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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 305 of 714.

Cover of Narrative of the operations and recent discoveries within the pyramids, temples, tombs and excavations in Egypt and Nubia

Narrative of the operations and recent discoveries within the pyramids, temples, tombs and excavations in Egypt and Nubia

Giovanni Battista Belzoni

A towering Italian circus strongman travels to 19th-century Egypt, pitilessly battling desert sands, Turkish intrigue, and relentless rivals to exhume the lost treasures of the Pharaohs.

General5 min read
Cover of Natural history of intellect, and other papers

Natural history of intellect, and other papers

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A mind detached from personal anxiety can observe the universe with absolute clarity, finding that human thought and external nature are driven by the exact same underlying laws.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of No Thoroughfare

No Thoroughfare

Charles Dickens

A dark, winding Victorian mystery moves from the foggy sanctuaries of London's foundling hospitals to the lethal, snow-bound mountain passes of the Swiss Alps, driven by stolen identities, corporate betrayal, and an obsessed killer.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of North, South and Over the Sea

North, South and Over the Sea

M. E. Francis

Across three distinct rural landscapes, ordinary men and women navigate the silent pressures of poverty, pride, and local tradition to secure their places in the world.

British Literature10 min read
Cover of Old Friends: Essays in Epistolary Parody

Old Friends: Essays in Epistolary Parody

Andrew Lang

What if the most beloved characters in English literature crossed paths across book covers to swap gossip, trade insults, and settle old scores?

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Our Little Cossack Cousin in Siberia

Our Little Cossack Cousin in Siberia

Fedor Alexis Postnikov

Living along the wild Amur River, a young boy grows up amid frontier dangers, traditional duties, and the proud military customs of a Cossack settlement.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Pictures of German Life in the XVth, XVIth, and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. I

Pictures of German Life in the XVth, XVIth, and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. I

Gustav Freytag

Centuries of division and conflict forged a nation's soul, leaving its ordinary people to build a society from the ashes of feudalism, war, and religious schism.

History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)6 min read
Cover of Pluck on the Long Trail

Pluck on the Long Trail

Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin

A group of Boy Scouts must trek across the rugged Rocky Mountain wilderness to deliver an urgent message while outsmarting rival boys, poachers, and natural disasters.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Poems of childhood

Poems of childhood

Eugene Field

A quiet, enduring sweetness fills this collection of verse, where the fleeting magic of early childhood meets the tender ache of adult remembrance.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Pyrotechnics: The History and Art of Firework Making

Pyrotechnics: The History and Art of Firework Making

Alan St. H. (Alan St. Hill) Brock

A streak of fire cuts across a dark sky, splitting into bright stars that drift down over a roaring crowd. Long before fireworks became spectacles of light and color, they were noisy weapons of war and fragile alchemy.

Art5 min read
Cover of Queer people

Queer people

Basil Thomson

An insider’s view of war, deceit, and civil unrest reveals the fragile mechanics that keep a nation standing.

Crime, Thrillers and Mystery6 min read
Cover of Renée Mauperin

Renée Mauperin

Edmond de Goncourt

A spirited young woman's impetuous act of revenge against her brother's social climbing sets off a tragic chain of events that shatters her family.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of Safar Nameh, Persian Pictures: A Book Of Travel

Safar Nameh, Persian Pictures: A Book Of Travel

Gertrude Lowthian Bell

An open, sunlit landscape, ringed by barren mountains and empty of water, holds the quiet simplicity of a place where history has already swept past.

Travel Writing6 min read
Cover of Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals: In Two Volumes, Volume I

Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals: In Two Volumes, Volume I

Samuel Finley Breese Morse

A gifted young painter sets sail for the studios of Europe, unaware that his true masterpiece will be forged in copper wire and electrical currents rather than canvas and oil.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Sandwiches

Sandwiches

S. T. Rorer

A single square of bread transforms into an unexpected medium of domestic architecture when guided by precise early-twentieth-century culinary craft.

Cooking & Drinking5 min read
Cover of Scientific American Supplement, No. 288, July 9, 1881

Scientific American Supplement, No. 288, July 9, 1881

Various

A striking index of late-nineteenth-century ingenuity reveals how Victorian minds sought to harness hidden energies, from the molecular chemistry of brewing to the vast mechanical forces powering industrial civilization.

