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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 322 of 714.
Waves and ripples in water, air, and æther
Fleming, J. A. (John Ambrose), Sir
This instructional text invites readers into the Royal Institution for a series of Christmas lectures, bridging the gap between everyday observations of water and air and the invisible, rapid oscillations of the luminiferous æther.
Why Bewick Succeeded: A Note in the History of Wood Engraving
Jacob Kainen
This concise study dismantles the myth of the lone creative genius to reveal the industrial reality behind a landmark in print history. It examines how a modest, self-taught engraver became the face of a revolution in mass communication.
Wildfire
Zane Grey
The desert is a crucible where freedom, obsession, and the untamed spirit of the horse converge. Amidst the red-rock canyons of Utah, a solitary hunter and a rancher’s daughter find their lives irrevocably entwined with the legend of a wild stallion.
With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 3
Unknown
To travel is to encounter the world not as a map, but as a living palimpsest of history, commerce, and human eccentricity. This collection preserves the observations of those who walked the streets of great capitals with eyes wide open.
A Bundle of Letters
Henry James
This epistolary novella offers a sharp, witty study of American travelers adrift in a Parisian boardinghouse, revealing their conflicting ideals and illusions through their own correspondence.
A Child of the Jago
Arthur Morrison
A young boy struggles to survive in a notorious London slum where violence is the only law and the code of silence is absolute.
A Son of Perdition: An Occult Romance
Fergus Hume
A dark tale of occult ambition, where a desperate man finds his soul caught in the struggle between a power-hungry magician and a guardian of light.
At Large
Arthur Christopher Benson
The life of a contemplative man is a series of quiet experiments in solitude and connection, where the deepest truths are discovered not in grand systems, but in the small, flickering light of daily experience.
Barbara's Heritage: Young Americans Among the Old Italian Masters
Deristhe L. (Deristhe Levinte) Hoyt
This narrative follows a group of young Americans embarking on a formative journey through Italy, where they trade their innocence for a deep, scholarly appreciation of the Old Masters. It is an earnest, didactic story that chronicles both the growth of aesthetic taste and the quiet maturation of the heart.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, Number 371, September 1846
Various
This September 1846 issue of a storied literary magazine captures the intellectual pulse of the mid-nineteenth century, blending sharp political commentary, travel narrative, and the period’s penchant for spirited, often humorous, personal memoir. It is a snapshot of Victorian life, caught between the rigid…
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 12 (of 20)
Charles Sumner
This collection of nineteenth-century political oratory and correspondence captures the high-stakes friction of the American Civil War’s final months and the subsequent, volatile dawn of Reconstruction. It serves as a dense, scholarly archive of one man’s unwavering commitment to the abolitionist cause and national…
Cinderella in the South: Twenty-Five South African Tales
Arthur Shearly Cripps
The veld holds secrets that city-dwellers often overlook, yet those who wander its quiet paths find that the land—and its people—refuse to be governed by the rigid expectations of the old world.
Cleopatra
Jacob Abbott
The tide of history turned on the beauty of a single queen, whose fatal allure brought mighty Roman generals to ruin and closed the era of the Ptolemies.
Confessions of a Young Lady: Her Doings and Misdoings
Richard Marsh
HOOK A whirlwind of impulsive choices and accidental adventures, this episodic novel follows a spirited young woman navigating the social traps and romantic scrapes of Edwardian England.
Custis-Lee Mansion: The Robert E. Lee Memorial, Virginia
Murray H. Nelligan
This historical guide chronicles the architectural evolution and domestic history of Arlington House, tracing its transformation from a private family estate into a permanent national memorial for Robert E. Lee.
Disease in plants
H. Marshall (Harry Marshall) Ward
To understand the health of a plant, one must view it not as a static object, but as a dynamic machine constantly balancing its intake of energy against the hazards of its environment.
Divots
P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
Golf is not a trivial sport, but a noble pursuit that has challenged the greatest minds throughout history—or so claims the dedicated observer who recounts these tales of love, competition, and the search for the perfect swing.
