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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 304 of 714.

The Strange Cases of Dr. Stanchon
Josephine Daskam Bacon
A physician observes the fragile, often invisible boundaries between sanity and secret lives, witnessing how the human heart unravels when society’s expectations become an unbearable cage.

The twelve best short stories in the French language
Unknown
A noble Moor and a proud Spanish noble duel over love and honor, while a captive officer counts his days in the Caucasus. Passion, duty, and quiet tragedy intertwine across a tapestry of classic French short fiction.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona
William Shakespeare
Two young friends set off into the world, only to find their devotion tested by the sudden arrival of desire, betrayal, and disguise.

The Unknown Sea
Clemence Housman
This haunting, lyrical fable explores the lethal magnetism between a mortal man and a spirit of the deep. It is a stark meditation on the heavy cost of integrity when faced with the irresistible, inhuman allure of the unknown.

The vigilantes of Montana
Thos. J. (Thomas Josiah) Dimsdale
A bloody, eyewitness record of the 1860s gold rushes, where lawless outlaws ruled the trail and armed citizens formed secretive committees to hang them.

The West Indies
John Henderson
A vivid journey through turn-of-the-century Caribbean landscapes, this observational travelogue documents the sights, sounds, and societal dynamics of Jamaica and its neighboring islands with curious, unflinching detail.

The Wheat Princess
Jean Webster
An heiress seeking a life of quiet luxury in Italy finds her idyllic world upended when she discovers that her father's wealth was built on grain speculation that is actively starving the local populace.

The World As I Have Found It: Sequel to Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl
Mary L. Day
This memoir chronicles the resilient, itinerant life of a blind woman navigating the social landscapes and moral complexities of late 19th-century America. It is a testament to the power of self-reliance and the kindness of strangers.

Told by the death's head
Mór Jókai
A skull suspended in a fortress, once a man of many sins, recounts his bizarre journey through a life of impossible adventures. This is the confession of a rogue who has seen it all.

Tragedy in Dedham
Francis Russell
A payroll robbery turns into a seven-year legal battle that exposes the fault lines of a nation.

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
Frederick A. (Frederick Albion) Ober
A penniless debtor escapes his creditors in a wooden cask, only to carve his name into history across the jungle rivers and perilous peaks of Central America.

Webster's Seventh of March Speech and the Secession Movement, 1850
Herbert Darling Foster
The American Union stood at the brink of collapse in 1850, saved not by inevitability, but by a single, divisive oratorical gamble that forced a fractured nation to pause.

A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 7, part 1: Ulysses S. Grant
Unknown
A crucial record of executive power, this collection reveals a nation rebuilding its peace and asserting its global standing through official presidential paper.

A Gamble with Life
Silas K. (Silas Kitto) Hocking
A desperate inventor stakes his future on a risky legal bet, only to find that winning his life's work means nothing if he loses his soul—and the woman he loves.

A War-time Journal, Germany 1914 and German Travel Notes
Jephson, Harriet Julia Campbell, Lady
Trapped in a German spa town as World War I breaks out, an Englishwoman observes her former hosts turn overnight into hostile enemies.

Across the Years
Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
Under heavy coats and wrinkled brows, aging hearts still burn for independence, dignity, and a small taste of joy.

Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 2
Alfred Russel Wallace
A Victorian co-discoverer of evolutionary theory reflects on a lifetime of bold scientific debate, late-life domestic peace, radical social proposals, and relentless intellectual curiosity.

An Old Coachman's Chatter, with Some Practical Remarks on Driving
Edward Corbett
Before steam engines swept across the landscape, four-horse mail coaches ruled the open road. This precise memoir paints an intimate, unvarnished portrait of a vanished era, where split-second timing, physical endurance, and absolute horse mastery meant everything.

Astronomy in a nutshell
Garrett Putman Serviss
An accessible, lucidly written introduction to the night sky, Garrett Putman Serviss’s 1912 handbook strips away dry technical jargon to reveal the elegance of celestial mechanics for curious non-specialist readers.

Atlantis
Gerhart Hauptmann
A ocean crossing shatters a man’s precarious world, forcing him through shipwreck, obsession, and ghost-haunted recovery toward a grounded rebirth.

Billiards
William Broadfoot
Precision, practice, and geometric mastery transform table play from a casual pastime into an exact science.

Black no more
George S. (George Samuel) Schuyler
A satirical masterpiece of identity and absurd racial politics, this biting fable exposes the folly of bigotry when a scientific miracle erases the color line overnight.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 434, December, 1851
Various
A collection of nineteenth-century political commentaries, serial fiction, and foreign travelogues exposes the anxieties of a rapidly industrializing empire.

Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland
Daniel Scott
A landscape of remote fells, fortified steeples, and ancient manors holds a rich history of human endurance, eccentric customs, and self-governed mountain communities.

Carry On: Letters in War-Time
Coningsby Dawson
A sensitive writer leaves his peaceful life behind to serve on the Western Front, discovering that the brutal test of war yields an unexpected and profound spiritual strength.

