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44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 862 of 920.

Lycurgus
E. S. P. (Edmund Sidney Pollock) Haynes
HOOK A seasoned legal practitioner delivers a sharp, polemical survey of the British judicial system, arguing that the future of liberty depends on rescuing the law from bureaucratic sprawl and archaic prejudice.

Memorial Day, and Other Verse (Original and Translated)
Helen Leah Reed
This collection of verse captures the shifting moods of a society caught between the Victorian past and the anxieties of the early twentieth century. It offers a window into a world of patriotic duty, domestic whimsy, and classical refinement.

Motor Boat Boys Mississippi Cruise
Louis Arundel
The Motor Boat Boys embark on a perilous, high-speed race down the Mississippi River, navigating treacherous currents and winding tributaries to capture the prestigious "Dixie Cup" while encountering lawless river drifters along the way.

Mound-Builders
William J. Smyth
These silent, earthen monuments hold the secrets of a vanished people, challenging our understanding of who first shaped the landscape of the American interior.

My Colored Battalion
Warner A. Ross
An American commander recounts the service of his segregated infantry unit during the Great War, focusing on their tactical achievements and their struggle against both the enemy and systemic indifference.

Mystery and Confidence: A Tale. Vol. 3
Elizabeth Sibthorpe Pinchard
An innocent English nobleman, haunted by the spectres of a disastrous early marriage in Spain, must clear his name of murder before he can safely build a future with the woman he loves.

Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
Charles M. (Charles Montgomery) Skinner
The Pacific Northwest and California are lands defined by the collision of ancient, earth-shaking spirits and the fragile, fleeting lives of those who traverse their rugged terrain.

Notes and Queries, Number 72, March 15, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
A quiet room of 1851 comes alive as scholars, readers, and curious minds compare notes on old poems, forgotten words, and local lore.

Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 133, May 15, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
A collaborative repository of Victorian curiosity, this periodical functions as a living archive where scholars and hobbyists exchange obscure knowledge to satisfy the intellectual restlessness of the mid-nineteenth century.

Operation R.S.V.P
H. Beam Piper
The world’s two greatest superpowers find themselves suddenly irrelevant, outpaced by an unexpected rival who has been quietly poaching their best minds to build a better future—or a more terrifying end.

Oridin's Formula
R. R. (Russell Robert) Winterbotham
A hermit on an asteroid guards a deceptive mathematical formula, waiting for ambitious visitors to realize that the shortcut to total power is a path toward madness.

Pastoral Affair
Charles A. Stearns
A persistent man, a mysterious hermit, and an island of silent, robed observers collide in a strange, sun-baked landscape. This narrative examines the intersection of cold political ideology and the untamable, biological impulses of life.

Phebe, the Blackberry Girl: Uncle Thomas's Stories for Good Children
Anonymous
An evocative collection of nineteenth-century moral instruction, this volume serves as a gentle primer on childhood virtue, blending narrative verse, classic poetry, and cautionary tales to guide young readers toward a life of industry, piety, and compassion.

Pierre and His People: Tales of the Far North. Volume 4
Gilbert Parker
A collection of interconnected tales, these stories explore the raw, unforgiving beauty of the Canadian North and the volatile hearts of the people who inhabit its vast, lonely expanses.

Pilgrims' project
Robert F. Young
In a rigid future defined by the "Age of Repentance," a man and a woman defy a loveless society to claim their own freedom. Their path to escape requires them to outmaneuver a fanatical guardian of their joyless world.

Planet of Dreams
James McKimmey
An idealist’s engineered paradise collapses when its inhabitants realize that effortless perfection is just a gilded cage.

Pleistocene Bats from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
J. Knox Jones
In the darkness of an ancient Mexican cavern, preserved bones reveal the deep evolutionary history and prehistoric diversity of American bats.

Preview of Peril
Alfred Coppel
The tactical genius of a seasoned gambler, a fleet of four fragile destroyers, and a single bait ship stand between the Terran Space Force and total annihilation.

Princess Kiku: A Japanese Romance. A Play for Girls
M. F. Hutchinson
A spirited, turn-of-the-century parlor play written exclusively for female casts, blending Victorian sensibilities with a romanticized, theatrical vision of Japan.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, April 1, 1893
Various
This collection captures the sharp, satirical heartbeat of late-Victorian London, offering a witty tour through the drawing rooms, political halls, and crowded tearooms of 1893.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, May 26, 1920
Various
A satirical chronicle of post-war British life, this collection captures the wit, absurdity, and anxieties of a society adjusting to the uneasy peace of 1920.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, March 29, 1890
Various
An inside look at Victorian society during a week of political tension, social satire, and high-spirited sport.

