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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 358 of 714.

Cover of The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718)

The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718)

Joseph Trapp

This critical introduction serves as both a scholarly defense of Virgil’s Aeneid and a manifesto for a more disciplined, literal approach to poetic translation. It challenges the prevailing literary fashions of the early eighteenth century by prioritizing structural fidelity over the ornate, often loose,…

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of The Regent

The Regent

Arnold Bennett

A provincial businessman’s impulsive, high-stakes leap into the London theatrical world becomes a test of his own cunning, stamina, and the shifting nature of ambition.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Scouts of Stonewall: The Story of the Great Valley Campaign

The Scouts of Stonewall: The Story of the Great Valley Campaign

Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

The war in the Shenandoah Valley becomes a high-stakes chess match where speed is the only currency that matters. A young scout finds himself riding at the right hand of a legend, witnessing the extraordinary movements that keep a massive army at bay.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Second Book of Modern Verse: A Selection from the Work of Contemporaneous American Poets

The Second Book of Modern Verse: A Selection from the Work of Contemporaneous American Poets

Unknown

This collection captures the American spirit at a threshold, gathering the voices of poets working during the transformative years surrounding the First World War. It preserves a snapshot of a nation finding new rhythms for its changing landscape.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Story of an Ancient Parish: Breage with Germoe: With Some Account of Its Armigers, Worthies and Unworthies, Smugglers and Wreckers, Its Traditions and Superstitions

The Story of an Ancient Parish: Breage with Germoe: With Some Account of Its Armigers, Worthies and Unworthies, Smugglers and Wreckers, Its Traditions and Superstitions

H. R. (Hugh Robert) Coulthard

This quiet, evocative study breathes life into the long-faded memories of two Cornish villages, tracing their evolution from ancient Celtic foundations to the industrial and social upheaval of the nineteenth century.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Story of Nefrekepta, from a Demotic Papyrus

The Story of Nefrekepta, from a Demotic Papyrus

Gilbert Murray

The hubris of a scholar meets the vengeance of the ancient dead in this cautionary tale of forbidden knowledge. A high priest’s obsession with a legendary book leads him through a gauntlet of phantoms, illusion, and divine retribution.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore6 min read
Cover of The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 42, June, 1894: An Illustrated Monthly

The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 42, June, 1894: An Illustrated Monthly

Various

This collection of Victorian journalism and fiction offers a window into the late nineteenth-century British mind, blending serious professional profiles with whimsical detective stories and lighthearted observations on natural history. It serves as a quintessential artifact of its era's popular reading habits.

Crime, Thrillers and Mystery6 min read
Cover of The tale of Miss Kitty Cat

The tale of Miss Kitty Cat

Arthur Scott Bailey

A spirited farm cat navigates the perils of rival dogs, clever mice, and unwanted travel to secure a safe, warm home for her family.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Truth About Tristrem Varick: A Novel

The Truth About Tristrem Varick: A Novel

Edgar Saltus

A man of refined sensibilities becomes trapped in a harrowing web of family scandal, romantic obsession, and a singular, fatal necessity.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of The Witches of New York

The Witches of New York

Q. K. Philander Doesticks

Under the guise of a journalistic quest, a satirist exposes the squalid reality of nineteenth-century urban occultism. He navigates a labyrinth of grifters, peeling wallpaper, and empty promises to reveal how easily superstition thrives in the heart of the metropolis.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The World's Great Sermons, Volume 08: Talmage to Knox Little

The World's Great Sermons, Volume 08: Talmage to Knox Little

Unknown

A collection of pulpit oratory, these sermons navigate the intersection of human frailty and divine grace, offering a portrait of religious thought at the turn of the twentieth century.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Triple Spies

Triple Spies

Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell

The aftermath of the Great War serves as the backdrop for this high-stakes chase, as a discharged American soldier finds himself entangled in a shadowy international conspiracy spanning from the frozen Siberian tundra to the industrial underbelly of Chicago.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Two Dyaloges (c. 1549): Wrytten in laten by the famous clerke, D. Erasm[us] of Roterodame, one called Polyphemus or the gospeller, the other dysposyng of thynges and names, translated in to Englyshe by Edmonde Becke

