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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 576 of 714.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, January 17, 1891
Various
This centennial issue of Punch offers a vivid, kaleidoscopic look at the pulse of Victorian life in January 1891, blending razor-sharp political satire with the domestic absurdities of the era.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, December 12, 1917
Various
This volume captures the weary, defiant, and bitingly ironic spirit of wartime Britain in late 1917, where the scarcity of coal and sugar is matched only by the abundance of bureaucratic absurdity. It serves as a time capsule of a nation laughing through the trenches and the home front, finding relief in satire…

Q. E. D., or New Light on the Doctrine of Creation
George McCready Price
The universe’s origin remains a profound mystery, yet this work argues that modern scientific discoveries, when stripped of evolutionary assumptions, point directly toward a deliberate and finished act of creation.

Rachel Dyer
John Neal
A quiet Quaker woman with a twisted spine steps into the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, confronting a corrupt court and choosing a devastating path of self-sacrifice to defend the man she loves.

Recollections and impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler
Arthur Jerome Eddy
An artist’s brush catches the twilight on a canvas while his sharp wit turns public hostility into an art form all its own.

Red blight
Mary Knight
A nation's fight for self-determination collapses into chaos when deceptive promises of security overshadow the hard reality of human freedom.

Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704)
Unknown
This polemic captures the fierce seventeenth-century cultural war against the London theater, arguing that the stage served as a primary source of national moral corruption. It remains a fascinating relic of early moral activism.

Revisiting the Earth
James Langdon Hill
A tender look backward, this reflection on small-town American life honors the places that shape us and the silent passage of time.

Revolving lights
Dorothy M. (Dorothy Miller) Richardson
Alone in the vast, noisy tide of early twentieth-century London, a woman moves between competing philosophies and social circles, searching for an unshakeable sense of self.

Rival Pitchers of Oakdale
Morgan Scott
Deep within the springtime fever of a preparatory school, two talented pitchers collide over a single opening in the starting lineup.

Samboe
Mary Ann Hedge
A stolen African child survives the horrors of the middle passage, hardship in the West Indies, and cruelty in London to become an educated advocate for his people.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, January 26, 1884
Various
This collection of technical reports captures the rigorous, unvarnished spirit of nineteenth-century industrial progress, offering a window into a world where engineering, mathematics, and natural history were rapidly reshaping daily life.

Shifting Sands
Sara Ware Bassett
A grounded stranger, a widow tied to the sea, and a mysterious box of jewels set off a tale of misperceptions on the Cape Cod shore.

Sir Thomas Browne and his 'Religio Medici': An Appreciation
Alexander Whyte
The seventeenth-century physician Sir Thomas Browne invites readers into a quiet, profound dialogue with his own soul. This exploration serves as a timeless meditation on the harmony between scientific curiosity and Christian faith.

Small Talk at Wreyland. First Series
Cecil Torr
An old man picks up a pencil to rescue local memory from oblivion, only to find himself tracing the quiet, interconnected currents of a changing English landscape.

Spirits do return
Ida Belle White
A prison guard and a wrongfully convicted man discover they are brothers, setting off a chain of moral reckonings inside cold stone walls.

Stories That End Well
Octave Thanet
A collection of quiet victories, where common sense, decency, and humor triumph over daily friction.

Tales of Romance
Unknown
A woodland outlaw shares his forest venison with a monarch in disguise, a doomed Norse warrior fights to the end upon a barren sea crag, and a northern smith shapes gold inside a dark mountain.

Ted Marsh on an Important Mission
Elmer Sherwood
A former newsboy turned Canadian academy student returns to his old Chicago haunts, stepping straight into a World War I espionage plot to thwart a German sabotage ring.

The 13th juror
Leslie Waltham
A long-distance astronaut faces execution in a future where emotion is a capital offense, until a mysterious final juror reveals the light-speed illusion behind his deadly jealousy.

The Adventure of Elizabeth Morey, of New York: 1901
Louis Becke
Abandoned in the Pacific after a massacre, a young American woman survives fifteen terrifying months among her captors before a daring leap into the surf changes her fate.

The Battle of Bunkers-Hill
H. H. (Hugh Henry) Brackenridge
On a sun-baked height above Boston, a handful of colonial militia faces the disciplined ranks of an empire, transforming a desperate defensive stand into a defining cry for political independence.

The Cliff Climbers: A Sequel to "The Plant Hunters"
Mayne Reid
Trapped within the towering, inaccessible crags of the Himalayas, two brothers and their guide must rely on scientific ingenuity and desperate, inventive labor to engineer their escape from a natural prison.

The Cold Snap: 1898
Edward Bellamy
The crushing grip of a sudden, unnatural deep freeze tests the limits of human endurance and the fragility of modern life. A family trapped by an unprecedented arctic event confronts the terrifying indifference of nature.

The Cruise of the Thetis: A Tale of the Cuban Insurrection
Harry Collingwood
This tale of high-seas adventure and political intrigue follows a young Englishman who trades his quiet life for the volatile waters of the Cuban insurrection. It is a classic example of late-Victorian maritime fiction, blending technological enthusiasm with a staunch, if period-typical, moral code.

