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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 287 of 714.

The Radio Boys at Ocean Point
Allen Chapman
Four teenage radio enthusiasts turn their amateur wireless hobby into a tool for justice and maritime rescue during a summer of high-stakes outdoor adventure.

The Roman Pronunciation of Latin: Why We Use It and How to Use It
Frances E. (Frances Ellen) Lord
Restoring the authentic sound of Latin is a project of historical recovery, bridging the gap between the printed page and the living, rhythmic speech of the ancient Roman world.

The Sanskrit drama
Arthur Berriedale Keith
The ancient theaters of India remain alive through a sophisticated tradition of performance, poetic theory, and moral philosophy. This comprehensive study reconstructs the evolution of the Sanskrit drama from its early, mysterious origins to its mature, classical brilliance.

The Spinster Book
Myrtle Reed
The secret to a happy marriage is not found in grand gestures, but in the art of feeding a man and knowing when to remain silent. This witty, cynical guide serves as a manual for the unattached woman navigating the treacherous waters of romance.

The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children
Jane Andrews
Nature is not merely a backdrop for human activity, but a tireless, multitasking intelligence that guards, builds, and nurtures every corner of the earth. By observing the small dramas of plants and animals, we come to understand the interconnected life of the world.

The Story of American Aviation
Jim Ray
The history of American flight is a chronicle of rapid, relentless invention, transforming a fragile, eight-horsepower machine into a global force of industry and warfare in just four decades.

The Terror Out of Space
Dwight V. Swain
A desperate pilot enters the deadly unknown of space to rescue a woman, only to find himself embroiled in a cosmic conflict between human greed and an alien species that manifests nightmares into reality.

The Watcher, and other weird stories
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The past is never truly buried in these chilling tales, where secrets return from the grave to claim their due. A master of the atmospheric gothic, the writer turns ordinary lives into landscapes of dread and inescapable fate.

The wolf-cub
Patrick Casey
The mountain-born outlaw Jacinto Quesada navigates a treacherous landscape of plague, vengeance, and shifting loyalties in a Spain where the divide between the lawless and the righteous is as thin as a razor’s edge.

The Wonderful Story of Ravalette
Paschal Beverly Randolph
This 1863 narrative blends occult mystery with the intense, often erratic, personal philosophy of a singular American figure. It serves as a strange, atmospheric bridge between the burgeoning Spiritualist movement and the more structured, ancient traditions of the Rosicrucians.

Tramping with Tramps: Studies and Sketches of Vagabond Life
Josiah Flynt
The vagrant life is not merely a condition of poverty, but a complex, subterranean society with its own rigid codes, hierarchies, and linguistic geography. This immersive investigation chronicles the hidden world of the American tramp at the turn of the 20th century.

True Blue
William Henry Giles Kingston
The sea offers no quarter, and honor is found not in rank, but in the steady performance of one’s duty amid the roar of gales and the thunder of broadsides.

Under the red robe
Stanley John Weyman
A notorious gambler and duellist finds his life hanging by a thread, only to be offered a reprieve by the most powerful man in France—provided he can betray the woman he has come to love.

Where Your Treasure Is: Being the Personal Narrative of Ross Sidney, Diver
Holman Day
HOOK A young diver finds his life transformed by the lure of "maverick" treasure, moving from the quiet desperation of a small-town upbringing to the high-stakes, lawless world of deep-sea salvage.

Wireless Telegraph Construction For Amateurs
Alfred Powell Morgan
Build a radio station from the ground up using nothing but basic tools, patience, and the fundamental laws of electromagnetic waves. This guide turns the complex world of early wireless communication into a reachable hobby.

Women of India
Otto Rothfield
Women of India explores the diverse social landscapes, domestic traditions, and evolving roles of women across the Indian subcontinent at the turn of the twentieth century. It offers a detailed, observational study of how cultural identity shapes the lives of women from varied castes and classes.

