to liberty is not a distant aspiration for the future but a demanding, daily discipline of the soul. This collection of essays serves as a rigorous manifesto for those who believe that a nation’s freedom is forged through the private integrity of its individual citizens.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Shadow and Light: An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century

Shadow and Light: An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs

A life of restless industry, this memoir charts a journey from the constraints of pre-Civil War America to the halls of international diplomacy, championing the necessity of self-reliance for the advancement of a people.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Sixteen years in Siberia: Some experiences of a Russian revolutionist

Sixteen years in Siberia: Some experiences of a Russian revolutionist

L. G. (Lev Grigor'evich) Deich

An accidental arrest in Germany begins a harrowing odyssey for a Russian revolutionary, leading to a long, forced march into the heart of the Siberian penal system and a persistent, years-long struggle for liberation.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918

Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918

J. F. C. (John Frederick Charles) Fuller

The tank emerges in this account not merely as a weapon, but as a mechanical revolution that permanently shattered the stalemate of trench warfare. It remains a foundational text for understanding the birth of mechanized combat and the industrialization of the battlefield.

History - Modern (1750+)6 min read
Cover of The Brighton Road: The Classic Highway to the South

The Brighton Road: The Classic Highway to the South

Charles G. (Charles George) Harper

This chronicle traces the evolution of the road from London to Brighton, capturing the transition from the golden age of coaching to the dawn of the motor-car.

History - British6 min read
Cover of The Gods of Mars

The Gods of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs

A legendary warrior returns to a hostile world to rescue his missing wife, only to discover a terrifying, ancient conspiracy hidden beneath the planet’s surface.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Hudson: Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention

The Hudson: Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention

Wallace Bruce

This guide captures the majestic course of the Hudson River, weaving together natural wonders, Revolutionary lore, and the progress of nineteenth-century engineering. It serves as a comprehensive companion for those tracing the river from its mountain springs to the sea.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Charles Baudelaire, His Life

Charles Baudelaire, His Life

Théophile Gautier

This portrait of a poet captures the intersection of art and agony, depicting a man who navigated the shadows of 19th-century Paris with a temperament as complex as his verse. It is a rare, intimate look at the life and mind of a literary master.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of How to Study Architecture

How to Study Architecture

Charles H. (Charles Henry) Caffin

Tracing the evolution of human history through the stone and mortar of its most significant monuments, this guide offers a clear, systematic path for understanding how architectural style reflects the shifting values of civilization.

Architecture7 min read
Cover of Melville and Co.'s Directory and Gazetteer of Norwich, Yarmouth, Dereham, Swaffham, Wymondham, Fakenham, Thetford, Attleborough, Aylsham, Diss, Reepham, Foulsham, Hingham, &c

Melville and Co.'s Directory and Gazetteer of Norwich, Yarmouth, Dereham, Swaffham, Wymondham, Fakenham, Thetford, Attleborough, Aylsham, Diss, Reepham, Foulsham, Hingham, &c

F. R. Melville & Co.

A meticulous mapping of mid-nineteenth-century East Anglia, this volume serves as a comprehensive inventory of the towns, trades, and social infrastructure of Norfolk and Suffolk at the height of the Victorian era.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of Miss Billy

Miss Billy

Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter

This story of a young woman adjusting to the realities of marriage explores the delicate machinery of domestic life with humor and emotional honesty. It captures the transition from the dream of romance to the practical challenges of keeping a home and a heart steady.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Pink and White Tyranny: A Society Novel

Pink and White Tyranny: A Society Novel

Harriet Beecher Stowe

A marriage built on deception becomes a suffocating trap for a man of principle and a woman who views herself as the only idol worthy of worship. This domestic drama dissects the devastating collision between romantic illusion and harsh reality.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Arena, Volume 4, No. 19, June, 1891

The Arena, Volume 4, No. 19, June, 1891

Various

HOOK This collection captures the urgent, fractious spirit of the American Gilded Age, where visionary reforms and profound social anxieties collide in the pages of a radical monthly journal.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of 1914

1914

French, John Denton Pinkstone, Earl of Ypres

A first-hand account of the opening months of the Great War, detailing the strategic movements, agonizing retreats, and critical command decisions of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914.

History - British6 min read