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44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 764 of 920.

Elsie Lindtner: A sequel to "The Dangerous Age"
Karin Michaëlis
Elsie Lindtner navigates the turbulent, often lonely landscape of middle age with a sharp, discerning wit. She seeks personal reinvention through travel, impulsive gambling, and the unconventional adoption of a troubled boy.

Eric's Book of Beasts
David Starr Jordan
A whimsical menagerie of creatures and curious rhymes, this collection invites young readers to explore a world where the ordinary meets the impossible through the eyes of a child.

Far above rubies (Vol. 1 of 3)
Riddell, J. H., Mrs.
A faded estate and a family struggling to preserve their dignity against the encroaching tide of Victorian industrialism define this intricate portrait of social decline and moral fortitude.

Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man: (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A dying romantic faces the tragic irrelevance of a life spent avoiding real human bonds.

Frank on the Lower Mississippi
Harry Castlemon
War on the great river is a matter of swift currents, murky shorelines, night patrols, and sudden close-quarters combat. A young Union naval officer tests his courage against riverine guerrillas, treacherous transports, and deep waters.

G. A. Selwyn, D.D.: Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield
Louise Creighton
A portrait of a visionary colonial administrator, this biography traces the life of the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand, a man who dedicated his formidable intellect and physical endurance to the service of an emerging church.

Game preserve
Rog Phillips
A bright, observant boy trapped in a world of intellectual decay desperately seeks connection with the mysterious "game wardens" who hunt his kind for sport.

Gay's year on Sunset Island
Marguerite Aspinwall
Gay Annersley is a fifteen-year-old orphan living in a sleepy New England town, longing for the "story-book sort of things" that never seem to happen. Her life takes a dramatic turn when her uncle, a man of impulsive kindness, reveals he has purchased a mysterious tropical island as a winter refuge for the family.

Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders Among the Kentucky Mountaineers
Josephine Chase
A group of adventurous young women and their companions find themselves caught in a dangerous mountain feud while exploring the Kentucky wilderness.

Green Thursday
Julia Peterkin
A vivid, atmospheric portrait of life in a sequestered South Carolina plantation, where the ancient rhythms of nature and the heavy, unyielding traditions of a rural community define the struggles of its black inhabitants.

Guy Harris, the Runaway
Harry Castlemon
A young boy burdened by rigid parental expectations finds his life spiraling into a series of dangerous misadventures after he decides to run away from home.

Harper's Round Table, December 3, 1895
Various
A snapshot of late nineteenth-century youth culture, this collection gathers the diverse interests and anxieties of a bygone era into a single, vibrant miscellany.

Harper's Round Table, February 11, 1896
Various
This collection serves as a portal into the Victorian youth’s world, blending moral guidance, historical adventure, and the whimsical curiosities of the nineteenth century into a single, vibrant miscellany.

Harper's Round Table, March 24, 1896
Various
This collection serves as a vibrant time capsule of late 19th-century youth culture, capturing the intense, singular obsession with the bicycle alongside tales of adventure and early American history.

Hearts and clubs
Amy Ella Blanchard
This spirited comedy follows a group of seaside hotel guests whose social lives are transformed by the sudden, fad-driven popularity of physical culture. Through a series of misunderstandings and lighthearted deceptions, the characters navigate the rigid expectations of the late 19th century.

Hemp
Brittain B. (Brittain Bragunier) Robinson
Cultivating a crop requires more than just fertile soil; it demands an intimate, rhythmic understanding of the natural processes that transform raw stalks into durable, industrial-grade fiber. This technical manual serves as an essential field guide for the mid-century American farmer, demystifying the…

Henry Thoreau, bachelor of nature
Léon Bazalgette
This portrait of an unconventional life captures the restlessness, the prickly intellect, and the profound, unsentimental love for nature that defined a seminal American voice. It is a study of a man who chose to define his own existence rather than be shaped by the machinery of society.

History of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during its term of service
J. R. (John R.) Kinnear
This chronicle follows the Eighty-sixth Illinois Infantry from its 1862 formation through the grueling campaigns of the American Civil War, ending in the triumphant, solemn journey home.

How She Felt in Her First Corset, and Other Poems
Matthew W. Alderson
The persistent pull of human affection defines this collection, where the modest routines of frontier life are elevated by a sincere, often humorous devotion to the domestic and the romantic.

In the Rocky Mountains: A Tale of Adventure
William Henry Giles Kingston
Driven across the American wilderness by calamity, a resilient pioneer family and a handful of soldiers struggle against hostile raiders, unforgiving terrain, and surprising mountain hazards in a quest to survive and rebuild their frontier home.

Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Ralph Connor
Ralph Connor
Rugged landscapes and moral imperatives define these tales of the Canadian frontier, where individuals confront both the harshness of the wilderness and the demands of their own conscience.

Journal of Entomology and Zoology, Vol. 09, No. 3, September 1917
Various
This issue of an early twentieth-century academic serial captures a specific moment in the cataloging of the American West’s natural history. It functions as a record of regional biodiversity, documenting the insects, mammals, and mollusks of Southern California with the rigorous, objective focus of the era’s field…

Judy
Temple Bailey
A spirited girl discovers that the truest adventures are not found on the high seas, but in the quiet, formative bonds of family and friendship in a sun-drenched coastal town.

Lady Lucy's secret
Lucy Ellen Guernsey
HOOK A young girl trapped in a cold, fearful household learns the heavy weight of a lie and the quiet, steadying power of mercy.

