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4,129 public-domain books, summarised. Page 73 of 87.

Cover of A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms

A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms

Samuel Fallows

Precision in language requires more than a broad vocabulary; it demands an understanding of the subtle boundaries between similar thoughts and their exact opposites. This practical reference work provides a categorized, alphabetical roadmap for navigating the English tongue.

General6 min read
Cover of Summer

Summer

Edith Wharton

A young woman trapped in a stagnant New England village seeks escape through a forbidden romance, only to find that the past and the constraints of her own nature are harder to outrun than she imagined.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Diamond Sutra (Chin-Kang-Ching) or Prajna-Paramita

The Diamond Sutra (Chin-Kang-Ching) or Prajna-Paramita

Unknown

This ancient meditation on the nature of reality teaches that the path to true wisdom lies not in grasping at forms, but in understanding that all appearances are merely empty names.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of Merck's 1899 Manual of the Materia Medica

Merck's 1899 Manual of the Materia Medica

Merck & Co.

This professional reference guide catalogs the medical landscape of the late nineteenth century, offering practitioners a systematic inventory of chemical substances and therapeutic strategies for diagnosing and treating the ailments of 1899.

Drugs/Alcohol/Pharmacology6 min read
Cover of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics

Various

This collection captures the intellectual pulse of American culture in the summer of 1866, blending reflective prose, field observations, and fictional narratives into a single, cohesive volume. It serves as a time capsule of a nation grappling with the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, offering a diverse array…

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867: With a Preliminary Notice of the earlier Library founded in the Fourteenth Century

Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867: With a Preliminary Notice of the earlier Library founded in the Fourteenth Century

William Dunn Macray

A meticulously documented history of one of the world’s oldest institutions, this record chronicles three centuries of intellectual preservation, institutional struggle, and the quiet accumulation of human knowledge.

History - Other7 min read
Cover of Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Henry David Thoreau

Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

A meticulous observer of the natural world, this author finds the profound in the everyday and the infinite in the wild. His collected works offer a singular vision of life lived with deliberate, uncompromising simplicity.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Spanish American Reader

The Spanish American Reader

Ernesto Nelson

This collection offers a structured portal into the geography, commerce, and cultural life of early twentieth-century Latin America. It functions as a panoramic survey intended to bridge the knowledge gap between North American students and their southern neighbors.

Language & Communication6 min read
Cover of From Place to Place

From Place to Place

Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb

These stories explore the lives of ordinary people caught in the machinery of circumstance, proving that truth is often stranger than the most carefully plotted fiction.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness

Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness

Henri Bergson

The fundamental illusion of human thought is our persistent habit of mapping the fluid, qualitative nature of inner life onto the rigid, quantitative framework of space. This work dismantles that error to reveal the true character of consciousness.

Philosophy & Ethics7 min read
Cover of Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland: Collected Entirely from Oral Sources

Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland: Collected Entirely from Oral Sources

John Gregorson Campbell

The supernatural world of the Scottish Highlands is not a distant myth, but a living, breathing reality where everyday life and the unseen are inextricably entwined.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of Vision and Design

Vision and Design

Roger Fry

Art is not a mirror of nature, but a language of pure form designed to stir the spirit beyond the reach of everyday utility.

Art6 min read
Cover of Nietzsche and Other Exponents of Individualism

Nietzsche and Other Exponents of Individualism

Paul Carus

A critique of the philosophical impulse to elevate individual will over objective truth, this work examines the dangerous allure of extreme egoism. It serves as a measured, analytical counterpoint to the rising tide of nihilistic thought.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of The Inimitable Jeeves

The Inimitable Jeeves

P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

An idle, well-meaning young aristocrat relies on his preternaturally clever valet to disentangle him from a series of social disasters and romantic predicaments.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Red Gods

The Red Gods

Jean d' Esme

HOOK Deep in the Indochinese jungle, a French administrator and a missionary track a legend of "red gods"—a lost tribe of prehistoric humans. Their obsession leads them into a primal world of stone-age terror.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Harvard Classics Volume 28: Essays English and American

Harvard Classics Volume 28: Essays English and American

Unknown

This collection of nineteenth-century essays serves as a rigorous intellectual map of the Victorian and American mind, exploring the intersection of culture, governance, and individual duty. It challenges the modern reader to define what it means to be educated, to govern, and to live with purpose.

