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47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 509 of 988.

Cover of The Story of Jack and the Giants

The Story of Jack and the Giants

Unknown

The tale of a clever farm boy who outwits monstrous adversaries, this legendary folk narrative celebrates the triumph of human ingenuity over brute force. It remains a foundational text in the tradition of hero-quest literature.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Strange Case of Cavendish

The Strange Case of Cavendish

Randall Parrish

This mystery of mistaken identity and western adventure follows a tenacious reporter and a rugged prospector as they unravel a lethal conspiracy spanning from New York City to a hidden valley in the Colorado desert.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Tower of London

The Tower of London

William Benham

Rising above the Thames, London’s central fortress serves as a royal palace, a military stronghold, and an execution ground, binding centuries of national struggle to a single architectural complex.

Architecture7 min read
Cover of The Truth About the Congo: The Chicago Tribune Articles

The Truth About the Congo: The Chicago Tribune Articles

Frederick Starr

An ethnologist's firsthand report on the Congo Free State offers an unconventional counter-argument to early twentieth-century international outrage, challenging foreign intervention while detailing the daily customs, labor dynamics, and imperial politics of Central Africa.

History - Modern (1750+)6 min read
Cover of The Two Vanrevels

The Two Vanrevels

Booth Tarkington

In a town where romance and reputation are fragile commodities, a quiet, principled lawyer finds his life entangled with a woman who unknowingly loves him through the masquerade of his deceptive, charming friend.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Tysons (Mr. and Mrs. Nevill Tyson)

The Tysons (Mr. and Mrs. Nevill Tyson)

May Sinclair

A marriage built on fascination and folly struggles against the stifling judgment of a small English village. It is a portrait of a volatile man and the devoted woman who anchors his chaotic existence.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Valley of Squinting Windows

The Valley of Squinting Windows

Brinsley MacNamara

A narrow, watchful Irish valley feeds on the secrets of its people until private vanity and malicious gossip drive a fragile young family into tragedy.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 128, November, 1908

The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 128, November, 1908

Various

This anthology of turn-of-the-century travel and adventure captures the raw, global spirit of an era when the world still held corners of mystery and unpredictable danger for the intrepid explorer.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 10 (of 32)

The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 10 (of 32)

John Wesley

A catastrophic disaster shatters worldly complacency, forcing the human heart to confront its own mortality and seek an unshakeable foundation beyond time.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island

The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island

Elijah Kellogg

A budding craftsman discovers that the path to true independence requires more than just raw ambition; it demands the humility to learn from masters and the integrity to build with purpose.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657.: With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait

Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657.: With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait

Thomas Stanley

The seventeenth-century lyric finds its most refined and serene expression in these pages, capturing the delicate interplay of love, wit, and classical grace. This collection offers a complete, authoritative window into the mind of a poet who remained remarkably untouched by the political turbulence of his era.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Three years in Tristan da Cunha

Three years in Tristan da Cunha

Katherine Mary Barrow

HOOK Isolated by the vast South Atlantic, a small community clings to a volcanic rock while navigating the demands of survival and the arrival of an outsider.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of To Win the Love He Sought: The Great Awakening: Volume 3

To Win the Love He Sought: The Great Awakening: Volume 3

E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

Beneath a web of ancient Sicilian oaths and scientific arrogance lies a world where broken vows and forgotten identities threaten to destroy every chance at love.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Uncle Robert's Geography (Uncle Robert's Visit, V.3)

Uncle Robert's Geography (Uncle Robert's Visit, V.3)

Francis W. (Francis Wayland) Parker

Nature serves as the ultimate classroom in this gentle exploration of the physical world, where the boundaries between home life and scientific inquiry blur under the guidance of a patient mentor.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Wilhelmina in London

Wilhelmina in London

Barry Pain

Fresh from the provinces with empty pockets and a high spirit, a young woman steps off the train to conquer London on her own terms.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Willis's Current Notes, No. 13, January 1852

