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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 339 of 714.

The Irish Race in the Past and the Present
Augustus J. Thébaud
A vast, resilient history traces how deep spiritual devotion, familial affection, and an unyielding attachment to native traditions allowed a long-oppressed people to preserve their distinct national identity against centuries of relentless conquest and forced dispersion.

The Last Cruise of the Saginaw
George H. (George Henry) Read
A tragic shipwreck on a remote Pacific reef forces a stranded naval crew to rely on ingenuity, strict discipline, and a desperate fifteen-hundred-mile open-boat voyage to summon rescue.

The Life of St. Declan of Ardmore
P. (Patrick) Power
Before Patrick walked the Irish coast, Declan brought light to the people of Decies.

The Little Review, May 1914 (Vol. 1., No. 3)
Various
A defiant battle cry for artistic independence, this early 20th-century literary journal challenges cultural complacency, rejecting government hand-outs and conventional moralism in favor of raw, unvarnished creative expression.

The Mahatma and the Hare: A Dream Story
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
A man saved from the brink of despair journeys beyond the veil of death, where he witnesses a final, cosmic reckoning between a hunter and his prey. This strange vision challenges the hierarchy of the living and the dead, questioning whether humanity’s dominion over nature carries a moral weight that extends into…

The pillars of Hercules
David Urquhart
A journey through the Straits of Gibraltar reveals how geography, historical memory, and enduring customs shape the contrasting cultures of Spain and North Africa.

The Pursuit
Frank (Frank Mackenzie) Savile
When an aristocratic rascal snatches his young son to blackmail his estranged wife's family, an English gentleman steps into the conflict, sparking a relentless chase across North Africa and the Mediterranean.

The Sexes in Science and History: An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man
Eliza Burt Gamble
A rigorous re-examination of evolutionary theory and human history reveals that the belief in woman’s natural inferiority is a cultural myth forged by male dominance rather than a fact of biology.

The songs of Bilitis
Pierre Louÿs
A young woman moves from the quiet mountains of Pamphylia to the vibrant Isle of Lesbos and the coastal sanctuaries of Cypros, discovering her own sensuality, heartbreak, and eventual place among the sacred courtesans of antiquity.

The Spirit of the Links
Henry Leach
An obsessive, joyful exploration of human nature, physical science, and social history reveals why a simple game of chasing a rubber core across windy links takes such complete possession of the soul.

The Triumph of Music, and Other Lyrics
Madison Julius Cawein
A maiden sings at a bedside until her song unintentionally steals her lover’s life; elsewhere, a knight murders his unfaithful queen after discovering her secret devotion to the King.

The War of Women, Volume 1
Alexandre Dumas
A soldier’s secret romance collides with a nation’s fractured loyalties, where political deception transforms personal rivalries into open rebellion on the waters of the Dordogne.

The World's Best Poetry, Volume 08: National Spirit
Unknown
This collection gathers verses that define the soul of nations, exploring how poets have memorialized the sacrifices, landscapes, and ideals that bind a people to their native soil.

The Yellow Face
Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White
A master criminal terrorizes London with bizarre frauds and gruesome tricks until an ambitious lawyer and a scarred phantom dismantle his shadowy empire.

Troilus and Cressida
William Shakespeare
The Trojan War serves as a bitter backdrop for a story where heroes are debunked and lovers are unmade. It is a cynical, sprawling exploration of how quickly ideals collapse under the weight of human appetite and time.

Two Burlesques of Lord Chesterfield's Letters.: The Graces (1774), The Fine Gentleman's Etiquette (1776)
Unknown
An obsessively polished aristocrat attempts to sculpt his awkward son into a smooth courtier, only to find that obsessive elegance collapses into absurd, petty micromanagement.

Two Thousand Miles on an Automobile: Being a Desultory Narrative of a Trip Through New England, New York, Canada, and the West, By "Chauffeur"
Arthur Jerome Eddy
An early motorist sets off across the rutted, unpaved roads of turn-of-the-century America, discovering that the real adventure lies less in mechanical precision than in unpredictable human encounters.

Unaddressed Letters
Unknown
A wandering diplomat leaves behind a collection of intimate, unaddressed missives that capture the quiet beauty of the East, the eccentricities of human nature, and the ache of romantic devotion.

Urith: A Tale of Dartmoor
S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
A wild, atmospheric tale where hot-headed pride and deep-seated vengeance clash against the unforgiving landscape of seventeenth-century Dartmoor.

Watson's Jeffersonian Magazine, January, 1907
Various
This compilation of early twentieth-century political commentary, historical writing, literary fiction, and regional advertising captures a fiery Southern Populist worldview fighting against corporate monopolies, financial elites, and publishing betrayals.

Withered Leaves from Memory's Garland
Abigail Stanley Hanna
The relentless passage of time and the quiet inevitability of death serve as the central currents in this collection of prose and poetry. These reflections offer a somber, intimate window into the Victorian preoccupation with mortality, memory, and the hope of an afterlife.

A Book of Operas: Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their Music
Henry Edward Krehbiel
The operatic stage offers a mirror to the human condition, where high drama and sublime music converge to reveal our deepest hungers, follies, and redemptive hopes.

A Child-World
James Whitcomb Riley
A simple frame house in nineteenth-century Indiana becomes the luminous theater of childhood, where every ordinary hour brims with magical enchantment and boundless wonder.

