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1,474 public-domain books, summarised. Page 20 of 31.
Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
Mark Twain
The world is a grand, chaotic, and often ridiculous place, and the best way to see it is to embrace the absurdity of your own presence within it.
The Care of Books
John Willis Clark
To see a book as a physical inhabitant of space, rather than just a vessel for words, is to understand the long, ingenious struggle to keep human knowledge from vanishing.
The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido: For the Suppression of Piracy
Keppel, Henry, Sir
The colonial frontier is a place of shifting alliances and brutal power, where a singular Englishman attempts to forge a new order from the wreckage of piracy and local intrigue.
The Complete Golfer
Harry Vardon
The golfer’s search for perfection is a lonely road, yet one paved with the wisdom of those who have mastered the swing. Here lies the definitive guide to finding that elusive, rhythmic grace on the links.
The elements of bacteriological technique
J. W. H. (John William Henry) Eyre
Precision is the gateway to understanding the invisible world, and here, every movement of the hand determines the difference between discovery and error.
The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
The restless spirit of a wanderer finds no final harbor, tracing the echoes of lost loves and the ruins of empires across the sea. To walk these pages is to step into a world where the heart is always in flight, pursued by the shadows of its own intensity.
A Daughter of the Middle Border
Hamlin Garland
The restless trail of a pioneer’s son leads him away from the fading frontier, only to find that the truest home is the one he builds within the quiet, hearth-lit sanctity of his own family.
A Bird-Lover in the West
Olive Thorne Miller
Seek the hidden lives of winged inhabitants in the untamed spaces of the American West and the lush stillness of the Middle Country. Discover that even the most common birds possess secrets, individual temperaments, and complex dramas rarely noticed by the casual traveler.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XIV, South Carolina Narratives, Part 4
United States. Work Projects Administration
These accounts offer the raw, unvarnished memories of individuals who lived through the final years of American slavery, capturing the textures of their daily survival and the profound upheaval of their transition to freedom.
The Red Triangle: Being Some Further Chronicles of Martin Hewitt, Investigator
Arthur Morrison
A secret society leaves a mark of blood upon its victims, signaling a conspiracy that stretches from the diamond houses of London to the halls of the Admiralty.
Miss Mapp
E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson
In the quiet, cobblestoned streets of Tilling, Miss Elizabeth Mapp maintains a rigid, invisible empire from her strategic garden-room window. Nothing escapes her surveillance, and everything—from a neighbor’s grocery list to a secret romance—is fuel for her relentless social machinations.
Progress and History
Unknown
The story of human advancement is not a linear march toward perfection, but a complex, often stumbling effort to harmonize our knowledge, our moral nature, and our creative will. This volume explores how humanity builds upon its past, not by erasing it, but by integrating it into a more conscious, unified future.
Benjamin Franklin
Morse, John T., Jr. (John Torrey)
The life of a man who rose from obscurity to shape the destiny of nations is rarely as simple as it seems, yet it remains the most human of all stories.
Vegetable Teratology: An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants
Maxwell T. (Maxwell Tylden) Masters
Nature occasionally abandons its blueprints, sketching wildly outside the lines to create petal-bearing stamens, spiral stems, and flowers fused into strange, singular unions.
Betty Leicester: A Story For Girls
Sarah Orne Jewett
A young girl’s summer in a quiet village teaches her that the richest adventures are often found not in travel, but in the steadfast, simple rhythm of making a home for others.
Aladdin of London
Max Pemberton
A man of the London slums reaches for a life of privilege, only to discover that the gilded doors he longs to open are built upon the same suffering he thought he was leaving behind.
Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812. Volume 2
A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan
The ocean is a vast, indifferent chessboard where national destiny is determined not by abstract ideals, but by the cold, calculated movement of wooden ships and the control of trade.
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919
Various
This collection of research and record-keeping serves as a vital archive, documenting the complex economic, social, and legal realities of Black life in America and beyond during a pivotal year of the early twentieth century. It functions not as a singular narrative, but as a chorus of voices and scholarly…
The Double Four
E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
The world of shadow and intrigue is a quiet, comfortable life—until the mail arrives, and you find you are summoned to serve a power that knows no borders.
The Parables of Our Lord
William Arnot
A profound journey through the teachings of Jesus, this work unfolds the spiritual landscapes hidden within familiar narratives, inviting the reader to look past the surface of ancient stories to find urgent, living truths.
Due West
Maturin M. (Maturin Murray) Ballou
A traveler’s keen eyes and open heart turn a ten-month journey around the globe into a vivid, permanent education. See the world through a nineteenth-century lens, where every distant shore holds a mirror to one’s own home.
Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1): From the Original Family Documents
Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, Duke of
History is often written by the victors, but it is lived by the anxious, the ambitious, and the deeply compromised.