The Day of the Confederacy: A Chronicle of the Embattled South
Nathaniel W. (Nathaniel Wright) Stephenson
The fragile consensus that birthed a nation becomes its undoing as the internal pressures of a desperate war reveal the fatal cracks in a society built upon contradictions.

The Fifth Leicestershire: A Record of the 1/5th Battalion the Leicestershire Regiment, T.F., During the War, 1914-1919
John David Hills
The mud, the humor, and the harrowing reality of the Great War emerge here not through grand mythology, but through the precise, weary, and steadfast observations of those who lived it.

The flowering plants of South Africa
I. B. (Illtyd Buller) Pole Evans
Desolate veld transforms into a brilliant expanse of white and fair blossoms under the intense sun of the African continent.

The Flying Doctor: (Le Médecin Volant)
Molière
A quick-witted servant dons a physician’s gown to help two young lovers outsmart a miserly father, spinning a brief web of chaotic double identities before winning a general pardon.

The Gay Triangle: The Romance of the First Air Adventurers
William Le Queux
An airborne motor-car, hidden death-rays, and secret service plots collide as two daring aviators fly high-stakes covert missions across Europe.

The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 982, October 22, 1898
Various
Domestic worries, historical anxieties, and practical ambitions converge within the pages of a late-Victorian magazine designed for the self-improvement of young women.

The Gold Horns
Adam Oehlenschläger
A pair of ancient golden relics re-emerges from the earth to test a nation's soul, only to vanish forever when met with idle greed.

The Gold of Chickaree
Susan Warner
Her sudden marriage brings no pause to her sharp-witted independence, nor does it shield her husband from the quiet, persistent demands of his own moral conscience.

The Goop Directory of Juvenile Offenders Famous for their Misdeeds and Serving as a Salutary Example for all Virtuous Children
Gelett Burgess
A playful taxonomy of bad behavior, this collection of cautionary verses catalogs the many ways children can be tiresome, rude, or disobedient. It serves as an illustrated guidebook for those who wish to avoid the dreaded "Goop" label.

The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Part 10
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
A wandering knight-errant’s quest for glory ignites a series of tangled, real-world entanglements, where the line between noble illusion and harsh reality constantly blurs.

The Hot Swamp
R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
A Phoenician sea-captain and a prince of ancient Britain find their fates entwined by a wandering voyage, a mysterious illness, and the enduring warmth of a legendary medicinal swamp.

The House Fly and How to Suppress It
L. O. (Leland Ossian) Howard
The house fly is not a mere nuisance, but a dangerous vector of disease that thrives on human neglect. This practical guide provides the essential knowledge to eliminate the insect's breeding grounds and protect public health.

The Illiterate Digest
Will Rogers
A dryly razor-sharp observer of 1920s America turns his cowboy boots and theatrical staging toward the self-importance of Washington, Hollywood, and everyday high society.

The Light Keepers: A Story of the United States Light-house Service
James Otis
Living on a wave-battered offshore rock demands courage, routine, and mutual care, turning a isolated maritime light-station into an improbable classroom of duty, survival, and deep companionship.

The Little Grey House
Marion Ames Taggart
A tight-knit family faces economic hardship and the quiet burden of an unfulfilled father's dreams, finding resilience in humor and devotion. When tragedy strikes, sixteen-year-old Roberta must defend her father's legacy and save their beloved home.

The Love of Ulrich Nebendahl
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
Ulrich Nebendahl is a gentle, introspective wheelwright who struggles to find the singular romantic passion the world expects of him. Instead, he discovers a profound, self-sacrificing love for his entire community and all living things.

The Mill Mystery
Anna Katharine Green
This is a tense, atmospheric mystery that unspools through the eyes of a desperate woman caught in the web of an aristocratic family’s dark secrets. It balances a classic "locked-room" feel with the psychological weight of a tragedy unfolding in a secluded mill.

The Motor Boys in the Army
Clarence Young
A trio of small-town friends face military training, pro-German sentiment, and a suspicious local robbery as the United States enters the First World War.

The Nephews: A Play, in Five Acts
August Wilhelm Iffland
An upright merchant faces sudden ruin when a corrupt chancellor exploits his hot-headed generosity, leaving two estranged brothers to untangle their family's buried secrets before their whole world collapses.

The Octoroon
Dion Boucicault
A Louisiana plantation faces imminent bankruptcy, a villainous overseer schemes for land and human lives, and a doomed love crosses the color line.

The Pauper of Park Lane
William Le Queux
A retail assistant disappears, a sinister plot threatens a ruthless City financier, and an eerie Russian interior lies hidden inside a London mansion.

The People of the Crater
Andre Norton
A stranded post-war pilot descends beneath polar ice into an alien green valley, where he must defeat an ancient evil to save a hidden civilization.

The Pioneer Boys of the Columbia
St. George Rathborne
Two teenage cousins travel thousands of wilderness miles with the Lewis and Clark expedition, matching their frontier instincts against hostile tribes, predatory beasts, and a plotting traitor to reach the Pacific Ocean.