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10,588 public-domain books, summarised. Page 208 of 221.

Cover of Garden and Forest Weekly, Volume 1 No. 1, February 29, 1888

Garden and Forest Weekly, Volume 1 No. 1, February 29, 1888

Various

This inaugural issue serves as a foundational manifesto for the American conservation movement, blending the aesthetic joys of private gardening with a rigorous, scientific commitment to the preservation of the nation’s forests.

Environmental Issues6 min read
Cover of Martin Guerre: Celebrated Crimes

Martin Guerre: Celebrated Crimes

Alexandre Dumas

A man returns from war to his village, but his wife and family are soon forced to confront a terrifying possibility: the person standing in their home is not the husband who left years before.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of My Life

My Life

Richard Wagner

An artist’s life is often a storm of creative obsession, financial volatility, and the constant friction between personal genius and a world that rarely understands it.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Stories Of Ohio

Stories Of Ohio

William Dean Howells

This volume serves as an evocative, episodic chronicle of a region transitioning from primeval wilderness to a bedrock of the American identity. It offers a measured, reflective look at the human cost and triumph defining the settlement of the Ohio Valley.

Archaeology & Anthropology7 min read
Cover of The Boss, and How He Came to Rule New York

The Boss, and How He Came to Rule New York

Alfred Henry Lewis

The corrupt machinery of a city’s soul is bared in this memoir of a man who climbed from the gutter to the absolute, iron-fisted rule of Tammany Hall. It is a cold-eyed look at the intersection of power, greed, and the inevitable decay of those who hold the reins.

History - American6 min read
Cover of The Hermitage, Home of Old Hickory

The Hermitage, Home of Old Hickory

Stanley F. Horn

This account traces the life of a historic Tennessee plantation, detailing the domestic existence of its most famous resident and the eventual preservation of the estate as a national treasure.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Lost and Hostile Gospels: An Essay on the Toledoth Jeschu, and the Petrine and Pauline Gospels of the First Three Centuries of Which Fragments Remain

The Lost and Hostile Gospels: An Essay on the Toledoth Jeschu, and the Petrine and Pauline Gospels of the First Three Centuries of Which Fragments Remain

S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

A comprehensive exploration of early Christian apocryphal gospels, shedding light on their origins, content, and significance.

History - Religious5 min read
Cover of The Return

The Return

Walter De la Mare

A man’s identity is violently usurped after a chance encounter in a graveyard, leaving him to navigate a world that no longer recognizes him as himself.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The teaching of art related to the home

The teaching of art related to the home

Florence Fallgatter

This instructional bulletin serves as a practical guide for integrating aesthetic principles into vocational home economics, demonstrating that beauty is a functional necessity for every home, regardless of income. By prioritizing judgment over mere technical skill, it empowers students to transform their immediate…

Art6 min read
Cover of Violin Mastery: Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers

Violin Mastery: Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers

Frederick Herman Martens

True mastery of the violin is a journey of the mind as much as the fingers, requiring both technical discipline and the courage to find a personal voice.

Music5 min read
Cover of Blue Bonnet in Boston

Blue Bonnet in Boston

Caroline Elliott Hoogs Jacobs

This story follows a spirited, impulsive young woman as she transitions from the wide-open spaces of a Texas ranch to the structured, intellectual environment of a Boston boarding school, where she learns to navigate the delicate boundaries between youthful independence and the requirements of communal life.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Cardinal de Richelieu

Cardinal de Richelieu

Eleanor C. (Eleanor Catherine) Price

The life of Cardinal de Richelieu is a complex study of absolute power, illustrating how one man’s iron will transformed France into the leading force of seventeenth-century Europe.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Famous Indian Chiefs: Their Battles, Treaties, Sieges, and Struggles with the Whites for the Possession of America

Famous Indian Chiefs: Their Battles, Treaties, Sieges, and Struggles with the Whites for the Possession of America

Charles H. L. (Charles Haven Ladd) Johnston

This collection of biographies chronicles the lives of prominent Native American leaders, detailing their military strategies, diplomatic efforts, and the inexorable loss of their ancestral lands to European settlers.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Flying Machines: Construction and Operation: A Practical Book Which Shows, in Illustrations, Working Plans and Text, How to Build and Navigate the Modern Airship

Flying Machines: Construction and Operation: A Practical Book Which Shows, in Illustrations, Working Plans and Text, How to Build and Navigate the Modern Airship

William J. (William James) Jackman

The dream of human flight transforms into a mechanical reality through the careful application of physics, spruce wood, and engine power. This guide demystifies the early, exhilarating era of aviation for the everyday tinkerer.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals

Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals

E. Norman (Edward Norman) Gardiner

This comprehensive survey bridges the gap between archaeology and living history, examining the athletic spirit that defined Greek civilization. It serves as an essential manual for understanding how physical culture shaped the identity of the ancient world.