Celebration in Baltimore of the Triumph of Liberty in France
William Wirt
A grand street parade in Maryland transforms into a sweeping, philosophical defense of constitutional liberty across the Atlantic Ocean.

Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 716: September 15, 1877
Various
Early brilliance, high-stakes sea mutinies, lost avian giants, and aristocratic duties converge in this vibrant 1877 compendium. It delivers a rich, varied tapestry of Victorian inquiry, storytelling, and cultural reflection across fiction and non-fiction alike.

Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings
Mary Harrod Northend
An intimate tour through New England’s grandest early estates reveals the craftsmanship, forgotten habits, and personal legacies preserved inside the region's historic homes.

Company B, 307th Infantry: Its history, honor roll, company roster, Sept., 1917, May, 1919
Julius Klausner
A raw, unvarnished record of American civilians transformed into a frontline infantry unit captures the relentless machinery of World War I, tracing a journey from Long Island training grounds to the deadly thickets of the Argonne.

Comrade Kropotkin
Victor Robinson
An aristocrat abandons his high position to join a underground network fighting a brutal autocratic state, enduring imprisonment, harrowing escape, and exile to carry his message across continents.

Dangers of the Trail in 1865: A Narrative of Actual Events
Charles E. (Charles Edward) Young
Crossing the violent 1865 frontier, a young man faces stampedes, Indian attacks, and ruthlessness while freighting supplies across the plains to Denver.

Deephaven and Selected Stories & Sketches
Sarah Orne Jewett
Two city women spend a summer in a sleepy New England haven, discovering that the quietest places hold the richest human stories.

Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions
Thomas Henry Huxley
A champion of empirical inquiry confronts clerical authority, dismantling literal interpretations of ancient texts with rigorous scientific evidence and logical precision.

Favorite Nursery Rhymes
Anonymous
A whimsical collection of classic rhymes captures the playful rhythm, absurd humor, and gentle comfort of childhood tradition.

Fishes, Flowers, & Fire as Elements and Deities in the Phallic Faiths & Worship of the Ancient Religions of Greece, Babylon, Rome, India, &c
Anonymous
A subterranean stream of ancient symbolism runs through modern human culture, where everyday natural forms mask forgotten rites of generative power and solar reverence.

Great Catherine (Whom Glory Still Adores)
Bernard Shaw
A young English officer stumbles into the Russian imperial court, where a tyrannical, wine-soaked prince and a formidable empress treat geopolitical influence, diplomatic flirtation, and human dignity as mere playthings for their amusement.

Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys
Joseph H. (Joseph Henry) Adams
Hands-on ingenuity turns everyday scrap wood, wire, and cloth into functional outdoor gear for adventurous young builders.

I and My Chimney
Herman Melville
A quiet rural domesticity turns into a battlefield when an aging husband vows to protect his massive central chimney against his relentless wife's modern renovations.

Icarus
Bertrand Russell
A stark warning against technological optimism, exploring how human rivalry and organized power threaten to convert scientific breakthroughs into tools of self-destruction.

In the Sixties
Harold Frederic
A boy watches his home town fracture as the American Civil War tears through upstate New York, turning neighbors into enemies and quiet farms into battlegrounds for the human soul.

Is 5
E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings
A streetwise, brilliantly erratic, and deeply tender defense of pure invention over mechanical routine.

Jack: 1877
Alphonse Daudet
Abandoned to the care of indifference and artistic vanity, a neglected boy navigates the cold realities of nineteenth-century France, searching desperately for the warmth of a mother’s love that remains forever out of reach.

Lectures on Modern history
Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Baron
History is not a static collection of isolated events, but a continuous stream of human development. Understanding the modern world requires tracing the ideological and political forces that have shaped society across centuries.

Man's Place in the Universe: A Study of the Results of Scientific Research in Relation to the Unity or Plurality of Worlds, 3rd Edition
Alfred Russel Wallace
A bold, meticulous inquiry into whether the cosmos harbours other living worlds yields a startlingly precise conclusion: our planet stands entirely alone.

Memoir of Mary L. Ware, Wife of Henry Ware, Jr
Edward B. (Edward Brooks) Hall
A steadfast nineteenth-century New England woman transforms everyday domestic duty, quiet self-sacrifice, and intense personal grief into a life of profound religious grace and heroic devotion to others.

Moral Principles and Medical Practice: The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence
Charles Coppens
In an age of rapid scientific progress, a Catholic professor delivers a stark warning to future doctors about the fragile boundary separating legitimate medicine from moral lawlessness.

My First Picture Book: With Thirty-six Pages of Pictures Printed in Colours by Kronheim
Joseph Martin Kronheim
A large shoe becomes a forest home, a princess-owl reveals her true form, and pigs meet varied fates in six classic tales.

My Musical Life
Walter Damrosch
A life spent building the musical architecture of a young nation brings standard orchestral scores to life through tireless devotion, fierce rivalries, and unyielding discipline.