Elizabeth Fry
Emma Raymond Pitman
A woman of quiet faith transforms the squalor of nineteenth-century prisons through an unyielding commitment to human dignity and reform. Her journey proves that one voice, raised with compassion, can compel a nation to change.
English Lands, Letters and Kings, vol. 1: From Celt to Tudor
Donald Grant Mitchell
This chronicle of English letters serves as an informal, conversational guide to the evolution of the British literary tradition, tracing the path from ancient Celtic roots through the vibrant, transformative reign of Elizabeth I.
Ferdinand of Bulgaria: The Amazing Career of a Shoddy Czar
Anonymous
A scathing, unsparing portrait of a political opportunist, this account chronicles the rise of a European prince who traded morality for a throne and led his country into the shadow of the Great War.
Foe-Farrell
Arthur Quiller-Couch
The story of a man whose obsession with an enemy slowly erodes his own soul, told in the shadow of the Great War.
Friendly Visiting among the Poor: A Handbook for Charity Workers
Mary Ellen Richmond
Effective charity requires more than a kind heart; it demands the wisdom to address the root causes of distress rather than merely soothing the symptoms of poverty.
Golden Stars in Tatting and Crochet
Eléonore Riego de la Branchardière
A dedicated guide to the delicate fusion of shuttle and hook, this collection preserves the intricate craft of Victorian needlework through precise instructions for creating ornamental stars, diamonds, and wearable trimmings.
Greybeards at Play: Literature and Art for Old Gentlemen
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
This whimsical collection of light verse and nonsense invites readers to abandon the earnest, joyless responsibilities of adulthood and reclaim the simple, imaginative play of childhood. It celebrates the wisdom found in being absurdly, delightfully young at heart.
Indian Creek Massacre and Captivity of Hall Girls: Complete history of the massacre of sixteen whites on Indian creek, near Ottawa, Ill., and Sylvia Hall and Rachel Hall as captives in Illinois and Wisconsin during the Black Hawk war, 1832
Charles Martin Scanlan
The brutal 1832 Indian Creek Massacre and the subsequent ordeal of two young captive sisters stand as a harrowing, foundational chapter of Illinois frontier history. This account reconstructs their survival, rescue, and aftermath through meticulous archival research and family testimony.
Kildares of Storm
Eleanor Mercein Kelly
HOOK A devoted mother stakes her reputation and her life’s work on the redemption of the man who framed her husband’s death, all while raising two daughters in the shadow of a Kentucky family secret.
Lady Byron Vindicated: A history of the Byron controversy from its beginning in 1816 to the present time
Harriet Beecher Stowe
This defensive work serves as a formal, impassioned effort to shield the reputation of Lady Byron from historical revisionism and long-standing public animosity. By documenting the private narrative of a woman caught in a notorious marriage, the text seeks to expose the calculated cruelty of a celebrated poet.
Legends and Tales
Bret Harte
This collection of stories captures the shifting, often surreal spirit of the California frontier, where the mundane realities of pioneer life collide with myth, spectral visitations, and the looming ghosts of history. It serves as a bridge between the earnest missionary past and the frantic, gold-obsessed future.
Lifted Masks
Susan Glaspell
A tapestry of twentieth-century American lives, these stories catch people in the quiet, piercing moments when they realize their own limitations. It is an honest, compassionate look at the distance between what we dream and what we settle for.
Lives of the Three Mrs. Judsons
Arabella M. Willson
This chronicle documents the lives of three remarkable women—Ann Hasseltine, Sarah Boardman, and Emily Chubbuck—who each married the pioneering American missionary Adoniram Judson and dedicated their lives to the mission in Burma.
Madame Roland, Makers of History
John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
The life of a brilliant, resolute woman serves as a lens through which to view the rise and fall of the French Revolution, tracing her path from intellectual awakening to her final, defiant end upon the scaffold.
