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4,129 public-domain books, summarised. Page 70 of 87.

The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories
Rabindranath Tagore
A collection of stories capturing the pulse of Bengal, this volume explores the fragile boundary between the ordinary world and the haunting mysteries that lie just beneath its surface. Through lives defined by tradition, longing, and sudden departures, it invites the reader into a landscape of profound empathy.

Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 3 (of 3)
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
This final volume of a monumental history of thought tracks the evolution of Western philosophy from the medieval era through the rise of modern German idealism. It charts how humanity has persistently struggled to reconcile the life of the mind with the reality of the world.

The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems
William Morris
This collection of poems reimagines the stark, violent, and shimmering world of medieval chivalry, where desire and duty collide within the hearts of knights and ladies. It captures the tension between the high ideals of Arthurian romance and the raw, often tragic realities of human longing.

Spring fire
Vin Packer
A young woman enters the sheltered world of university sororities, only to find herself caught in a transformative and forbidden romance that threatens to dismantle her carefully constructed future.

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Henry David Thoreau
A river journey serves as the frame for a wide-ranging meditation on nature, history, and the quiet pursuit of an authentic life. Through the rhythm of rowing, the boundaries between the self and the world dissolve.

Lady Susan
Jane Austen
This epistolary tale charts the calculated maneuvers of a brilliant, widowed coquette as she attempts to secure her own financial future while ruthlessly manipulating those around her. It is a sharp, witty dissection of social artifice.

Successful Stock Speculation
John James Butler
This guide to the financial markets serves as a sober, methodical manual for the amateur speculator, emphasizing that wealth is built through patience and fundamental analysis rather than the frantic pursuit of "hot" tips.

Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting: New York City, September 3, 4 and 5, 1924
Unknown
This record of a 1924 convention captures the earnest, pioneering spirit of early twentieth-century American horticulture as experts gathered to transform wild nut-bearing forests into a formal, reliable agricultural industry.

Dick, Marjorie and Fidge: A Search for the Wonderful Dodo
G. E. (George Edward) Farrow
Three children tumble through a surreal world of gnomes, talking fish, and pre-historic creatures in an earnest, episodic quest to find a missing, prideful Dodo.

The American Language: A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
A spirited investigation into the American character, revealed through the irrepressible, evolving, and often "barbarous" vocabulary of a young nation.

Molly Bawn
Duchess
A spirited young woman with a penchant for mischief and a heart of gold navigates the complexities of courtship, temperamental suitors, and the rigid expectations of her social circle. Through misunderstandings and prideful clashes, she discovers that love often requires the courage to be vulnerable.

Wings of youth
Nancy Buckley
The path of early adulthood is charted here through a series of lyrical meditations, where the joys of romance and the ache of longing are transformed into verse. These poems celebrate the bright, fleeting nature of youth and the enduring search for connection.

Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard: Adventures of the Rabbit Gentleman with the Mother Goose Characters
Howard Roger Garis
HOOK A kindly rabbit gentleman wanders through the enchanted landscapes of nursery rhymes, using his wits, his rheumatism crutch, and his twinkling nose to rescue beloved characters from their legendary mishaps.

The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Humanity stands suspended between the crushing immensity of the cosmos and the terrifying complexity of the infinitesimal, finding itself a fragile "mean" between two infinite abysses.

Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Literature
Ontario. Department of Education
This instructional guide provides a structured methodology for teaching literature in primary and secondary classrooms, emphasizing the cultivation of emotional resonance and moral character through guided reading. It serves as both a philosophical framework and a practical manual for educators.

The Roswell Report: Case Closed
James McAndrew
The Roswell incident, a cornerstone of American folklore, receives a rigorous administrative accounting in this formal government report. It attempts to resolve decades of mystery by matching witness testimony against the historical record of Air Force operations.

The Woman Who Dared
Epes Sargent
The Woman Who Dared is a spirited, unconventional narrative poem that challenges the social constraints of the nineteenth century. It explores the autonomy of the female spirit against a backdrop of rigid domestic expectations and legal injustice.

In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim
Frances Hodgson Burnett
The lives of two men, one a generous soul burdened by family secrets and the other a haunted, brooding cleric, collide amidst the shifting fortunes of a post-Civil War legal battle.

The Louvre: Fifty Plates in Colour
Maurice W. Brockwell
A scholarly guide through the shifting tides of attribution and history, this work offers a disciplined examination of the Louvre’s masterworks. It serves as an essential companion for those who value critical rigor over traditional museum lore.

Little Grandmother
Sophie May
HOOK A window into the domestic life and moral education of a child born at the dawn of the nineteenth century, told through the fond memories of a grandmother reflecting on her early years.

History of the Wars, Books V and VI: The Gothic War
Procopius
A masterful chronicle of the mid-sixth-century conflict to reclaim Italy for the Roman Empire, capturing the grit of besieged cities and the complex maneuvers of legendary commanders.

The Blot on the Kaiser's 'Scutcheon
Newell Dwight Hillis
The struggle for the soul of the twentieth century finds its most harrowing expression in the clash between the ideals of liberty and the systematized brutality of the German war machine.

The Club of Queer Trades
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
A secret society exists in the heart of London, open only to those who have invented their own bizarre, entirely original professions. Within these labyrinthine streets, the line between madness and mystery blurs with every encounter.