Engineering & Technology5 min read
Cover of Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons: Wesel, Sennelager, Klingelputz, Ruhleben

Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons: Wesel, Sennelager, Klingelputz, Ruhleben

Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

Trapped behind enemy lines at the outbreak of the First World War, an ordinary civilian must use his wits to survive brutal camps, harsh solitary confinement, and systematic starvation.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Strife: A Drama in Three Acts

Strife: A Drama in Three Acts

John Galsworthy

Two uncompromising leaders, one representing capital and the other labor, drag a Welsh tinplate community through a brutal winter strike only to watch their followers force a compromise that leaves both men utterly broken.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Ten Months in the Field with the Boers

Ten Months in the Field with the Boers

Anonymous

A French volunteer joins the Boer cause in late 1899, only to watch internal divisions and tactical rigidity unravel their initial military successes against the British Empire.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Adventures of a Grain of Dust

The Adventures of a Grain of Dust

Hallam Hawksworth

A tiny speck of earth narrates the grand, slow churn of planetary mechanics, revealing how mountain-shattering frosts, industrious earthworms, and ancient sea-monsters conspire to build the very soil beneath our feet.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of The Art of Kissing: Curiously, Historically, Humorously, Poetically Considered

The Art of Kissing: Curiously, Historically, Humorously, Poetically Considered

Will Rossiter

An electric charge, a dangerous physical squeeze, or a holy duty—history cannot decide what a kiss is, but this book insists on gathering every single attempt to define it.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of The Breitmann Ballads

The Breitmann Ballads

Charles Godfrey Leland

A boisterous, beer-soaked comic epic that follows an unbeatable German-American wanderer through civil wars, political backrooms, high-society parlors, and European taverns.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau

The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A life defined by the pursuit of emotional truth reveals how memory, passion, and conscience shape a man's inner world.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Drama of the Forests: Romance and Adventure

The Drama of the Forests: Romance and Adventure

Arthur Heming

A winter in the Canadian north unfolds through the eyes of an artist who travels into the deep wilderness alongside an Ojibwa chief and his family.

Adventure8 min read
Cover of The Eye of Istar: A Romance of the Land of No Return

The Eye of Istar: A Romance of the Land of No Return

William Le Queux

Across the sun-scorched sands of North Africa, a marked Dervish soldier risks death, captivity, and impossible terrain to unravel a ancient, dark secret stamped onto his own skin.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Part 13

The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Part 13

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Delusion meets devotion as a foolish knight mistakes a simple inn for a fortress, while an inner tale of misplaced trust shatters a quiet Italian home.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of The Jesus Problem: A Restatement of the Myth Theory

The Jesus Problem: A Restatement of the Myth Theory

J. M. (John Mackinnon) Robertson

A rigorous inquiry into religious history reveals how ancient rituals, sacrificial customs, and mythological archetypes gradually converged to construct the foundational narratives of the early Christian faith.

History - Religious5 min read
Cover of The Lenape Stone

The Lenape Stone

Henry C. Mercer

A tiny slate gorget plowed out of a Pennsylvania farm field sparks a furious nineteenth-century debate over whether ancient North American hunters fought the hairy mammoth.

Archaeology & Anthropology5 min read
Cover of The Mary Frances knitting and crocheting book

The Mary Frances knitting and crocheting book

Jane Eayre Fryer

When young Mary Frances discovers that her sewing bag is alive with chatty yarn and opinionated tools, she is swept into a secret sequence of craft lessons disguised as imaginative play.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of The Men of the Nineties

The Men of the Nineties

Bernard Muddiman

This survey traces the delicate, doomed artistic rebellion that swept through 1890s London, charting how a small band of young writers and illustrators briefly remade British culture in the image of French decadence.

Art6 min read
Cover of The party battles of the Jackson period

The party battles of the Jackson period

Claude G. (Claude Gernade) Bowers

American democracy in the Thirties is forged not in quiet halls of consensus, but in the white-hot crucible of partisan fury.

History - American12 min read
Cover of The Patriot (Piccolo Mondo Antico)

The Patriot (Piccolo Mondo Antico)

Antonio Fogazzaro

A high-minded young aristocrat defies his autocratic grandmother to marry the lower-class woman he loves, setting off a quiet domestic war against a backdrop of foreign occupation.