Two Dyaloges (c. 1549): Wrytten in laten by the famous clerke, D. Erasm[us] of Roterodame, one called Polyphemus or the gospeller, the other dysposyng of thynges and names, translated in to Englyshe by Edmonde Becke

Desiderius Erasmus

These two sharp-edged dialogues strip away the pretenses of sixteenth-century life, exposing how easily people trade the substance of integrity for the mere appearance of holiness and status.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of When a Cobbler Ruled the King

When a Cobbler Ruled the King

Augusta Huiell Seaman

The tragic mystery of the "Lost Dauphin" of France finds a hopeful, swashbuckling resolution in this historical novel. It reimagines the fate of Louis XVII, the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who vanished into the shadows of the French Revolution.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of White Fire

White Fire

John Oxenham

Driven by an unyielding sense of duty, a missionary and his small team arrive in the South Seas, where they find that saving souls requires as much steel, grit, and strategy as it does faith.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of A Blot in the 'Scutcheon

A Blot in the 'Scutcheon

Robert Browning

A noble house falls to ruin when a secret affair collides with an uncompromising obsession with family honor. This tragic drama explores how rigid pride can blind the powerful to the truth until it is too late to offer mercy.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Letter to the Hon. Samuel A. Eliot, Representative in Congress From the City of Boston, In Reply to His Apology For Voting For the Fugitive Slave Bill

A Letter to the Hon. Samuel A. Eliot, Representative in Congress From the City of Boston, In Reply to His Apology For Voting For the Fugitive Slave Bill

Franklin Dexter

Public officials are often tempted to justify their legislative record with revisionist history, but some arguments are so transparently fragile that they invite a dismantling of both the politician’s logic and his integrity.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of A Little Preserving Book for a Little Girl

A Little Preserving Book for a Little Girl

Waterman, Amy Harlow (Lane), Mrs.

Preserving food is presented here as a collaborative, patient, and rewarding domestic craft, transforming a simple kitchen chore into a meaningful rite of passage for a child.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of A Manual of the Hand Lathe: Comprising Concise Directions for Working Metals of All Kinds, Ivory, Bone and Precious Woods

A Manual of the Hand Lathe: Comprising Concise Directions for Working Metals of All Kinds, Ivory, Bone and Precious Woods

Egbert P. (Egbert Pomeroy) Watson

HOOK This guide serves as an intimate, practical apprenticeship for the home craftsman, demystifying the art of turning metal, ivory, and exotic woods on the foot-powered lathe.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of Adventures of a Despatch Rider

Adventures of a Despatch Rider

William Henry Lowe Watson

These are the recollections of a young man who traded the quiet, intellectual life of Oxford for the mud, hunger, and relentless peril of a motorcycle dispatch rider in the Great War.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of American short stories

American short stories

Unknown

This collection serves as a historical map, tracing the evolution of the American short story from its loose, wandering beginnings to the precise, unified art form defined by master technicians. It captures a century of literary ambition, where authors moved away from rambling tales toward a singular, disciplined…

American Literature5 min read
Cover of An Alphabetical List of Books Contained in Bohn's Libraries (1892)

An Alphabetical List of Books Contained in Bohn's Libraries (1892)

George Bell & Sons

This meticulous inventory serves as a comprehensive gateway to the vast intellectual landscape preserved by a premier Victorian publishing house, indexing centuries of human thought, literature, and scientific inquiry for the scholarly reader.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of An Introduction to Chemical Science

An Introduction to Chemical Science

Rufus P. (Rufus Phillips) Williams

Chemistry is a disciplined study of nature’s smallest building blocks, transforming abstract theories into tangible, observable experiments. This guide serves as a foundational bridge between the invisible mechanics of the atom and the practical realities of industrial and biological life.