The Building of a Book: A Series of Practical Articles Written by Experts in the Various Departments of Book Making and Distributing
Unknown
A book is far more than words on a page; it is a complex physical artifact born from the intersection of human artistry, mechanical ingenuity, and high-stakes commercial calculation.
Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries
Annie Besant
The secrets of the soul are not hidden by distance, but by the limitations of our own perception.
Jewish Literature and Other Essays
Gustav Karpeles
The spirit of a people lives in their books, a resilient, shifting, and vibrant tapestry woven through centuries of exile, inquiry, and song.
The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1: Commander in Chief of the American Forces During the War
John Marshall
The life of a nation finds its most profound mirror in the character of its first leader, whose steady hand guided a fragile experiment through the crucible of revolution.
A Book of Myths
Jean Lang
The ancient stories we tell are mirrors, reflecting both the divine aspirations of our ancestors and the unchanging, vibrant reality of the human heart. Through myth, we see that while the world shifts, our joys and sorrows remain constant.
Aurelian
William Ware
The echoes of the Roman legions fade into the quiet, urgent letters of an observer caught between two worlds, where the shifting tides of faith and power threaten to consume everyone he loves.
On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature
John Ruskin
To see the world as it truly is—in the vein of a bird's wing or the order of a mountain—is to begin a journey that no mechanical art can ever replace.
A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory
Albert Taylor Bledsoe
This work seeks to reconcile the existence of moral evil with the holiness of a divine creator, arguing that human freedom is the only logically sound explanation for the presence of sin in the world.
Insects and Diseases: A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases
Rennie Wilbur Doane
Small, silent, and often invisible, the carriers of the world’s most devastating plagues live right beside us. Understanding their secret lives is the first step toward reclaiming our health from the tiny wings and legs that spread disease.
Southern Arabia
J. Theodore (James Theodore) Bent
The sun beats down on the forgotten ruins of an ancient civilization as two explorers push into the heart of the Arabian desert, charting paths through hostile territory and shifting sands.
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1: MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2
John Locke
To understand the world, one must first understand the mind: we are not born with a library of truths, but with a blank slate waiting for experience to write upon it.
Characteristics of Women: Moral, Poetical, and Historical
Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
The female heart is a landscape of infinite variety, where Shakespeare’s heroines serve as our most eloquent guides to the hidden depths of human experience.
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I
Augustus De Morgan
A mind that loves to wander through the thickets of human error will find here a sprawling garden of intellectual misadventure.
Sketches New and Old
Mark Twain
From the absurd persistence of a man collecting a phantom beef debt to the quiet comedy of a mechanical watch, these sketches capture the hilarious, messy reality of American life in the nineteenth century.
Apologia pro vita sua
John Henry Newman
Commit thy way to the Lord and trust in Him; He will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.
The Gift of the Magi
O. Henry
Two hearts, one empty pocketbook, and a selfless impulse to give create an ironical, enduring testament to the wisdom found in sacrifice.
Three men in a boat (to say nothing of the dog)
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
It is a rare thing to find a journey so meticulously planned, so thoroughly bungled, and so deeply cherished, all within the span of a single river trip.
The Johnstown Horror!!!
James Herbert Walker
The sudden collapse of a mountain lake transforms a thriving valley into a charnel house, leaving a nation to grapple with the wreckage of thousands of lives in a single, terrifying hour.
Making People Happy
Thompson Buchanan
The struggle for a marriage is a struggle for a mission. When a young bride realizes her husband’s business consumes his soul, she decides that if she cannot be his partner, she will become his most formidable opponent.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman
Thomas Hardy
A young woman’s life is shattered by a single act of betrayal, only to be further unravelled by the rigid expectations of the man she loves and the unforgiving judgment of a world that values appearances over truth.
Frankenstein
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
The secret of life is never as simple as the spark that ignites it, nor as contained as the laboratory in which it is born.
Nights With Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation
Joel Chandler Harris
A storyteller, an observant child, and a host of resilient animals gather by the hearth to navigate the hazards of a world built on wit, appetite, and sudden reversals of fortune.
The Elements of Style
William Strunk
Clear thinking and clear writing are inseparable partners. This slender volume stands as a foundational guide for anyone who wishes to communicate with precision, offering a distillation of the principles that govern the effective use of the English language.
Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez. Vol II
Ross, John, Sir
A commander faces the fury of Napoleon’s ambitions and the shifting loyalties of Northern Europe, steering a fleet through the treacherous waters of both war and diplomacy.
A Victor of Salamis
William Stearns Davis
The iron walls of Greece are closing in, and a single, desperate runner must outpace a god-king’s army to save the future of Western civilization.
Cattle and Their Diseases: Embracing Their History and Breeds, Crossing and Breeding, and Feeding and Management
Robert Jennings
A masterclass in the nineteenth-century science of husbandry, this compendium offers the definitive guide to maintaining bovine health, from the delicate art of selecting breeding stock to the urgent administration of life-saving veterinary remedies.