A Desperate Chance
Old Sleuth
This is a quintessential adventure of the late nineteenth century, centering on the grit and moral fortitude of a young man who rises from poverty to prosperity through pluck and serendipity. It is an earnest, fast-paced tale that leans into the period’s fascination with "tramps," hidden riches, and the romantic…

A history of tithes
Henry William Clarke
This history traces the transformation of church tithes from voluntary offerings into a compulsory legal burden. It serves as a rigorous, point-by-point rebuttal to the historical claims made by nineteenth-century defenders of the Church of England.

A Letter to Dion
Bernard Mandeville
A sharp-tongued defense of provocative ideas, this work serves as an intellectual counter-punch against those who seek to silence controversial thinkers through misrepresentation and moral posturing.

A long way from home
Claude McKay
This restless, wandering memoir captures a life lived on the front lines of art and politics, where the search for personal freedom constantly collides with the rigid, often cruel barriers of race and class.

Abroad with the Jimmies
Lilian Bell
This chronicle of a grand tour through Europe and Russia captures the breezy, opinionated spirit of an American woman traveling with her sister and a charming married couple, the "Jimmies." It is a lighthearted travelogue that prioritizes personality over itinerary.

An Outline of the Phonology and Morphology of Old Provençal
C. H. (Charles Hall) Grandgent
This technical guide reconstructs the linguistic evolution of Old Provençal, tracing the transformation of Latin sounds and forms into the literary language of medieval southern France.

Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador: An Address Presented by Lt.-Colonel William Wood, F.R.S.C. before the Second Annual Meeting of the Commission of Conservation at Quebec, January, 1911
William Wood
HOOK This urgent 1911 plea argues that Labrador’s vast, untamed wilderness serves as a vital global sanctuary, demanding immediate protection from the reckless, systemic slaughter of its animal life.

Back Home
Eugene Wood
The echoes of a vanishing world resonate through these pages, capturing the bittersweet ache of childhood and the enduring pull of the places that shaped us. This collection of sketches serves as a quiet homecoming to an American heartland defined by seasons, small-town rituals, and the transition from innocence to…

Back to Billabong
Mary Grant Bruce
Seeking a fresh start after the Great War, two orphaned siblings trade the stifling atmosphere of a London home for the vast, sun-drenched landscapes of the Australian bush. This classic tale of resilience follows their journey from displacement to belonging, finding lasting appeal in its portrait of courage and…

Bewick's Select Fables of Æsop and others.: In three parts. 1. Fables extracted from Dodsley's. 2. Fables with reflections in prose and verse. 3. Fables in verse
Aesop
Fables offer a mirror to the human condition, reflecting our follies and virtues through the lives of animals and ancient archetypes. This collection serves as both a moral guide and an enduring testament to the power of wisdom distilled into simple, sharp narratives.

Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
This sweeping inquiry into the mechanics of life challenges the dogmas of the Enlightenment, arguing that existence is not a fixed design but a fluid, mechanical dance of organic molecules.

Chivalry: Dizain des Reines
James Branch Cabell
This collection of ten interconnected stories reimagines the medieval age through the prism of courtly love, where the pursuit of an ideal remains both a sublime calling and a source of devastating irony. It explores the persistence of romantic dreams against the harsh, indifferent landscape of human history.

Chronicles and characters of the stock exchange
Francis, John, of the Bank of England
This historical narrative charts the rise of the London financial markets, exposing how the machinery of national debt, speculation, and institutional greed shaped the modern world. It offers a gritty, anecdotal look at the human cost of high finance, from the seventeenth-century birth of the Bank of England to the…

Compensation
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The universe is a self-balancing equation, where every action and every event carries its own invisible but inevitable price. Justice is not a deferred reward, but a constant, present reality woven into the fabric of existence.

Constantine the Great: The reorganization of the Empire and the triumph of the Church
John B. (John Benjamin) Firth
The conversion of a Roman Emperor and the subsequent transformation of a pagan empire provide a lens through which to examine the intersection of personal ambition and institutional change. This inquiry navigates the shifting landscape of the fourth century, balancing historical analysis with the moral complexities…

Dog Stories from the "Spectator": Being anecdotes of the intelligence, reasoning power, affection and sympathy of dogs, selected from the correspondence columns of "The Spectator"
Unknown
This collection of Victorian correspondence reveals the surprising ingenuity of dogs, proving they are far more than simple companions through documented accounts of their reasoning, humor, and complex emotional lives.