Willis's Current Notes, No. 13, January 1852

Unknown

This slim 1852 issue of an antiquarian journal captures mid-nineteenth-century literary life through subscriber queries, historical discoveries, and trade announcements.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Williwaw: A Novel

Williwaw: A Novel

Gore Vidal

Darkness, salt, and the cold iron of a small transport vessel setting out into the treacherous waters off Alaska—this is the arena of Gore Vidal's debut novel. Written while the author was still serving in the Army transport service during World War II, the story captures the quiet friction among men trapped…

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 01

Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 01

Unknown

These tales capture the rugged spirit of the Scottish Borders, where history, hardship, and human kindness collide in the lives of ordinary people. They transform local legend into a timeless record of endurance.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Your boy and his training

Your boy and his training

Edwin Seward Puller

A clear-eyed blueprint for middle-class fathers, this 1914 manual argues that boyhood misbehavior is rarely a moral failing of the child, but a failure of parental empathy and education.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of A Girton Girl

A Girton Girl

Annie Edwards

A young woman’s intellectual ambitions collide with the stifling expectations of her social class, setting off a quiet, poignant struggle between traditional duty and the desire for a life of the mind.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Legend of Reading Abbey

A Legend of Reading Abbey

Charles MacFarlane

An abbey built on royal ambition becomes a sanctuary and a fortress when England fractures under a disputed crown.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of A select glossary of English words used formerly in senses different from their present

A select glossary of English words used formerly in senses different from their present

Richard Chenevix Trench

A shift in a word's meaning can quiet an entire historic conversation.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes

A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes

Richard Sherry

A manual for crafting persuasive language, this work demonstrates how targeted variations in word choice, sentence structure, and style transform ordinary speech into vivid, effective rhetoric.

Language & Communication6 min read
Cover of A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler Aurora

A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler Aurora

David Moore Lindsay

Youthful adventure meets the cold realities of commercial whaling in this vivid, unvarnished journal of an 1884 Arctic expedition.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of A Woman of the Ice Age

A Woman of the Ice Age

L. P. (Louis Pope) Gratacap

Two lovers navigate the receding glaciers of North America, discovering that human emotion matches the grand, unforgiving scale of the prehistoric world.

Historical Novels7 min read
Cover of Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin

Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin

Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade

A young Tagal boy spends his days climbing tall palms, diving for fish, and building homes out of bamboo under the tropical sun. Life in his island village moves to the rhythmic pattern of nature's simple gifts.

Adventure5 min read
Cover of Athletics and Games of the Ancient Greeks

Athletics and Games of the Ancient Greeks

Edward M. (Edward Marwick) Plummer

Discover the ancient Greeks' athletic ideals, from Homeric warfare to the Olympics, and their enduring influence on physical culture.

History - Ancient6 min read
Cover of Averil

Averil

Rosa Nouchette Carey

A delicate orphan girl leaves a cramped attic in France, stepping into a grand London household where Quiet kindness must navigate selfish family demands, hidden double lives, and sudden scandal.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 75, No. 463, May, 1854

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 75, No. 463, May, 1854

Various

Middle-class anxieties, geopolitical rivalries, and poetic satire collide in an era balancing on the precipice of global war and radical institutional change.

History - British6 min read
Cover of Boscobel

Boscobel

William Harrison Ainsworth

He spent forty days running for his life through a fallen kingdom, protected only by the reckless devotion of a few backwoods loyalists and a sequence of absurd disguises.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of Camping on the St. Lawrence

Camping on the St. Lawrence

Everett T. (Everett Titsworth) Tomlinson

Four city boys row through history, storm, and misadventure along the Thousand Islands, discovering that mastering a canoe takes far less grit than mastering oneself.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Cape Cod Folks

Cape Cod Folks

Sarah Pratt McLean Greene

A young teacher leaves home to lead a school on an isolated peninsula, expecting a routine assignment and finding an unpolished world that shakes her sense of self.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Chardin

Chardin

Paul G. (Paul George) Konody

Quiet observation of ordinary life turns humble kitchen tables and domestic routines into timeless, luminous art.

