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32,123 public-domain books, summarised. Page 449 of 670.

Life of St. Declan of Ardmore and Life of St. Mochuda of Lismore
Unknown
These medieval Irish biographies depict the lives of two foundational saints, blending historical tradition with local legend to chronicle the early spread of Christianity through the Decies and beyond.

Lynch-law
James Elbert Cutler
The American history of mob violence reflects a deep, enduring struggle between the rule of law and the impulses of the crowd. This study traces that dark legacy from colonial origins to the turn of the twentieth century.

My Buried Treasure
Richard Harding Davis
The promise of buried treasure acts as a prism, reflecting the raw greed and high-strung caution of two men bound by a strange, lopsided contract. It is a dry, witty meditation on the clash between the romantic imagination and the cold reality of business.

Notes and Queries, Number 189, June 11, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
This publication serves as a nineteenth-century clearinghouse for the curious, where Victorian scholars and laymen converge to trade fragments of history, linguistics, and literature. It transforms the act of inquiry into a collective, public pursuit.

Notes and Queries, Number 233, April 15, 1854: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
A repository of Victorian curiosity, this periodical serves as a vibrant, collaborative clearinghouse where the era’s intellectuals, antiquarians, and hobbyists trade historical insights and solve obscure literary puzzles.

Old Fashioned Flowers, and other out-of-door studies
Maurice Maeterlinck
To walk through a garden is to engage in a silent dialogue with the infinite, where every petal holds a secret about the nature of existence. This meditation invites readers to reconsider the profound relationship between human consciousness and the natural world.

Our Revolution: Essays on Working-Class and International Revolution, 1904-1917
Leon Trotsky
The Russian Revolution was not merely a local collapse of the Czarist state, but a fundamental collision between an emergent, disciplined proletariat and a crumbling, centuries-old autocratic order.

Pretty Geraldine, the New York Salesgirl
Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.
A New York salesgirl’s life is upended by a web of deception, leading her from the city’s bustling streets to the perils of an unwanted abduction and a sudden inheritance.

Puck's Broom: The wonderful adventures of George Henry & his dog Alexander who went to seek their fortunes in the Once upon a time land
E. Gordon (Edgar Gordon) Browne
A young boy and his loyal dog slip through the veil of reality to explore a land of dreams, guided by the mischievous spirit of Puck.

Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 8, 1914
Various
A sharp, witty window into the polite absurdities of Edwardian England, this collection captures the specific, fleeting anxieties of a society poised on the precipice of the Great War.

Putois: 1907
Anatole France
A lie told to avoid a tedious dinner party spirals into a town-wide legend, demonstrating how easily fiction takes on the hard, sharp edges of truth. This is a story about the birth of a myth and the vulnerability of the human mind to its own inventions.

Rosa Bonheur
François Crastre
This biography chronicles the life of a singular nineteenth-century French painter who defied social conventions to become one of history’s most celebrated animal artists. Her story is one of unwavering devotion to the craft of observation and the pursuit of artistic independence.

Rose of Dutcher's Coolly
Hamlin Garland
The odyssey of a gifted girl from a Wisconsin valley to the pulse of Chicago, this portrait captures the fierce tension between rural roots and the hunger for a life of the mind. It is a story of independence earned through the difficult shedding of old selves.

Saddle and Mocassin
Francis Francis
A restless observer travels through the rugged, untamed landscapes of the American West and Northern Mexico, capturing the fading frontier with a sharp eye for the eccentric characters inhabiting its vast, sun-drenched plains.

Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) and Two Other Reminiscences
H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
A breezy, cynical collection of monologues captures the Victorian obsession with propriety, fashion, and the quiet, crushing weight of social expectation through the eyes of an eccentric uncle.

Selected Poems
John Masefield
This collection gathers the work of a poet obsessed with the raw, rhythmic toil of the sea and the fleeting, often tragic beauty of human endeavor. It serves as a window into a world where the salt-spray and the soul’s deepest longings are inextricably linked.

Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2
Unknown
The nineteenth-century American literary landscape comes to life in these pages, capturing a nation in transition through stories of war, frontier justice, romantic misunderstanding, and the quiet struggles of the disenfranchised.

Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His Discourses
Thomas Woolston
A polemical challenge to the literal interpretation of the Gospels, this work argues that the miraculous narratives of Jesus are intended as spiritual allegories rather than historical accounts. It remains a provocative relic of early Enlightenment religious controversy.

Special Messenger
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
Behind the lines of the American Civil War, a resourceful woman risks everything as a spy, navigating a world of shifting allegiances and lethal secrets.

Specimens of German Romance
E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann
This tale follows a dreamer caught between the mundane world of commerce and a hidden, microscopic realm of ancient intrigue and magic. It explores the tension between human desires and the strange forces that manipulate them from the periphery of vision.

Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 3 (of 3)
Theodore Parker
Public discourse serves as a moral compass in times of national crisis, where the demands of justice must outweigh the shifting loyalties of political parties. These collected sermons and addresses document a fierce, articulate struggle for the soul of mid-nineteenth-century America.

St Nicotine of the Peace Pipe
Edward Vincent Heward
The soothing, fragrant, and sometimes controversial smoke of the "Indian weed" traces a path through history as curious and persistent as the curling wisp of a pipe. This exploration invites a look at the enduring, global embrace of tobacco from its mythical origins to its role in the modern world.

Tales of the Wonder Club, Volume III
M. Y. Halidom
Hidden within a black box for decades, these tales weave together the scholarly debates of a nineteenth-century social circle with the dark, melodramatic hauntings of a vanishing past.

The Abolitionists: Together With Personal Memories Of The Struggle For Human Rights, 1830-1864
John F. (John Ferguson) Hume
This account offers a firsthand witness to the moral conviction and political persistence of those who fought to end American slavery long before it was a popular or safe cause.

The Aborigines of Australia
Sadleir, Richard, R.N.
This account documents the rapid dispossession and decline of Australia’s original inhabitants during the nineteenth century, blending firsthand observations, colonial records, and a plea for humane intervention. It serves as a somber historical ledger of a culture under the immense pressure of rapid European…

The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane: Her Surprising Curious Adventures In Strange Parts & Happy Deliverance From Pirates, Battle, Captivity, & Other Terrors
Frank Barrett
The shadow of the pillory falls across a man whose life is about to be unmade by the sea, but rescued by a lady whose own fate is inextricably tied to his.

The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse
Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess
The world is full of hungry predators, but for those who remain alert, a quick wit is often sharper than any claw. Tiny lives find safety not through strength, but through caution and cleverness.

The Bars of Iron
Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell
A story of two deeply flawed souls seeking redemption, this narrative explores the transformative power of love when it breaks through the rigid, self-imposed barriers of guilt and social expectation.

The Baz-nama-yi Nasiri
Taymur Mirza, Prince, grandson of Fath Ali Shah, Shah of Iran
This manual serves as a master class in the ancient art of Persian falconry, blending technical rigor with a profound, poetic reverence for the bond between predator and hunter.

The Beginning of the Sea Story of Australia: 1901
Louis Becke
This account rediscovers the forgotten maritime foundations of Australia, revealing how the nation’s survival and identity were forged not by bush pioneers, but by naval captains, runaway sailors, and rugged whalers.

The Boy Allies with the Victorious Fleets
Clair W. (Clair Wallace) Hayes
This is a straightforward, action-oriented chronicle of two young naval officers whose quick wits and steady nerves help secure the Allied victory during the final stages of the Great War.

The Bulletin of the Loudoun County Historical Society, Volume IV, 1965
Various
This collection of historical essays offers a meticulous, localized lens into the past of a Virginia county, bridging the gap between grand military maneuvers and the quiet, agrarian traditions of its early settlers.