History - Ancient8 min read
Cover of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851

Various

This mid-century periodical captures a bustling, expansive American spirit, blending serious historical inquiry, serialized fiction, and meticulous cultural reporting into a single, vibrant portrait of 1851.

Journals6 min read
Cover of King René d'Anjou and His Seven Queens

King René d'Anjou and His Seven Queens

Edgcumbe Staley

This historical narrative examines the life of a multi-talented Renaissance prince, tracking his political fortunes and the influential women who defined his world. Through the lens of his relationships, it portrays the intersection of courtly artistry, dynastic struggle, and the turbulent realities of the…

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Lulu's Library, Volume 3 (of 3)

Lulu's Library, Volume 3 (of 3)

Louisa May Alcott

A collection of earnest, moral fables, this final volume of a classic series explores the rewards of kindness, the virtue of industry, and the quiet dignity of caring for those in need.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Original Plays, Second Series

Original Plays, Second Series

W. S. (William Schwenck) Gilbert

These theatrical works define the sharp, rhythmic wit of Victorian satire, blending absurd social observation with melodic, crystalline language. They remain vital as the bedrock of comic musical drama.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884.: A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside

Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884.: A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside

Various

This snapshot of rural life in 1884 serves as both a practical manual for the Victorian farmer and a cultural time capsule of American expansion. It captures a moment where the frontier meets the dawn of industrial agriculture.

History - American6 min read
Cover of St. Ronan's Well

St. Ronan's Well

Walter Scott

A fading Scottish village discovers that the healing waters of its new mineral spring offer no remedy for the poisonous deceits, long-buried secrets, and fragile honor of the local gentry.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of The bridge of San Luis Rey

The bridge of San Luis Rey

Thornton Wilder

When the finest bridge in Peru collapses, a scholar seeks to uncover why God chose those five specific victims to perish. This meditation explores whether life’s tragedies are random accidents or part of a divine plan.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Cliff Ruins of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-95, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 73-198

The Cliff Ruins of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-95, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 73-198

Cosmos Mindeleff

The red sandstone cliffs of Canyon de Chelly hold the silent, crumbling records of a people who once built their homes between the earth and the sky. This is an invitation to explore the architecture of a vanished world.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Paston Letters, A.D. 1422-1509. Volume 5 (of 6): New Complete Library Edition

The Paston Letters, A.D. 1422-1509. Volume 5 (of 6): New Complete Library Edition

Unknown

An intimate, unvarnished window into fifteenth-century England, these authentic letters reveal the daily struggles, legal battles, and private romances of a family rising through the ranks of the gentry.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Textbook of Theosophy

A Textbook of Theosophy

C. W. (Charles Webster) Leadbeater

The cosmos is a grand, orderly mechanism where every soul is destined for eventual perfection. This structured guide offers a clear, systematic map of human evolution across physical, astral, and mental planes.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of The Happy Hypocrite: A Fairy Tale for Tired Men

The Happy Hypocrite: A Fairy Tale for Tired Men

Beerbohm, Max, Sir

A man of legendary wickedness assumes a saintly mask to win a virtuous woman’s heart, only to discover that the soul reflects the face it chooses to wear.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of The Jumblies, and Other Nonsense Verses

The Jumblies, and Other Nonsense Verses

Edward Lear

The Jumblies and Other Nonsense Verses is a collection of imaginative, rhythmic, and absurd poetry that explores the whimsy of travel, unrequited longing, and the courage required to live differently.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Way to the West, and the Lives of Three Early Americans: Boone—Crockett—Carson

The Way to the West, and the Lives of Three Early Americans: Boone—Crockett—Carson

Emerson Hough

A historical meditation on the American frontier, this work traces the nation’s evolution through the lives of its most iconic scouts and the shifting pathways that linked the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Dick Sand: A Captain at Fifteen

Dick Sand: A Captain at Fifteen

Jules Verne

A young apprentice finds himself thrust into command of a whaling schooner after a tragic accident, leading a fragile crew through a series of harrowing betrayals and survival in the African interior. This tale of duty and resilience transforms a boy into a leader while exploring the brutal realities of human…

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Awakening of China

The Awakening of China

W. A. P. (William Alexander Parsons) Martin

The world’s oldest empire is currently undergoing a profound social transformation that renders earlier political upheavals insignificant. This movement seeks the complete renovation of a civilization that is finally breaking with its ancient past.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of The Inside Story of the Peace Conference

The Inside Story of the Peace Conference

Emile Joseph Dillon

A cynical, firsthand account of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, this work dismantles the idealistic veneer of the post-war settlement, revealing a process driven by secret agendas, petty rivalries, and the tragic incompetence of world leaders.

