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47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 257 of 988.

Cover of The Visigothic code

The Visigothic code

S. P. (Samuel Parsons) Scott

This collection of ancient legislation offers a stark, unvarnished window into the transition of a nomadic people into a structured, theocratic society governed by the rule of law.

History - European7 min read
Cover of The Works of the Right Honourable John, Earl of Rochester: Consisting of Satires, Songs, Translations, and other Occasional Poems

The Works of the Right Honourable John, Earl of Rochester: Consisting of Satires, Songs, Translations, and other Occasional Poems

Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of,

A brilliant, biting exploration of human folly, desire, and the fragility of reason, this collection captures the restless energy of a mind unwilling to be tamed by convention.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Torrent of Portyngale

Torrent of Portyngale

Unknown

A knight faces giants, dragons, and the cruel whims of fate to reclaim his lost family. This medieval romance charts a hero’s journey from humble service to the heights of kingly honor.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Triumphs of Invention and Discovery in Art and Science

Triumphs of Invention and Discovery in Art and Science

J. Hamilton (James Hamilton) Fyfe

The path of progress is rarely a straight line; it is a long, winding, and often lonely road forged by individuals who trade comfort for the pursuit of a vision. This volume chronicles the lives and struggles of the pioneers whose inventions and discoveries quietly reshaped the modern world.

Art6 min read
Cover of Venus Equilateral

Venus Equilateral

George O. (George Oliver) Smith

A brilliant engineer and his team maintain the vital communications relay station orbiting between Earth and Venus, navigating corporate espionage, cosmic piracy, and the destabilizing arrival of life-changing technology.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Vision House

Vision House

C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson

Marriage as a high-stakes transaction leads two unlikely partners into a web of ambition, pride, and hidden motives. Beneath the veneer of British aristocratic society and the dramatic atmosphere of the American West, a young actress and a "bounder" of a soldier fight to redefine their futures.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of With an Ambulance During the Franco-German War: Personal Experiences and Adventures with Both Armies, 1870-1871

With an Ambulance During the Franco-German War: Personal Experiences and Adventures with Both Armies, 1870-1871

Charles Edward Ryan

In the shadow of a continental conflict, a medical volunteer navigates the wreckage of war, witnessing the collision of human suffering and cold military machinery.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of 35 Sonnets

35 Sonnets

Fernando Pessoa

The gap between what we feel and what we can express is the primary tragedy of the human condition. In these verses, the struggle to reconcile the internal soul with the external world reveals that our true selves remain forever inaccessible, even to ourselves.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of A manual of pronunciation

A manual of pronunciation

Otis Ashmore

Speech is the primary vessel of our culture, yet it is fraught with hidden traps. This practical guide serves as an anchor for those seeking to refine their articulation and align their habits with the standard usage of the early twentieth century.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of A Short History of the United States for School Use

A Short History of the United States for School Use

Edward Channing

This survey of American history provides a sober, structured overview of the nation's development from colonial settlement to the brink of the twentieth century. It prioritizes institutional growth and political shifts over colorful anecdotes, focusing on the formation of government, the expansion of territory, and…

History - American6 min read
Cover of A Traveler at Forty

A Traveler at Forty

Theodore Dreiser

An American writer sets out to encounter the Old World, armed only with a notebook, an insatiable curiosity, and a companion who serves as his worldly guide through the intricate, often melancholic landscapes of early 20th-century Europe.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of A treatise on the origin, progress, prevention, and cure of dry rot in timber

A treatise on the origin, progress, prevention, and cure of dry rot in timber

Thomas Allen Britton

A profound, persistent enemy of structural integrity, the silent decay known as dry rot claims timber with a speed that defies expectation. This investigation illuminates the biological mechanics of wood-destroying fungi and the practical strategies for their permanent eradication.

Architecture6 min read
Cover of Allopathy and Homoeopathy Before the Judgment of Common Sense!

Allopathy and Homoeopathy Before the Judgment of Common Sense!