McClure's Magazine December, 1895
Unknown
This December 1895 issue of McClure’s Magazine offers a varied collection of historical inquiry, personal testimony, and short fiction, serving as a time capsule of late 19th-century American literary tastes and intellectual curiosity.
Minimum Gauge Railways
Heywood, Arthur Percival, Sir, bart.
This account details the successful design and operation of 15-inch gauge railways, proving that miniature lines can provide efficient, cost-effective transport for private estates and local industry.
Mysterious Japan
Julian Street
A thoughtful traveler’s guide to the complexities of Japan, capturing the intersection of ancient traditions and a rapidly modernizing society at the turn of the twentieth century.
Over Prairie Trails
Frederick Philip Grove
The vast, unforgiving expanse of the Canadian prairies finds its most intimate chronicler in the rhythm of a horse-drawn carriage. This evocative work transforms the lonely, repetitive commute of a teacher into a profound meditation on nature and the human spirit.
Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part I. For the year 1757.: Giving some account of the present undertakings, studies, and labours, of the ingenious, in many considerable parts of the world
Various
This collection of eighteenth-century scientific reports captures the rigorous, often eccentric curiosity of an era grappling with everything from the mechanics of earthquakes to the nature of mineral waters.
Poems
George Meredith
This collection of verse captures the Victorian struggle to reconcile the wild, untamed instincts of the human heart with the cool, rational demands of a modernizing society. It is a work of intellectual rigor and lyrical beauty, mapping the tension between the ancient forces of nature and the disciplined…
Queen Victoria: Story of Her Life and Reign, 1819-1901
Anonymous
A concise portrait of a monarch whose long, transformative reign became a mirror for the rapid modernization, moral earnestness, and imperial expansion of the British nation.
Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: The Moth and the Flame
Clyde Fitch
A socialite’s engagement collapses under the weight of her fiancé’s dark secrets and her own family’s hidden dishonor. This drama exposes the brittle veneer of high society through a series of shattering revelations.
Savage Island: An Account of a Sojourn in Niué and Tonga
Basil Thomson
The colonial administrator’s keen eye for local custom turns a routine diplomatic mission into a poignant, vivid portrait of island life at the turn of the twentieth century.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 1178, June 25, 1898
Various
This collection of technical, historical, and scientific dispatches offers a vivid, snapshot-like window into the industrial and intellectual preoccupations of the late nineteenth century. It captures a world on the brink of profound modernization.
Secret Band of Brothers: A Full and True Exposition of All the Various Crimes, Villanies, and Misdeeds of This Powerful Organization in the United States
J. H. (Jonathan Harrington) Green
This firsthand account reveals the inner workings of a 19th-century criminal syndicate, exposing how a secret brotherhood manipulated the American justice system and public trust to facilitate widespread gambling and fraud.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 73, November, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
This collection captures the intellectual pulse of 1863, blending urgent wartime commentary with profound explorations of history, science, and the evolving spirit of a nation divided against itself.
The Blood of the Arena
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
The life of a celebrity bullfighter is a dance with death, played out before a bloodthirsty crowd that craves his grace as much as his destruction.
The Builders
Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow
A nurse’s professional dedication becomes a crucible for her own heart when she is drawn into the stifling, tragic orbit of a deeply unhappy marriage.
The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, March, 1880
Various
This collection of essays and reflections serves as a vigorous defense of Christian theology against the rising tide of nineteenth-century materialism and evolutionary thought. It argues that modern scientific skepticism fails to account for the origins of morality, the structure of law, and the fundamental…
The Cotton Kingdom, volume 1 (of 2)
Frederick Law Olmsted
A traveler’s meticulous journal reveals the economic and moral exhaustion of a society built upon forced labor. Through precise observation, the narrative exposes how human bondage stifled progress and hollowed out the prosperity it claimed to protect.
The Dollar Hen
Milo Hastings
The poultry industry is a serious business of cold calculation, where romantic notions of "chicken farming" often lead to ruin. Success requires separating agricultural fact from the pervasive, unprofitable myths found in popular literature.