Science - Chemistry/Biochemistry5 min read
Cover of Biology and Its Makers: With Portraits and Other Illustrations

Biology and Its Makers: With Portraits and Other Illustrations

William A. (William Albert) Locy

The history of biology is not a collection of isolated discoveries, but a coherent narrative of human insight slowly illuminating the mechanics of life. This work traces that evolution through the lives of the pioneers who redefined our understanding of the natural world.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of Checking the Waste: A Study in Conservation

Checking the Waste: A Study in Conservation

Mary Huston Gregory

This practical guide to the conservation of American natural resources provides a comprehensive, accessible roadmap for citizens, students, and policymakers to eliminate waste and secure the nation’s future prosperity.

Environmental Issues6 min read
Cover of Dawn of the Morning

Dawn of the Morning

Grace Livingston Hill

A young woman trapped in a loveless arrangement discovers her husband is a bigamist and flees into the wilderness, only to find her true path and the man who truly loves her.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Discourses on a Sober and Temperate Life: Wherein Is Demonstrated, by His Own Example, the Method of Preserving Health to Extreme Old Age

Discourses on a Sober and Temperate Life: Wherein Is Demonstrated, by His Own Example, the Method of Preserving Health to Extreme Old Age

Luigi Cornaro

A life of physical harmony is within reach of anyone who chooses to master their own appetites through the discipline of temperate living. By replacing indulgence with careful moderation, one can transform the later years of existence from a period of decay into a sustained, vibrant, and joyful conclusion.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of Domitia

Domitia

S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

In the shadow of the Roman Empire’s decline, a headstrong noblewoman struggles to find meaning amidst the casual cruelty of her husband, the Emperor Domitian.

Historical Novels6 min read
Cover of Down the Columbia

Down the Columbia

Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome) Freeman

A seasoned adventurer navigates the treacherous, wild waters of the Columbia River, capturing the raw majesty of a landscape before the era of modern damming transformed it forever.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of English grammar

English grammar

Lillian Kimball Stewart

Mastery of language grows not from memorizing dry rules, but from the rhythm of practice and the keen observation of how great writers build their sentences. This comprehensive guide turns the study of grammar into an active, analytical pursuit.

Language & Communication6 min read
Cover of Eryxias

Eryxias

Benjamin Jowett

The nature of wealth is not found in the weight of one’s gold, but in the precision of one’s needs. This classic inquiry dissects the paradox of possession, revealing how our cravings often dictate our poverty.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of Famous Persons and Places

Famous Persons and Places

Nathaniel Parker Willis

A vivid, observant travelogue of 19th-century Europe and America, this collection captures the fleeting manners and eminent figures of a vanished world with the sharp eye of a seasoned correspondent.

Travel Writing7 min read
Cover of Farm Legends

Farm Legends

Will Carleton

A collection of earnest, colloquial verses, these poems elevate the everyday dramas of nineteenth-century American rural life into moral lessons on human fallibility and redemption.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Five Minute Stories

Five Minute Stories

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

Tiny, self-contained sparks of imagination, these brief tales and verses capture the fleeting, intense world of childhood. They transform the ordinary—a summer afternoon or a backyard game—into an enduring, magical landscape.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of French Pathfinders in North America

French Pathfinders in North America

William Henry Johnson

This volume chronicles the ambitious, often harrowing efforts of French explorers to navigate, map, and claim the vast, untamed wilderness of North America. It brings to life an era when the continent was a blank map for Europeans and a complex, populated home for Indigenous nations.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Greek tragedy

Greek tragedy

Gilbert Norwood

The ancient stage pulses with religious ritual, technical innovation, and the raw, enduring power of human suffering. This scholarly examination uncovers the structural brilliance and dramatic heart of the works that defined the tragic form.

Classics of Literature7 min read
Cover of Hell's Hatches

Hell's Hatches

Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome) Freeman

A painter discovers the dark, desperate reality behind a legendary hero’s reputation in the South Seas. This atmospheric tale explores the intersection of obsession, addiction, and the masks men wear in the Pacific tropics.

