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13,367 public-domain books, summarised. Page 276 of 279.

The Vision of Sir Launfal: And Other Poems by James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell
A knight abandons his hollow quest for a relic to find the divine in the service of the poor, while a collection of verse explores the intersection of nature, memory, and the moral demands of citizenship.

The Voyage Alone in the Yawl "Rob Roy"
John MacGregor
A solo sailor guides his tiny four-ton yawl through stormy channels, bustling ports, and river locks, discovering that solitary adventure demands both mechanical resourcefulness and a deep, quiet self-reliance.

The World's Great Sermons, Volume 07: Hale to Farrar
Unknown
A broad spectrum of nineteenth-century pulpit eloquence explores how eternal principles engage with practical life, human suffering, and modern progress.

Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon
Victor Appleton
An ambitious teenager sets out to safeguard the Panama Canal by engineering an unprecedented long-range weapon, contending with saboteurs, volatile explosives, and the unpredictable physics of extreme artillery.

Vermont: A Study of Independence
Rowland Evans Robinson
Hemmed in by competing colonial claims and rugged forests, a fierce mountain populace carved out an independent republic before earning its place as a cornerstone of the American Union.

Vitality Supreme
Bernarr Macfadden
Unlocking genuine bodily power requires no secret remedies, only an aggressive commitment to natural physical discipline. True personal force flows directly from robust internal health and targeted daily habits.

With the French Flying Corps
Carroll Dana Winslow
A young American enters the grueling world of early military aviation, trading civilian safety for the demanding, lethal skies of First World War France.

1914, and Other Poems
Rupert Brooke
Youth, love, and national devotion collide with mortality in a collection that moves from quiet homesickness and tropical beauty to the heroic, tragic heights of wartime sacrifice.

A Ball Player's Career: Being the Personal Experiences and Reminiscensces of Adrian C. Anson
Adrian C. (Adrian Constantine) Anson
An early star recounts his frontier upbringing, his rise to fame on the diamond, and the global travels that defined the origins of professional baseball.

A Satire Anthology
Unknown
A razor-sharp edge cuts through centuries of pretension, exposing the timeless absurdities of human vanity, greed, and cultural folly.

A Schoolmaster's Diary: Being Extracts from the Journal of Patrick Traherne, M.A., Sometime Assistant Master at Radchester and Marlton
Patrick Traherne
A idealist schoolmaster records his daily battles against the dry rigidity of British boarding schools, tracking his evolution from an eager young teacher to a devoted husband and father.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 11 to 15
Mark Twain
A boy and a runaway slave drift down the Mississippi River on a raft, seeking freedom while dodging trackers, treacherous wrecks, and the shifting dangers of the night.

An Account of Two Voyages to New-England, Made During the Years 1638, 1663
Josselyn, John, active 1630-1675
Part traveler’s journal, part herbal guide, and part colonial history, this seventeenth-century chronicle captures a world in motion with remarkable observational detail and a sharp, idiosyncratic voice.

Aristotle's works:: Containing the Master-piece, Directions for Midwives, and Counsel and Advice to Child-bearing Women with Various Useful Remedies
pseud. Aristotle
Long before modern gynecology, generations of readers sought answers to the mysteries of human reproduction and bodily health in a single, deeply practical handguide.

Benign Stupors: A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction Type
August Hoch
A psychiatric pioneer examines a mysterious state of total human withdrawal, revealing how profound mental silence is not mere decay, but a temporary psychological retreat.

Captain Kyd
J. H. (Joseph Holt) Ingraham
A proud Irish noble, stripped of his true identity by a dark trade made at his birth, forsakes his honor for a life of piracy on the high seas.

Constantinople old and new
H. G. (Harrison Griswold) Dwight
An intimate, wide-angle portrait of a imperial city on the cusp of modern collapse captures the daily rhythm, architectural majesty, and human tragedy of an empire in transition.

Danny's Own Story
Don Marquis
Abandonment, wanderlust, and small-town schemes shape a boy’s journey across the American landscape as he tries to carve out a name for himself.

Edmund Dulac's Picture-Book for the French Red Cross
Edmund Dulac
A treasure chest of international lore unfolds through dazzling tales, tragic romances, and ancient fables.

Essays in Little
Andrew Lang
Delight in the lively company of a veteran man of letters as he roams through his favorite books, champions forgotten poets, and defends the enduring magic of a well-told tale.

Greenacre Girls
Izola L. (Izola Louise) Forrester
An anxious urban family finds unexpected sanctuary, resilience, and quiet joy when forced to exchange luxury for a run-down countryside farm.

Hammer and Anvil: A Novel
Friedrich Spielhagen
Two generations clash as a headstrong youth journeys from aristocratic smuggling dens and prison walls to master the roaring iron foundries of industrial Germany.

Harry's Ladder to Learning
Anonymous
Gentle farmyard glimpses, beloved nursery rhymes, and outdoor walks weave together in a simple Victorian primer designed to guide young minds into literacy through familiar sights, seasonal shifts, and traditional verse.

Indiscreet Letters From Peking: Being the Notes of an Eye-Witness, Which Set Forth in Some Detail, from Day to Day, the Real Story of the Siege and Sack of a Distressed Capital in 1900—The Year of Great Tribulation
Unknown
The Boxer Rebellion transforms a bustling, ancient capital into a claustrophobic cage, where diplomats and soldiers trade their veneer of civilization for the raw, desperate machinery of survival.