Historical Novels7 min read
Cover of The Red Book of Heroes

The Red Book of Heroes

Mrs. Lang

Duty and devotion demand a cost that the world rarely understands.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Scholemaster

The Scholemaster

Roger Ascham

A bitter debate over educational discipline in Tudor England yields a revolution in how languages are taught.

History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)5 min read
Cover of The works of Mr. Thomas Brown, serious and comical : in prose and verse, with his remains in four volumes compleat

The works of Mr. Thomas Brown, serious and comical : in prose and verse, with his remains in four volumes compleat

Thomas Brown

A chaotic, brilliant underworld of letters and dialogues reveals an Augustan London where dead poets, disgraced kings, and scheming brothel-keepers bicker across eternity with equal parts filth, wit, and cynical common sense.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 02 (of 32)

The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 02 (of 32)

John Wesley

True religion begins within the human spirit, yet its genuine internal awakening inevitably demands a radically altered life of tangible charity, self-denial, and active devotion in an unspiritual world.

Religion/Spirituality6 min read
Cover of Three Men and a Maid

Three Men and a Maid

P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

An ocean voyage, a misplaced love letter, and a houseful of confused romantic rivals turn a quiet English country home into a theater of utter chaos.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 4 (of 5): The East-Central Front

U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 4 (of 5): The East-Central Front

Lynn Montross

In the frozen mountains of Korea, Marines transformed military doctrine, testing armored vests and helicopter assaults while fighting through an agonizing stalemate.

History - American5 min read
Cover of Vikings of the Pacific: The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward

Vikings of the Pacific: The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward

Agnes C. Laut

Courage, desperation, and greed drive an array of global adventurers across the uncharted Pacific to claim the riches of North America's western edge.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Voodoo Planet

Voodoo Planet

Andre Norton

A Terran space trader steps into a high-stakes duel of minds on a lush safari world where psychological witchcraft threatens to unravel planetary order.

Novels10 min read
Cover of Willing to Die: A Novel

Willing to Die: A Novel

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

A young woman isolated in an old Welsh estate finds her quiet life shattered by sudden tragedy, romantic betrayal, and the dark secrets of a predatory gentleman.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Youth and Egolatry

Youth and Egolatry

Pío Baroja

A sharp, unembellished self-portrait reveals a mind at war with societal dogmas, institutional authority, and its own restless nature.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible Lands

A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible Lands

Walter Andrew Whittle

An American traveler crosses oceans and continents with a Bible in one hand and a walking stick in the other, observing the world with sharp-eyed practical humor and devout Protestant faith.

Religion/Spirituality6 min read
Cover of A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 4

A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 4

Unknown

A sinister uncle plots against a helpless orphan, shipwrecked lovers wash ashore, and corrupt lords exploit the poor in this vivid, four-play gallery of Jacobean drama.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Household Book of English Poetry: Selected and Arranged with Notes

A Household Book of English Poetry: Selected and Arranged with Notes

Unknown

An expansive journey through centuries of verse maps the evolution of human devotion, grief, and triumph. It offers a curated haven where timeless voices measure the shifting tides of mortal experience.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy

A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy

Irving Bacheller

A pioneer family travels west by covered wagon, carving out a home in the Illinois wilderness alongside a tall, awkward young clerk named Abe Lincoln.

Adventure5 min read
Cover of A naturalist in Madagascar: A record of observation, experiences, and impressions made during a period of over fifty years' intimate association with the natives and study of the animal & vegetable life of the island

A naturalist in Madagascar: A record of observation, experiences, and impressions made during a period of over fifty years' intimate association with the natives and study of the animal & vegetable life of the island

James Sibree

Across dense high-canopy rain forests and sprawling highland plains, a veteran English observer charts fifty years of forgotten tracks, wild lemurs, and local Malagasy customs.

Archaeology & Anthropology5 min read
Cover of A Romance of Youth

A Romance of Youth

François Coppée

A quiet boy’s gentle heart meets the crushing realities of loss, artistic ambition, and unrequited love in nineteenth-century Paris.

French Literature6 min read
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