The Campaign of Königgrätz
Arthur L. (Arthur Lockwood) Wagner
The lightning-fast military triumph of 1866 serves as a definitive case study in how modern organization and technological superiority can decisively reshape the map of Europe in mere weeks.

The Christian View of the Old Testament
Frederick Carl Eiselen
This work serves as a reasoned bridge for early twentieth-century readers struggling to reconcile traditional faith with the rising tide of scientific and historical skepticism. It offers a balanced framework for understanding the Old Testament as a progressive, divinely inspired revelation that remains spiritually…

The Comical Pilgrim
Anonymous
This cynical travelogue offers a biting, satirical tour of the British Isles and the Netherlands, stripping away the pretensions of the age to expose the vices of every land the narrator visits.

The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This is an intimate, unfiltered account of a life defined by extraordinary intellectual achievement, profound social alienation, and a deepening conviction of being the victim of a grand, invisible conspiracy. It remains one of the most famous and contentious pieces of autobiography ever written.

The Crusade of the Excelsior
Bret Harte
A marooned party of American travelers faces the strange, forgotten customs of a secluded Mexican enclave, where their survival depends on navigating both local politics and their own simmering social tensions.

The Eclipse of Faith
Henry Rogers
A sharp, dialectic inquiry into faith that uses the framework of a fictional journal to dismantle the arguments of contemporary religious skeptics.

The Garies and Their Friends
Frank J. Webb
The lives of free Black families in 1850s Philadelphia are irrevocably altered by the encroaching shadows of slavery and the violent intolerance of their white neighbors.

The Hawaiian Islands: Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and Financial
Hawaii. Department of Foreign Affairs
This 1896 government publication serves as a formal invitation to foreign investors, detailing the agricultural potential and political stability of the newly established Republic of Hawaii.

The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick
Charles Bradlaugh
This polemic systematically dismantles the prestige of the British monarchy, arguing that the Hanoverian line has consistently burdened the nation with fiscal irresponsibility, political meddling, and moral failure.

The Land of Long Ago
Eliza Calvert Hall
The Land of Long Ago serves as a bridge between the present and a fading Kentucky, inviting readers to sit by the hearth and listen to the echoes of a vanishing world. It is a quiet, reflective portrait of memory, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit.

The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Volume 1 (of 2): And Lamme Goedzak, and their Adventures Heroical, Joyous and Glorious in the Land of Flanders and Elsewhere
Charles de Coster
A child of Flanders, born with a lucky star and a devil’s mark, wanders a war-torn landscape as a jester and a rebel to settle a cosmic debt.

The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet
George Q. (George Quayle) Cannon
This biographical account chronicles the tumultuous ministry and violent martyrdom of a nineteenth-century religious leader, portraying his life as a divine mission constantly besieged by prejudice and political betrayal.

The Life Story of an Otter
J. C. (John Coulson) Tregarthen
An intimate, rigorous portrait of a wild creature, this narrative follows an otter’s struggle for survival against the seasonal elements and the relentless pursuit of human hunters across the rugged Cornish landscape.

The Little Book of Modern Verse: A Selection from the Work of Contemporaneous American Poets
Unknown
This collection captures the spirit of early twentieth-century American verse, offering a snapshot of a literary landscape caught between traditional forms and the emerging, restless energy of a new age. It stands as a curated bridge, connecting the echoes of the nineteenth century with the modern sensibilities…

The Mentor: Makers of American Art, Vol. 1, Num. 45, Serial No. 45
J. Thompson Willing
This survey of early American painting traces the transition from colonial craftsmanship to the establishment of a national art identity, highlighting the figures who defined the young republic’s visual legacy.

The Mentor: The War of 1812: Volume 4, Number 3, Serial Number 103
Albert Bushnell Hart
This historical survey examines the War of 1812, a costly and often humiliating struggle that paradoxically forged a new sense of American national identity and secured global respect for the young republic.