History - European7 min read
Cover of The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 06

The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 06

John Dryden

The Restoration stage is a theater of sharp satire, tragic grandeur, and moral complexity, where the boundaries between public virtue and private appetite are constantly tested. These collected works offer a vivid, unvarnished window into an era that treated wit as its highest currency and scandal as its favorite…

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Travels in the Interior of Africa

Travels in the Interior of Africa

Mungo Park

A young Scottish surgeon embarks on a desperate, solitary quest to map the Niger River, navigating a landscape of immense beauty, deep suspicion, and profound personal peril.**

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of British Royal Proclamations Relating to America, 1603-1783

British Royal Proclamations Relating to America, 1603-1783

Great Britain. Sovereign

This collection compiles the official royal decrees issued by the British Crown regarding its American territories from the early seventeenth century to the end of the American Revolution. These primary source documents reveal the evolving administrative and economic grip of an empire over its distant, often…

History - American7 min read
Cover of Sharps and Flats: A Complete Revelation of the Secrets of Cheating at Games of Chance and Skill

Sharps and Flats: A Complete Revelation of the Secrets of Cheating at Games of Chance and Skill

John Nevil Maskelyne

This is a cold-eyed, clinical autopsy of the gambling industry, stripping away the glamour of the card table to reveal a machinery of calculated theft. It serves as both a manual for the wary and a cautionary tale for the naive.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of The Blue Rose Fairy Book

The Blue Rose Fairy Book

Maurice Baring

These timeless tales weave together the wonder of folklore and the quiet melancholy of a storyteller who understands that magic often demands a heavy price.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Childhood of Rome

The Childhood of Rome

Louise Lamprey

The foundations of a legendary city emerge not from dry stone, but from the rhythms of daily life, the warmth of the hearth, and the shared survival of a resilient people.

Historical Novels6 min read
Cover of The Naturalist in La Plata

The Naturalist in La Plata

W. H. (William Henry) Hudson

The pampas of Argentina hide a world of teeming, intricate life that remains largely invisible to the casual traveler. This collection of observations maps the curious habits, instincts, and dramas of the creatures inhabiting those vast, silent plains.

Environmental Issues6 min read
Cover of The Smugglers: Picturesque Chapters in the Story of an Ancient Craft

The Smugglers: Picturesque Chapters in the Story of an Ancient Craft

Charles G. (Charles George) Harper

The illicit history of the British coast comes to life in this detailed account of the bold “free-traders” who defied the Crown for centuries. It captures a world where tea, brandy, and wool were worth more than human life.

History - British6 min read
Cover of The Wanderings of a Spiritualist

The Wanderings of a Spiritualist

Arthur Conan Doyle

This chronicle captures a determined evangelist’s journey across the Southern Hemisphere to spread the gospel of Spiritualism. It is a heartfelt account of personal conviction, public scrutiny, and the search for evidence of the afterlife.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Things as they are

Things as they are

Amy Carmichael

A missionary’s unvarnished account of daily life in Southern India, this work confronts the harsh realities of caste, gender inequality, and the spiritual struggle for human souls.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of Turning and Boring: A specialized treatise for machinists, students in the industrial and engineering schools, and apprentices, on turning and boring methods, including modern practice with engine lathes, turret lathes, vertical and horizontal boring machines

Turning and Boring: A specialized treatise for machinists, students in the industrial and engineering schools, and apprentices, on turning and boring methods, including modern practice with engine lathes, turret lathes, vertical and horizontal boring machines

Franklin Day Jones

This technical guide offers a detailed examination of metal-cutting practices, providing the foundational principles and operational strategies required to master engine lathes, turret lathes, and various boring machines in an industrial setting.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of Abigail Adams and Her Times

Abigail Adams and Her Times

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

This biographical portrait explores the life and partnership of an influential American figure, tracing her evolution from a minister’s daughter to the First Lady of a fledgling nation.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Ann Boyd: A Novel

Ann Boyd: A Novel

Will N. (Will Nathaniel) Harben

A woman hardened by decades of ostracism and betrayal finds an unlikely path to grace by choosing mercy over the revenge she has spent a lifetime planning.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Antarctic Penguins: A Study of Their Social Habits

Antarctic Penguins: A Study of Their Social Habits

G. Murray (George Murray) Levick

A portrait of the Adelie penguin that balances rigorous scientific inquiry with a deep, affectionate fascination for the bird's strange and surprisingly communal life at the bottom of the world.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of Camping For Boys

Camping For Boys

H. W. (Henry William) Gibson

This comprehensive manual serves as a definitive blueprint for early 20th-century boys’ camping, blending rigorous administrative discipline with a deep, earnest commitment to character development and outdoor stewardship.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Notes of a Son and Brother

Notes of a Son and Brother

Henry James

The past is a living room, meticulously furnished by memory, where brothers and kin gather in a light that never quite fades. This meditation on family serves as a luminous bridge between personal history and the American soul.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Firing Line

The Firing Line

Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

A young man’s arrival at a wealthy, sun-drenched Florida estate sparks a complex entanglement of love, social artifice, and hidden histories. Beneath the shimmering palms, he finds himself drawn to a woman whose guarded secrets threaten their fragile future.

American Literature6 min read
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