John Lothrop Motley, A Memoir
Oliver Wendell Holmes
A brilliant, high-strung young American sets out to write the epic histories of European liberty, only to find himself entangled in the ruthless machinery of his own nation's politics.

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 88, April, 1875
Various
An eclectic mid-nineteenth-century library between two covers, this volume captures a rapidly expanding world through travelogues, theological debates, serialized drama, and domestic social history.

Literary Taste: How to Form It: With Detailed Instructions for Collecting a Complete Library of English Literature
Arnold Bennett
Cultivating a lifelong appreciation for enduring books requires systematic effort, practical strategy, and an honest engagement with the emotions driving all creative expression.

Maiwa's Revenge
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
A veteran hunter recounted by a Yorkshire hearth tells how a mother’s ferocious grief sparked a jungle war and brought down a bloodthirsty king.

Mary Queen of Scots in History
C. A. Campbell
Religious and political crosscurrents sealed the fate of a sovereign who fought for the unity of her realm, leaving a legacy shadowed by conspiracy, betrayal, and an unyielding commitment to her faith.

Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy
Stephen Leacock
A gentle satirical lens transforms everyday human absurdities and the overblown conventions of early twentieth-century life into a quiet, enduring delight.

My Country
Marie, Queen, consort of Ferdinand I, King of Romania
A royal transplant learns to love a vast, dusty realm of silent plains, carved stone crosses, and centuries of quiet endurance.

My Father as I Recall Him
Mamie Dickens
A daughter offers a gentle, affectionate portrait of her famous father in his private domestic realm, capturing his boundless energy, quiet writing habits, and warmth among his children, pets, and friends.

Not Pretty, but Precious
Unknown
Across these eleven stories, human lives pivot on small misunderstandings, quiet resentments, sudden catastrophes, and the stubborn ghosts—both literal and emotional—that haunt ordinary homes.

Retrospection and Introspection
Mary Baker Eddy
A personal awakening to spiritual law becomes the foundation for an entire religious movement.

Saunterings in and about London
Max Schlesinger
An observant foreigner strolls through Victorian London, capturing the relentless pulse of its streets, its political grandiosity, and the quirky habits of its people.

Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XVII, Virginia Narratives
United States. Work Projects Administration
Eyewitness testimony from elderly Virginians captures the brutal reality, unexpected moments of levity, and profound grief of American slavery and its turbulent aftermath.

Strange Stories
Grant Allen
Speculative science, uncanny ironies, and radical shifts of perspective converge in tales that stretch nineteenth-century reason to its absolute limits.

Tales of All Countries
Anthony Trollope
A collection of sharp, comic vignettes that transport Victorian travelers across the globe only to prove that no distance can outrun human narrow-mindedness and vanity.

The Adventures of Johnny Chuck
Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess
Spring brings a strange restlessness to the Green Meadows, driving a plump woodchuck to leave his cozy burrow, test his strength against rivals, and build a quiet family life in a distant orchard.

The Age of Justinian and Theodora: A History of the Sixth Century A.D., Volume 2 (of 2)
William Gordon Holmes
An ambitious empire attempts to reclaim its former glory through endless war, sweeping legal reform, and architectural grandeur, only to drain its people.

The Appendages, Anatomy, and Relationships of Trilobites
Percy E. (Percy Edward) Raymond
A silent, centuries-long debate over delicate fossilized limbs comes alive through painstaking empirical re-examination.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 16, February, 1859: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
A mid-nineteenth-century literary journal brings together biting social satire, political upheaval, financial chicanery, and refined textual criticism in one eclectic volume.

The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, October 1883
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
This vibrant collection of essays, lessons, and cultural dispatches serves as a time capsule for the late nineteenth-century quest for self-improvement and intellectual community.

The Christian Faith Under Modern Searchlights
William Hallock Johnson
A vigorous, erudite defense of historic Christianity that directly engages twentieth-century biology, psychology, and philosophy to show that modern science enriches rather than undermines orthodox faith.

The Elson Readers, Book 5
William H. (William Harris) Elson
A vintage Fifth Grade classroom primer weaves foundational literary classics, adventurous fables, and patriotic folklore into an instructional tool for early-twentieth-century American schoolhouses.

The Jimmyjohn Boss, and Other Stories
Owen Wister
Youth and authority collide in the high-country West, where a teenage foreman must outsmart a cabin full of rebellious, snowbound cowboys using quiet resolve, sharp wits, and an ironclad sense of timing.

The Mission to Siam, and Hué, the Capital of Cochin China, in the Years 1821-2
George Finlayson
An early nineteenth-century British envoy navigates complex royal courts and dense tropical wilderness across Southeast Asia, recording every landscape, interaction, and diplomatic impasse with meticulous empirical detail.

The Mormon Doctrine of Deity: The Roberts-Van Der Donckt Discussion: To which is added a discourse, Jesus Christ, the revelation of God
B. H. (Brigham Henry) Roberts
Two theological visions clash over a single question: is the Almighty an immaterial abstraction or an exalted man with a tangible form?