Adventure5 min read
Cover of History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Vol. 1 (of 2)

History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Vol. 1 (of 2)

S. A. (Samuel Astley) Dunham

The icy, untamed North gives way to the rise of kingdoms, where legendary gods and mortal kings collide in a struggle for supremacy. This sweeping volume captures the transition from mythic origins to the foundations of Scandinavia.

History - European6 min read
Cover of Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 2 of 6, slice 01 of 12: England, 1066-1087, William I

Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 2 of 6, slice 01 of 12: England, 1066-1087, William I

Raphael Holinshed

The story of a kingdom transformed, this chronicle captures the violent birth of a new era through the eyes of those who witnessed the shifting tides of power. It remains a foundational, if complex, monument of English historical record.

History - British6 min read
Cover of In Search of Gravestones Old and Curious

In Search of Gravestones Old and Curious

W. T. (William Thomas) Vincent

The churchyard is a library of stone, and every weathered inscription tells a story waiting to be reclaimed by a patient eye. Join a rambler on a quiet quest to preserve the vanishing history of our common ancestors.

Art6 min read
Cover of Iron Making in the Olden Times: as instanced in the Ancient Mines, Forges, and Furnaces of The Forest of Dean

Iron Making in the Olden Times: as instanced in the Ancient Mines, Forges, and Furnaces of The Forest of Dean

H. G. (Henry George) Nicholls

This meticulous chronicle traces the ancient legacy of iron-making in the Forest of Dean, documenting a centuries-old tradition that transformed the landscape and fueled the industrial ambitions of the British Crown.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1

J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

The walls of old houses hold more than just dust, and some promises made to the dead are never meant to be broken. This collection of supernatural tales explores the thin, terrifying membrane between the living and the departed.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Java, Facts and Fancies

Java, Facts and Fancies

Augusta de Wit

This evocative travelogue explores the dual nature of Java at the turn of the twentieth century, balancing the rigid colonial administration of the Dutch East Indies with the timeless, myth-steeped beauty of the landscape.

Travel Writing7 min read
Cover of Kate Carnegie and Those Ministers

Kate Carnegie and Those Ministers

Ian Maclaren

In the quiet corners of a Scottish glen, the rigid traditions of the kirk and the spirited arrival of an outsider collide, forcing a young minister to confront both the shifting boundaries of his faith and the mysteries of his own heart.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Lessons in Music Form: A Manual of Analysis of All the Structural Factors and Designs Employed in Musical Composition

Lessons in Music Form: A Manual of Analysis of All the Structural Factors and Designs Employed in Musical Composition

Percy Goetschius

The architecture of classical music reveals itself not as an abstract mystery, but as a logical, evolving language. By tracing the smallest melodic figures to the grandest sonata movements, this guide demystifies the structural decisions that define the Western canon.

Music6 min read
Cover of Letters to His Son, 1746-47: On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman

Letters to His Son, 1746-47: On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman

Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of

To master the world, one must first master oneself: this is the stern, polished mandate issued by a father to his son as he prepares the boy for the rigors of eighteenth-century diplomacy and society.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Life of Henriette Sontag, Countess de Rossi.: with Interesting Sketches by Scudo, Hector Berlioz, Louis Boerne, Adolphe Adam, Marie Aycard, Julie de Margueritte, Prince Puckler-Muskau & Theophile Gautier

Life of Henriette Sontag, Countess de Rossi.: with Interesting Sketches by Scudo, Hector Berlioz, Louis Boerne, Adolphe Adam, Marie Aycard, Julie de Margueritte, Prince Puckler-Muskau & Theophile Gautier

Unknown

The extraordinary life of a world-renowned opera star unfolds here through a series of vivid, impressionistic sketches. It reveals how one woman’s voice and spirit navigated the shifting demands of fame, nobility, and art.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Mary of Lorraine

Mary of Lorraine

James Grant

The shadow of a long-standing blood feud hangs over the lowlands of Scotland, where the ambitions of powerful houses collide with the desperate survival of those they have wronged. Amidst the shifting loyalties of the sixteenth century, a young man must navigate the suffocating legacy of his family’s vengeance…

Historical Novels7 min read
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