A Columbus of Space
Garrett Putman Serviss
Bound together by an extraordinary secret, four men board an experimental craft and embark on a daring expedition beyond the edge of Earth's atmosphere.

A Day at a Time, and Other Talks on Life and Religion
Archibald Alexander
A word of hope spoken during dark days can reach far beyond the immediate crisis, offering quiet, enduring strength to anyone facing uncertainty.

A History of Bibliographies of Bibliographies
Archer Taylor
A historical study maps how scholars across four centuries attempted to organize the vast world of printed information by cataloging bibliographies themselves.

A Review of Algebra
Romeyn Henry Rivenburg
A masterclass in functional instruction, this handbook distills complex algebraic principles into concise, targeted exercises designed to transform struggling students into competent problem solvers before college.

A Student in Arms: Second Series
Donald Hankey
An intimate window into the mind of a young British officer turned ordinary soldier, charting his journey from an awkward boyhood through wartime trenches to a serene, deeply personal Christian faith.

Birds from North Borneo: University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, Volume 17, No. 8, pp. 377-433, October 27, 1966
Max C. Thompson
Field notes and physical specimens map the avian life across the habitats of North Borneo, revealing how forest structure and elevation shape the island's rich tropical bird communities.

Captain Brassbound's Conversion
Bernard Shaw
A vengeful pirate's lifelong obsession with punishing his corrupt judge uncle dissolves when a remarkably serene Englishwoman treats them both like unruly schoolboys.

Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 1 of 3), Essay 1: Robespierre
John Morley
A small-town magistrate rises to command the bloodiest hours of the French Revolution, only to be devoured by the very machinery of terror he helped construct.

Don Quixote of the Mancha, Retold by Judge Parry
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
A delusional country gentleman, driven mad by tales of knighthood, sets off across 16th-century Spain on a frail horse to right the world's wrongs.

Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's
Sophie May
A spirited, prideful young girl navigates small-town temptations, family expectations, and big moral lessons during a summer stay with her grandmother.

Ducks and Geese
Harry M. Lamon
A practical industrial guide to early twentieth-century waterfowl husbandry, balancing large-scale commercial operations with small-scale farm management.

Economy of the Round Dairy Barn
Wilber J. (Wilber John) Fraser
A single architectural choice can slice construction costs by nearly half while cutting the endless daily steps required to feed and tend a dairy herd.

Education and life
James H. (James Hutchins) Baker
A vision of human potential that fuses classical philosophy with modern educational practice, demanding that schools cultivate heroic character, civic duty, and intellectual power over mere utilitarian routine.

Elizabeth Montagu, the queen of the bluestockings, Volume 1 (of 2)
Mrs. (Elizabeth) Montagu
Bright, observant, and thoroughly embedded in the social whirl of the eighteenth century, a young woman writes her way into the heart of London’s intellectual elite through sharp letters detailing card games, parliamentary politics, and health remedies.

Elsie's Vacation and After Events
Martha Finley
A devoted naval officer leads his extended family on a grand coastal voyage, weaving American history, deep religious devotion, and gentle domestic discipline into a tapestry of late-nineteenth-century domestic life.

Fishes of the Big Blue River Basin, Kansas
W. L. Minckley
Before a massive federal dam permanently changes the water system of northeastern Kansas, a dedicated field biologist surveys every stream and tributary to record its native fish populations before they vanish under a new artificial lake.

Folk tales from Tibet
Unknown
A young tiger learns humanity's trickery, a foolish boy accidentally shatters his dreams with an overzealous footstep, and a clever hare leaves a lioness trapped in a stone wall.

Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants: A Practice Treatise Setting Forth the Principles of Gas-Engines and Producer Design, the Selection and Installation of an Engine, Conditions of Perfect Operation, Producer-Gas Engines and Their Possibilities, the Care of Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants, with a Chapter on Volatile Hydrocarbon and Oil Engines
Rodolphe Edgard Mathot
Mastering the mechanical precision of internal combustion requires navigating intricate engineering trade-offs, where subtle choices in ignition, governing, and gaseous fuels dictate industrial success.

Glorious Deeds of Australasians in the Great War
E. C. (Ernest Charles) Buley
They left peaceful sunlit plains to fight on ancient soil, forging an enduring national identity amid the dust and shrapnel of Gallipoli.

Graham's Magazine, Vol. XLI, No. 5, November 1852
Various
Youthful ideals fade into maturity, yet the quiet power of labor, science, and domestic life endures across changing centuries.

Guide to Rocks and Minerals of Illinois
Illinois State Geological Survey
Underneath the smooth, agricultural prairies of the Midwest lies a surprisingly intricate subterranean world shaped by ancient seas, deep-crustal magmas, and massive continental ice sheets.

Hans of Iceland, Vol. 2 of 2
Victor Hugo
A doomed prisoner in a dark cell counts his remaining heartbeats while counting down the hours to the guillotine.

Helen of Troy
Andrew Lang
The ancient myth of the woman whose beauty sparked a war is retold here as a lyrical journey, transforming a figure of legend into a portrait of human endurance and divine sorrow.

Her Prairie Knight
B. M. Bower
A wealthy Eastern woman visits her brother’s Montana ranch, only to find her refined world turned upside down by the rugged charm of a local cowboy.

Histology of medicinal plants
William James Mansfield
A practical 1916 laboratory guide unlocks the microscopic architecture of medicinal plants to transform raw botanical samples into precisely identified, pure pharmaceutical ingredients.