Frederick Hiller

The medical landscape of the nineteenth century serves as a battlefield where the established, traditional practices of Allopathy collide with the rising, controversial, and systematic approach of Homoeopathy. This polemical work serves as both a biography and a manifesto, arguing that the medical profession must…

Drugs/Alcohol/Pharmacology7 min read
Cover of Bunch Grass: A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch

Bunch Grass: A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch

Horace Annesley Vachell

HOOK This collection captures the vanishing spirit of the California frontier, where the law was often a matter of personal resolve and the landscape itself demanded a brutal kind of survival.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Cecil Rhodes, Man and Empire-Maker

Cecil Rhodes, Man and Empire-Maker

Radziwill, Catherine, Princess

This account traces the decline of an empire-builder, charting how personal hubris and political miscalculation dismantled the influence of a man once considered the uncrowned king of Southern Africa.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Child Whispers

Child Whispers

Enid Blyton

A collection of whimsical verse that captures the fleeting, imaginative world of childhood, where fairies dwell in teacups and common household frustrations bloom into magical, sometimes naughty, adventures.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Count Luckner, the Sea Devil

Count Luckner, the Sea Devil

Luckner, Felix, Graf von

A charismatic German aristocrat turns to piracy during the First World War, outfoxing the British navy with a blend of audacious deception and old-fashioned seamanship. This account captures the singular exploits of a man who treated global warfare as a grand, gentlemanly adventure.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Explanation of Catholic Morals: A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals

Explanation of Catholic Morals: A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals

John H. (John Henry) Stapleton

A systematic guide to the complexities of ethical life, this work offers a clear, structured framework for navigating the moral demands of faith in a secularizing world.

Philosophy & Ethics5 min read
Cover of Field, Forest and Farm: Things interesting to young nature-lovers, including some matters of moment to gardeners and fruit-growers

Field, Forest and Farm: Things interesting to young nature-lovers, including some matters of moment to gardeners and fruit-growers

Jean-Henri Fabre

The natural world is an intricate machine of interconnected lives, where every insect, bird, and blade of grass serves a purpose in the farmer’s harvest and the earth’s own renewal.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of Food Poisoning

Food Poisoning

Edwin O. (Edwin Oakes) Jordan

This technical overview examines the diverse biological and chemical origins of food-borne illness. It serves as a foundational study of the pathogens, toxins, and dietary imbalances that threaten human health.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of Frondes Agrestes: Readings in 'Modern Painters'

Frondes Agrestes: Readings in 'Modern Painters'

John Ruskin

To see nature clearly is an act of moral and spiritual awakening, transforming the way we perceive the world around us. This curated collection of meditations invites the reader to look beyond mere surface appearances, finding instead the divine architecture hidden in the clouds, mountains, and flowers.

Art6 min read
Cover of Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887

Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887

Various

The Victorian era spoke to its children through a vibrant, bustling marketplace of morality, wonder, and mechanical ingenuity. This surviving fragment offers a rare, unfiltered glimpse into the curated imagination of the late nineteenth century.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Isaac Watts

These hymns invite the reader into a devotional landscape of fervent theology, where the weight of human frailty meets the overwhelming promise of divine grace. They remain a foundational pillar of English hymnody, enduring through their blend of rigorous biblical scholarship and deeply personal, lyrical intensity.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of In good company

In good company

Coulson Kernahan

This collection of personal recollections offers a warm, intimate window into the lives of notable literary and historical figures at the turn of the twentieth century. It serves as a bridge to a bygone era of English intellectual life.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Jack Haydon's Quest

Jack Haydon's Quest

John Finnemore

HOOK A young athlete’s routine life is upended by a mysterious threat, launching an international hunt that takes him from the English countryside to the perilous, hidden depths of the Burmese jungle.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin

Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin

Robert Louis Stevenson

This portrait of a Victorian polymath captures a man of intense intellectual vigor, unwavering moral conviction, and persistent curiosity. It is a thoughtful exploration of a life defined by professional innovation and the commerce of friendship.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814 or the First American Settlement on the Pacific

Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814 or the First American Settlement on the Pacific

Gabriel Franchère

A journey to the edge of the world, this chronicle recounts the birth and collapse of the first American outpost on the Pacific, charting a course through survival, corporate ambition, and the wild frontier of the early 1800s.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Of Gardens: An essay

Of Gardens: An essay

Francis Bacon

Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, providing a necessary refreshment for the spirit that no palace or building can match. It is the ultimate expression of civility and elegant living.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Pistol marksmanship

Pistol marksmanship

United States. Marine Corps

HOOK This technical manual outlines the precise mechanical operations and tactical discipline required to master the M9 service pistol in high-stakes combat environments.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of Poems we all love

Poems we all love

Unknown

This collection serves as a moral compass for the early twentieth-century reader, gathering verse that champions resilience, faith, and the quiet dignity of a life lived for others. It offers a meditative survey of the human condition, framing life’s inevitable hardships not as reasons for despair, but as essential…

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Practical Exercises in English

Practical Exercises in English

Huber Gray Buehler

Effective writing is not a matter of abstract knowledge, but a habit of choice formed through consistent practice.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of Queed: A Novel

Queed: A Novel

Henry Sydnor Harrison

A socially inept, reclusive scholar is forced to abandon his self-imposed isolation and rigid schedule when he enters the messy, demanding, and ultimately transformative world of human relationships.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Salvador of the Twentieth Century

Salvador of the Twentieth Century

Percy F. (Percy Falcke) Martin

A detailed, period-specific survey of El Salvador at the dawn of the twentieth century, this work captures the nation’s infrastructure, political climate, and evolving international economic ties.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Six Months in Mexico

Six Months in Mexico

Nellie Bly

A young journalist travels south to document a foreign land, finding that the most vibrant stories are not in the guidebooks, but in the streets, markets, and homes of the people.