Peter Cooper
Rossiter W. (Rossiter Worthington) Raymond
A portrait of an industrial pioneer whose greatest innovation was not a machine, but a lifelong commitment to the education of the working class. This account traces the arc of a man who helped build a nation.

Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: The New York Idea
Langdon Elwyn Mitchell
A whirlwind of broken marriages and impulsive reunions, this sharp-witted comedy explores the dizzying contradictions of love in early twentieth-century New York.

The Scarlet Feather
Houghton Townley
The secret of an old man’s wealth and his daughter’s desperate deception threatens to shatter a family’s standing in the high society of New York.

Love's Meinie: Three Lectures on Greek and English Birds
John Ruskin
This collection of lectures invites readers to look beyond dry scientific classification and rediscover the wonder of birds through the lenses of art, mythology, and direct observation. It serves as a gentle, idiosyncratic guide for those who seek a more intimate connection with the natural world.

Roy Blakeley's Bee-line Hike
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
A group of irrepressible Boy Scouts attempts to hike in a perfectly straight line toward a distant ridge, meeting every obstacle with humor, accidental heroism, and a relentless commitment to their self-imposed vow.

Leslie Ross
Charles Bruce
A spirited boy learns that his love for practical jokes often masks a deeper, more dangerous lack of foresight. This narrative traces his journey from a sheltered seaside home to the testing ground of boarding school and a life-altering crisis.

The Chinese Classics
James Legge
This foundational collection of ancient Chinese philosophy offers a timeless blueprint for personal integrity, social harmony, and the responsibilities of leadership through the distilled wisdom of a revered teacher and his devoted disciples.

The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer
The world is a place of suffering and profound irrationality, yet within it, the individual may find clarity through detached observation and the honest pursuit of truth. These reflections offer a bracing, unsentimental look at human existence.

The Forme of Cury: A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390
Samuel Pegge
This collection of medieval recipes offers a rare, unfiltered glimpse into the culinary world of the late fourteenth-century royal court. It serves as both a practical manual for antiquity and a scholarly bridge to the tastes of a long-vanished era.

She
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
A journey into the heart of Africa leads two Englishmen to a hidden kingdom where time has stopped and an immortal queen waits for a lover she killed two millennia ago.

Boy Scouts on Hudson Bay
G. Harvey (George Harvey) Ralphson
Five determined young scouts venture into the frozen Canadian wilderness, where they must outwit a ring of ruthless miners to solve the mystery of a ghost fleet haunting Hudson Bay.

The Library of William Congreve
William Congreve
A meticulous inventory of a classic playwright’s private collection, this record offers a rare, tangible window into the intellectual life and reading habits of a titan of the Restoration stage.

Catherine the Great
Katharine Susan Anthony
A resilient German princess transforms herself into the absolute autocrat of Russia, navigating a treacherous court through sheer force of will and intellect. This portrait captures the ascent of a woman who claimed power for herself.

Peeps at Many Lands: Ancient Egypt
James Baikie
Egypt is a land of enduring mystery, where the ghosts of ancient kings and commoners still whisper from the silt of the Nile and the depths of silent, sun-baked tombs.

The Olden Time Series, Vol. 4: Quaint and Curious Advertisements: Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts
Henry M. (Henry Mason) Brooks
Gleanings from the yellowed pages of early American newspapers reveal the daily heartbeat, peculiar humors, and unvarnished social customs of Boston and Salem. This collection serves as a time capsule, preserving the voice of the past.

The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
Beatrix Potter
A naive farm duck seeks independence from the routine of the yard, only to find herself the intended centerpiece of a dangerous dinner party.

Emil and the detectives
Erich Kästner
A young boy’s trip to Berlin becomes a high-stakes adventure when his money is stolen by a mysterious man in a stiff hat, forcing him to assemble a ragtag army of city children to reclaim his honor.

The Girl Scouts in Beechwood Forest
Margaret Vandercook
A summer of youth and discovery in the deep woods turns into a test of character when a tragic accident forces a group of friends to redefine what it means to be a Girl Scout.

The Wife, and Other Stories
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
HOOK These stories observe the quiet desperation of ordinary lives, revealing how easily human connection dissolves into petty grievances, mismatched expectations, and the suffocating weight of domestic habit.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 361, November, 1845
Various
This Victorian compendium captures the intellectual pulse of 1845, blending political commentary, travelogues, and literary fiction into a singular, sprawling mosaic of mid-nineteenth-century British thought.

The Little Gold Miners of the Sierras and Other Stories
Joaquin Miller
These tales capture the grit and whimsy of late nineteenth-century American youth, where gold-mining, railroading, and small-town mischief define the path toward growing up.

The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 4, April 1810
Unknown
This collection serves as a historical window into the theater of the early nineteenth century, blending scholarly critique of the ancient stage with the vibrant, dramatic language of classic English comedy.

Othello
William Shakespeare
A celebrated general is driven to destroy his own happiness when a duplicitous subordinate manipulates his insecurities into a lethal, blind rage. This harrowing tragedy explores the fragility of trust and the devastating power of malicious suggestion.

The Kirk on Rutgers Farm
Frederick Brückbauer
This chronicle traces the century-long struggle of a historic Manhattan church to survive as its affluent congregants moved uptown, leaving behind a neighborhood of poverty and changing demographics.

A Treatise on Painting
da Vinci Leonardo
This rigorous collection of observations acts as a laboratory for the eye, transforming the act of painting from mere craft into a deep, scientific understanding of the natural world.