Donald Ross of Heimra (Volume 3 of 3)
William Black
A remote Highland estate becomes the stage for a tense struggle between ancestral loyalties and modern reform, centering on a proud, mysterious local leader and the spirited woman who inherits his corner of the world.

Essays
Winthrop Mackworth Praed
A sharp wit and a melancholic grace define these sketches, capturing the fleeting manners of a gentleman’s world. They offer a window into the mind of a brilliant, restless writer whose observations remain as biting and polished as ever.

Everybody's Guide to Money Matters: With a description of the various investments chiefly dealt in on the stock exchange, and the mode of dealing therein
Cotton, William, F.S.A., of Exeter
Navigating the complexities of late-Victorian finance requires more than mere thrift; it demands the steady guidance of a seasoned hand to turn modest savings into secure, lasting assets.

Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse
Unknown
This collection gathers the voices of a transformative era, capturing the collision of medieval devotion, social unrest, and the dawning light of the printed word in fifteenth-century England.

Foes
Mary Johnston
This is a somber, meditative exploration of a lifelong rivalry, tracing how two men bound by history and affection eventually unravel the knots of vengeance that threaten to destroy them.

Historic Adventures: Tales from American History
Rupert Sargent Holland
This collection of historical snapshots traces the expansion and maturation of the American identity, offering vivid portraits of the people who shaped the nation’s rugged, often violent, and restless frontier.

Home Pork Making
A. W. (Albert Watson) Fulton
This comprehensive guide offers a vanishing window into the nineteenth-century farm, detailing the meticulous, traditional methods required to transform a living hog into a winter’s supply of cured meat.

Household Administration, Its Place in the Higher Education of Women
Unknown
Modern domestic life requires more than just instinct; it demands a foundation of rigorous scientific training to preserve the health and stability of the family.

How to Eat: A Cure for "Nerves"
Thomas C. (Thomas Clark) Hinkle
HOOK This guide reveals how a physician conquered his own years of debilitating "nerves" through a simple, rigorous commitment to mindful eating and outdoor activity.

How to Make an Index
Henry B. (Henry Benjamin) Wheatley
A guide to the art of indexing, this work explores the historical development, practical mechanics, and occasional humor found within the essential task of organizing information. It transforms a seemingly dry clerical duty into a thoughtful literary pursuit.

In the Old West
George Frederick Augustus Ruxton
The life of the free trapper in the American West is a chronicle of solitude, survival, and the relentless pursuit of beaver in a landscape where the boundary between hunter and prey is perpetually blurred.

Legends of the City of Mexico
Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone) Janvier
These tales capture the vanished pulse of a historic capital, where ancient stone walls harbor ghosts, secrets, and the lingering echoes of colonial tragedy. They serve as a bridge between the living city and the shadows of its past.

Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire: with biographical notices of their pastors, and some account of the puritan ministers who laboured in the county
Thomas Coleman
This work chronicles the persistence of faith, documenting the rise of Independent churches in Northamptonshire from the late Reformation through the mid-nineteenth century. It serves as both a ledger of local history and a testament to the ministers who led these congregations through periods of intense social and…

Nellie's Housekeeping: Little Sunbeams Series
Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews
A quiet, thoughtful young girl finds her purpose in the domestic sphere, learning that the most profound acts of character are often found in the small, hidden duties of daily life.

Notes on Certain Maya and Mexican Manuscripts: Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 3-66
Cyrus Thomas
The ancient calendars of the Maya and Mexican civilizations hold their secrets in the intricate, surviving codices. This analytical study decodes the symbolic architecture of these manuscripts to bridge the cultural distance between two distinct but related chronological systems.

P.'s Correspondence (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A man confined to a small, iron-grated chamber travels the globe through the expansive, often unreliable lens of his own imagination. He writes letters from an illusory London, encountering the celebrated figures of his age as if they were ghosts trapped in the machinery of his own crumbling mind.