Art5 min read
Cover of Children in Prison and Other Cruelties of Prison Life

Children in Prison and Other Cruelties of Prison Life

Oscar Wilde

Cruelty in prison stems not from individual malice, but from a rigid, unthinking system that mistake routine for righteousness.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Condensed guide for the Stanford revision of the Binet-Simon intelligence tests

Condensed guide for the Stanford revision of the Binet-Simon intelligence tests

Lewis M. (Lewis Madison) Terman

A precise, standardized measuring stick for the human mind, this classic handbook reduces psychological evaluation to a rigorous series of calibrated interactions.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of Discussion on American Slavery

Discussion on American Slavery

George Thompson

Two fiery debaters clash across five tense evenings in Scotland, locking horns over the moral guilt of American slaveholders, the mechanics of gradual emancipation, and the true motives behind African colonization.

History - American7 min read
Cover of Eminent doctors: Their lives and their work

Eminent doctors: Their lives and their work

G. T. (George Thomas) Bettany

A rigorous historical survey reveals how British medical science emerged from medieval superstition through the steady, unglamorous labor of passionate observation and physical dissection.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Eustace Marchmont: A friend of the people

Eustace Marchmont: A friend of the people

Evelyn Everett-Green

A young idealist arrives in Cornwall determined to champion the working class, only to find that his political theories fracture against local traditions, violent industrial unrest, and the steady faith of a woman who sees human suffering through a deeply spiritual lens.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of From Boniface to Bank Burglar

From Boniface to Bank Burglar

George M. (George Miles) White

A hotelkeeper turned burglar crafts an unsparing record of 19th-century American bank heists, official corruption, and the steep cost of a life outside the law.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Garryowen

Garryowen

H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole

To save his ancient Irish estate, an eccentric landlord pins all his fortunes on a gifted racehorse. He must outwit bailiffs, scheming relatives, and bad luck across Ireland and England to secure a desperately needed victory at Epsom.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Goose-Quill Papers

Goose-Quill Papers

Louise Imogen Guiney

A collection of lightweight, polished essays wanders through the quietly eccentric corners of everyday life, blending classical erudition with a defense of small, forgotten pleasures.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Heather and Snow

Heather and Snow

George MacDonald

A proud young Scotsman’s pursuit of earthly ambition gives way to spiritual awakening through the steady, unyielding love of a farmer’s daughter.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Herbert Carter's Legacy

Herbert Carter's Legacy

Alger, Horatio, Jr.

A destitute boy’s quiet integrity and hard labor protect his family from ruin, turning a meager inheritance into lasting prosperity.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Hester: A Story of Contemporary Life, Volume 2 (of 3)

Hester: A Story of Contemporary Life, Volume 2 (of 3)

Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

In the sleepy provincial town of Redborough, pride, hidden resentments, and reckless ambition silently pull a respectable banking family toward the brink of ruin.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Historical Record of the Seventeenth, or the Leicestershire Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1688, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1848

Historical Record of the Seventeenth, or the Leicestershire Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1688, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1848

Richard Cannon

A storied infantry regiment marches through a century and a half of relentless global warfare, forged in the fires of European sieges and expanded across distant empires.

History - British7 min read
Cover of Indian Biography; Vol. 2 (of 2)

Indian Biography; Vol. 2 (of 2)

B. B. (Benjamin Bussey) Thatcher

A quiet battle for historical truth runs through this book. Benjamin Bussey Thatcher reconstructs the lives of native leaders who shaped North America, resisting both colonial mythmaking and the easy erasure of indigenous sovereignty.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Joutel's Journal of La Salle's Last Voyage, 1684-7

Joutel's Journal of La Salle's Last Voyage, 1684-7

Henri Joutel

A brave expedition across North America unravels as mutiny, shipwreck, and betrayal dismantle the grand dreams of French empire.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of King Henry IV, Part 1

King Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare

A crown won by treason sits uneasily on the head, threatened by the very lords who helped seize it and compromised by an heir who prefers tavern brawls to royal court.

British Literature6 min read