Travel Writing6 min read
Cover of Talks About Flowers

Talks About Flowers

Wellcome, M. D., Mrs.

The simple act of planting a seed can transform a lonely home into an Eden of beauty. By nurturing the earth, one finds a quiet, divine gladness that transcends the struggles of daily life.

Essays, Letters & Speeches5 min read
Cover of Ten years' digging in Egypt, 1881-1891

Ten years' digging in Egypt, 1881-1891

W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders) Petrie

This account of a decade spent unearthing the remnants of ancient civilizations serves as a bridge between technical archaeological record and the curiosity of the educated general reader.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Age of Tennyson

The Age of Tennyson

Hugh Walker

This comprehensive literary history captures the intellectual ferment of mid-nineteenth-century England, tracing the evolution of its most prominent poets, novelists, and thinkers.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 60, October, 1862: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 60, October, 1862: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

Various

The American autumn holds a singular, haunting brilliance that remains largely absent from the literature of the Old World. These pages capture the seasonal transition, blending observations of the natural world with the urgent realities of a nation at war.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Book of Noodles: Stories of Simpletons

The Book of Noodles: Stories of Simpletons

W. A. (William Alexander) Clouston

Across centuries and continents, these tales of blunderers and simpletons reveal how human absurdity remains a constant, shared language of laughter.

Humour6 min read
Cover of The Classification of Patents

The Classification of Patents

United States. Patent Office

To build a system capable of organizing the infinite ingenuity of human invention requires more than just filing cabinets; it demands a rigorous, logical philosophy of how machines, processes, and ideas relate to one another.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists of Alabama: Their Leaders and Their Work

The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists of Alabama: Their Leaders and Their Work

Charles Octavius Boothe

This volume serves as a foundational historical record of the institutional development, educational mission, and collective leadership of African American Baptists in Alabama during the late nineteenth century. Through meticulous documentation, it captures the transition from the era of enslavement to the…

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause and Consequences

The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause and Consequences

Barrow, John, Sir

The tragic, true tale of the Bounty endures as a profound study of human frailty, maritime discipline, and the unlikely birth of a moral society in the remote corners of the Pacific.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Human Chord

The Human Chord

Algernon Blackwood

A small, unassuming man is recruited to a remote mansion to participate in a dangerous experiment where sound acts as a key to cosmic, reality-altering power. He finds himself caught between the allure of becoming a god and the simple, grounding weight of human love.

Novels7 min read
Cover of The Life of George Cruikshank in Two Epochs, Vol. 2. (of 2)

The Life of George Cruikshank in Two Epochs, Vol. 2. (of 2)

Blanchard Jerrold

A vibrant, mercurial artist transforms from a celebrated social satirist into a zealous teetotaling moralist, navigating the peaks of Victorian fame and the valleys of professional isolation.

Art6 min read
Cover of The Middle English Poem, Erthe Upon Erthe

The Middle English Poem, Erthe Upon Erthe

Unknown

The earth we walk upon is the same earth that will eventually cover us, a cycle of dust that renders human pride both fragile and fleeting.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Money Master, Complete

The Money Master, Complete

Gilbert Parker

A man who prides himself on his wisdom discovers, through the collapse of his home and fortune, that his greatest weakness is the very vanity he mistakes for philosophy.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The new frontiers of freedom from the Alps to the Ægean

The new frontiers of freedom from the Alps to the Ægean

E. Alexander (Edward Alexander) Powell

The world map is redrawn in the wake of the Great War, and the shifting lines of the new frontiers create a landscape of fragile hope and lingering bitterness. This account captures the restless, chaotic spirit of a continent struggling to find its footing after the collapse of four great empires.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Organism as a Whole, from a Physicochemical Viewpoint

The Organism as a Whole, from a Physicochemical Viewpoint

Jacques Loeb

Living organisms are not mystical entities, but complex machines whose functions—from reproduction to development—can be decoded through the rigorous laws of chemistry and physics.

Science - Biology6 min read