American Literature8 min read
Cover of The Works of Horace

The Works of Horace

Horace

The pursuit of a quiet mind is the central tension of these verses, where the poet measures the frenetic ambition of Rome against the calm of a simple, rural life. To read these works is to encounter a voice that balances on the razor’s edge between worldly involvement and the desire for intellectual solitude.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel": Volume 12, Slice 5

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel": Volume 12, Slice 5

Various

This volume serves as a comprehensive, alphabetically arranged compendium of human knowledge, blending rigorous historical scholarship with technical descriptions of the natural world. It stands as a monumental snapshot of early 20th-century intellectual inquiry, documenting everything from the intricate procedures…

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference8 min read
Cover of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, August 1847

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, August 1847

Various

This volume captures the intellectual, geographical, and social preoccupations of mid-nineteenth-century Britain through a diverse collection of essays, narratives, and critical reviews. It serves as a window into an era that balanced rigorous philosophical inquiry with a burgeoning appetite for travel, historical…

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of Stories in Verse

Stories in Verse

Henry Abbey

This collection of narrative poems explores the intersections of romantic obsession, social injustice, and the thin, haunting line between reality and the supernatural. Each piece functions as a self-contained story, moving from the gritty poverty of city streets to the high-stakes political intrigue of distant courts.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Society and solitude: Twelve chapters

Society and solitude: Twelve chapters

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The tension between the public square and the private mind defines the human experience. These meditations explore how to balance the necessity of social connection with the essential, solitary pursuit of truth and character.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Making Of A Novelist: An Experiment In Autobiography

The Making Of A Novelist: An Experiment In Autobiography

David Christie Murray

The past is a vast, often unforgiving country, and this memoir serves as a traveler’s journal for a man who navigated it by way of the pen, the barracks, and the stage.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Orbis Pictus

The Orbis Pictus

Johann Amos Comenius

The world is a vast, interconnected laboratory, and the key to understanding it lies in a clear, sensory connection between the objects we see and the language we use to describe them.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of The Writings of Thomas Paine

The Writings of Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine

Hook A radical call for the primacy of individual reason over institutional dogma, written from the shadow of the guillotine and the depths of a revolutionary prison.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series

Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series

H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

These stories offer a window into a world where everyday objects possess secret lives and the boundaries between the human and natural realms are perpetually porous. They reveal the profound moral weight hidden within the smallest of things.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Jo's Boys

Jo's Boys

Louisa May Alcott

A bustling household of ambitious young adults navigates the transition from childhood dreams to the complexities of the professional world. This concluding chapter of a beloved saga balances lighthearted domesticity with the weight of growing up.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Second Jungle Book

The Second Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling

This collection of stories explores the tension between civilization and the wild, following a young man’s final departure from the only home he has ever known. It is a work of mythic scope that measures the cost of belonging to two worlds.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Pistis Sophia

Pistis Sophia

G. (George) Horner

The soul’s journey through the celestial spheres is a perilous ascent, requiring hidden knowledge to transcend the material traps of the cosmos. This intricate map of enlightenment offers a rare, primary view of ancient mystical thought.

History - Ancient6 min read
Cover of Killykinick

Killykinick

Mary T. (Mary Theresa) Waggaman

The summer holiday at an old shipwreck-turned-home brings together a disparate band of boys, each grappling with the weight of his own future and the hidden scars of the past.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion

Emile Coué

This practical manual outlines a method for achieving health and self-improvement by consciously directing the imagination, arguing that our unconscious thoughts serve as the primary drivers of our physical and moral well-being.

Health & Medicine7 min read
Cover of Emily of New Moon

Emily of New Moon

L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

HOOK An orphan with a vivid imagination and a stubborn spirit arrives at a strict, tradition-bound household, where she must fight to preserve her identity while discovering her voice as a writer.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket: Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket: Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827

Edgar Allan Poe

An impulsive stowaway’s obsession with the sea leads to a harrowing descent into mutiny, cannibalism, and the discovery of terrifying, inexplicable secrets hidden at the very edge of the world.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of A Book for All Readers: An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books and the Formation of Public and Private Libraries

A Book for All Readers: An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books and the Formation of Public and Private Libraries

Ainsworth Rand Spofford

This guide provides a comprehensive roadmap for the stewardship, organization, and appreciation of literature, serving as both a practical manual and a thoughtful meditation on the essential role of books in a civilized society.