Le Coq d'Or (The Golden Cock): An Opera in Three Acts
Unknown
This opera presents a dark, ironic fairy tale where a gluttonous king’s desire for an easy life leads to his undoing. It is a sharp, satirical fable about the folly of rulers and the danger of ignoring reality.

Legends of Vancouver
E. Pauline Johnson
These stories transform the modern skyline of Vancouver into a living map of Squamish heritage, where every mountain, inlet, and stone holds the echoes of an ancient and enduring past.

Lill's travels in Santa Claus Land, and other stories
Ellis Towne
This collection of tales explores the hidden moral landscapes of childhood, where imaginary lands, petty rivalries, and sudden transgressions test the boundaries of a young person’s character.

Little Hickory
George Waldo Browne
A resilient, street-smart bootblack escapes the crushing poverty of New York City to lead a band of displaced families toward a new life and justice in the countryside.

Little Prudy
Sophie May
A young girl’s vivid imagination and restless energy keep her family in a constant state of suspense, as she navigates the small, high-stakes dramas of childhood in mid-19th-century Maine.

Love's crucifix
Francesco Petrarca
HOOK A lifetime of longing distilled into verse, this collection chronicles a poet’s devotion to a woman who remained, even after her death, his unreachable North Star.

Marjorie's New Friend
Carolyn Wells
Friendship is a fragile, demanding business, especially when childhood loyalties are tested by distance and the arrival of new, complicated personalities. This story captures the earnest, often clumsy, and deeply heartfelt attempts of young girls to navigate the shifting landscape of their social lives.

Mary Marie
Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
A young girl’s diary chronicles her life between two households, offering a candid, often humorous, and ultimately moving portrait of her parents' divorce and the long, complicated process of reconciliation.

Memoirs of the Courts of Louis XV and XVI
Mme. Du Hausset
The inner chambers of Versailles become a theater of shadows, where the weight of a crumbling monarchy presses against the fragile lives of those who sustain it.

Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope, as related by herself in conversations with her physician, vol. 3 (of 3)
Stanhope, Hester, Lady
HOOK Isolated in a crumbling Syrian mountain estate, an aristocratic exile navigates the twilight of her influence, holding court through sheer force of personality while the world she once knew fades into history.

Messenger No. 48
James Otis
A tenacious young messenger stumbles into a deadly criminal conspiracy and finds himself playing a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse with hardened killers.

Middy and Ensign
George Manville Fenn
Two junior officers aboard a British gunboat navigate heat, hidden traitors, and sudden ambushes along a dense river in the Malay Peninsula.

Mistake inside
James Blish
HOOK A man intent on a violent confrontation finds himself abruptly transported to a surreal, shifting city where centuries collide and magic is a common, if unreliable, utility.

Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories
Mrs. (Elizabeth) Turner
Moral instruction meets rhythmic, no-nonsense verse in this collection of cautionary tales. Designed to steer nineteenth-century children away from accidents, mischief, and gluttony, these stories promise swift consequences for every misstep.

My Lattice, and Other Poems
Frederick George Scott
This collection of verse captures the quiet, contemplative spirit of a nineteenth-century observer who finds the infinite hidden within the small and the familiar.

Nimble Ike, the Trick Ventriloquist: A Rousing Tale of Fun and Frolic
Old Sleuth
A penniless street boy uses extraordinary vocal deception and raw cunning to unmask a corporate fraud and rescue a kidnapped heir.

Nina's peril
Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.
A young bride stands falsely accused of a brutal murder, her survival hinging on a desperate, long-delayed reconciliation with an estranged husband who once saw her only as a mercenary convenience.

No Compromise with Slavery: An Address Delivered to the Broadway Tabernacle, New York
William Lloyd Garrison
No compromise with slavery is the only moral path for a nation claiming to hold liberty as its highest principle. This impassioned address demands an immediate and unconditional end to the bondage of human beings.

Notes and Queries, Number 206, October 8, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
This modest periodical serves as a Victorian forum for the curious, connecting scholars and hobbyists through a shared dedication to historical discovery. It transforms the solitary pursuit of knowledge into a vibrant, collective conversation.

Notes and Queries, Number 25, April 20, 1850
Various
A curious gathering of mid-nineteenth-century literary detectives, this publication invites readers to trade long-forgotten facts and solve the persistent mysteries of history and language. It serves as a bustling, printed clearinghouse for the intellectually inquisitive.

Now or Never
Oliver Optic
A young boy’s unwavering devotion to his mother leads him from humble poverty to unexpected success. This tale of principle and perseverance follows a resilient hero who learns that integrity is the only true path.

Obstipation
Thomas Charles Martin
This technical medical treatise serves as a rigorous, nineteenth-century defense of a controversial anatomical structure, arguing that the "rectal valve" is a primary cause of chronic obstruction. It provides a precise, clinical methodology for identifying and treating these internal folds through specialized…

Office call
Charles E. Fritch
Dr. Rawlings is a psychiatrist whose professional skepticism is tested by a mathematician who claims he can open doors to other dimensions. It is a sharp, brief exploration of the thin line between clinical delusion and cosmic reality.

Old Glory and Verdun, and other stories
Elizabeth Frazer
The Great War is a tragedy of machines and microbes, where the soul is as vulnerable as the body. This collection of accounts captures the immediate, visceral reality of life on the French front lines.