How To ...7 min read
Cover of Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Oscar Wilde

A young aristocrat attempts to commit a murder to fulfill a palm-reader’s prophecy, setting off a sequence of darkly comedic misfortunes in this collection of quintessential tales.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Ariadne Florentina: Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving

Ariadne Florentina: Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving

John Ruskin

The artisan’s hand serves as the bridge between divine inspiration and human craft. By examining the furrow of the engraver’s tool, one discovers how the soul of an artist is carved into history.

Architecture6 min read
Cover of The Case of Wagner: Complete Works, Volume 8

The Case of Wagner: Complete Works, Volume 8

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

A brilliant, vitriolic dismantling of a cultural icon, this work redefines the act of criticism as a surgical strike against the decadence and artistic deception of the late nineteenth century.

Music6 min read
Cover of Geographical etymology: a dictionary of place-names giving their derivations

Geographical etymology: a dictionary of place-names giving their derivations

Christina Blackie

Uncovering the hidden history of the landscape, this work reveals how ancient languages are fossilized in the names of our towns, rivers, and mountains. It serves as a guide to the stories beneath our feet.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 22, November, 1878

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 22, November, 1878

Various

This collection captures the diverse intellectual currents of late nineteenth-century American life, blending regional history, social commentary, and fiction into a singular, wide-ranging mosaic. It functions as a time capsule, preserving the varied curiosities and literary preoccupations of a sophisticated…

History - American6 min read
Cover of Much Darker Days

Much Darker Days

Andrew Lang

HOOK This spirited, deadpan satire deconstructs the sensational Victorian "shilling shocker" by following a narrator who is convinced he has committed a murder, despite the fact that the victim is remarkably hard to kill.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of The Upanishads

The Upanishads

Swami Paramananda

The wisdom of the Vedas finds its purest expression in these ancient dialogues, which guide the seeker toward the realization of the eternal Self. They invite a profound shift in perspective from the fleeting world to the absolute.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of The New Life (La Vita Nuova)

The New Life (La Vita Nuova)

Dante Alighieri

A young man navigates the overwhelming, transformative power of love, recording his inner life in a sequence of poems that trace his devotion to a woman he deems angelic. This intimate chronicle bridges the gap between youthful infatuation and spiritual awakening.

Classics of Literature7 min read
Cover of History of New Brunswick

History of New Brunswick

Peter Fisher

The resilient spirit of a wilderness colony emerges through this foundational account, documenting the displacement and eventual triumph of families who traded their former lives for a chance to thrive in a northern frontier.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of Æsop's Fables: A Version for Young Readers

Æsop's Fables: A Version for Young Readers

Aesop

These ancient, enduring tales use the traits of animals to hold a mirror to human behavior, offering timeless wisdom on vanity, greed, and common sense.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of History of Modern Philosophy: From Nicolas of Cusa to the Present Time

History of Modern Philosophy: From Nicolas of Cusa to the Present Time

Richard Falckenberg

This history of modern thought maps the intellectual evolution of the Western world from the late Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century. It provides a structured, objective account of how humanity’s understanding of existence, reason, and morality has shifted over four hundred years.

History - Modern (1750+)10 min read
Cover of Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

Mark Twain

A teenage girl rises from an obscure village to lead a nation’s armies, claiming divine guidance in a brutal struggle for the French crown. This narrative reimagines the life of a national hero through the eyes of her loyal secretary.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of Sailing Alone Around the World

Sailing Alone Around the World

Joshua Slocum

The solitary navigator proves that the vast, intimidating oceans are navigable by a single, steady hand. This narrative serves as the definitive blueprint for self-reliance and quiet endurance on the high seas.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards

Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards

The divine majesty, the frailty of the human soul, and the terrifying reality of eternal consequences form the core of these urgent, intellectually rigorous meditations on the nature of God and the necessity of salvation.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of The New Machiavelli

The New Machiavelli

H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

This searching, sprawling novel follows a brilliant political climber as he dismantles his carefully constructed life to pursue an illicit passion, forcing a confrontation between his grand ambitions for the state and his own unruly humanity.

British Literature7 min read
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