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…

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, April 23, 1919
Various
A snapshot of post-war English life in 1919, capturing the exhaustion, absurdity, and dry wit of a nation attempting to find its footing after the Great War.

Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 12, June 18, 1870
Various
This weekly periodical captures the sharp, satirical pulse of Gilded Age New York through a kaleidoscopic blend of burlesque serials, political lampoons, and relentless advertisements.

Queenie's whim, Volume 3 (of 3)
Rosa Nouchette Carey
A quiet, character-driven exploration of love, sacrifice, and the weight of secrets, this narrative traces the delicate emotional architecture of a young woman navigating the complexities of friendship and duty in a changing English village.

Reminiscences: a Topographical Account of Market Lavington, Wilts, Its Past and Present Condition.: Also, the Rise and Progress of the Independent Church in That Place. And the Authentic History of David Saunders, the Pious Shepherd of Salisbury Plain
Henry Atley
This regional history traces the evolution of a Wiltshire market town, anchoring its narrative in the humble life of a local shepherd whose personal piety sparked a quiet religious revolution.

Rhoda Fleming
George Meredith
A young woman’s desperate struggle to save her compromised sister reveals the hidden cruelties of men and the crushing weight of social expectations in a tight-knit 19th-century farming community.

Roundabout to Boston (from Literary Friends and Acquaintance)
William Dean Howells
A young writer traverses the post-Civil War landscape, seeking a place among the literary giants of his day. This memoir chronicles his transition from a struggling consul in Venice to a fixture of the Boston establishment.

Sandra Belloni
George Meredith
A young woman’s voice—as fierce and untutored as her spirit—collides with the stifling social expectations of an English household, charting a turbulent map of desire, duty, and disillusionment.

Satellite System
H. B. (Horace Bowne) Fyfe
In the cold, unforgiving vacuum of space, a solitary traveler discovers that the only way to survive a mutiny is to transform his captors into a custom-made orbital prison.

Scottish Loch Scenery
Thomas Allan Croal
Sheer granite walls, black peat-stained waters, and roaring cascades define the ancient, mist-draped topography of Scotland's interior.

Sermons on the Scriptural Principles of our Protestant Church
Edward Hoare
The battle lines between the Church of England and the Church of Rome are drawn here with uncompromising clarity, presented as a vital defense of the sufficiency of Scripture and the completed work of Christ.

Sir Richard's grandson
Eleanora H. Stooke
A young boy sent from India to his grandfather’s care finds himself an unexpected bridge between a fractured family, healing old wounds through his own gentle influence.

Sketches by Seymour
Robert Seymour
A young man climbs from the poverty of a cobbler’s attic to the heights of financial success, navigating the oddities, prejudices, and colorful characters of nineteenth-century London society.

Solomon's Orbit
William Carroll
An elderly junk dealer accidentally touches off an international space race when he begins launching his unsold classic cars into orbit using only engine parts and sheer ingenuity.**

Some Account of Llangollen and Its Vicinity: Including a Circuit of About Seven Miles
W. T. (Wilfrid Tord) Simpson
Ancient stones and lush, rolling landscapes define the spirit of this evocative 1827 guidebook, which invites travelers to wander through the storied vales and rugged hills of North Wales.

Spawn of the Desert
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
In a lawless mining town carved into a painted desert, a mysterious, saintly drifter and his gunman partner arrive to confront the man who rules the hills.

Synthesis of 2-methyl-4-selenoquinazolone, 2-phenylbenzoselenazole, and its derivatives: Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Pure Science of Columbia University
Yü-Gwan Chen
In the early twentieth century, the potential of selenium as a bridge between industrial chemistry and medicine remained largely untapped. This doctoral dissertation explores the systematic synthesis of heterocyclic selenium compounds, testing their viability as vibrant dyes and promising pharmacological agents.

Take the Reason Prisoner
John J. (John Joseph) McGuire
This story follows a hardened military man tasked with managing a prison that relies on controversial psychological conditioning, only to discover that the facility’s "escape-proof" methods have created a powder keg of corruption and violence.

The American Missionary
Various
This collection of reports and editorials serves as a vital historical record of the American Missionary Association’s efforts to educate and empower marginalized groups during the post-Emancipation era. It provides a sobering, firsthand look at the institutional struggle for equality and religious mission work in…

The Anti-Slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-Slavery Meetings
Unknown
This collection of urgent, rhythmic verse serves as the heartbeat of the nineteenth-century abolitionist movement, transforming political protest into a communal act of singing.

The Anti-Slavery Record, Volume 1, No. 7
American Anti-Slavery Society
This publication serves as a stark, urgent chronicle of the human cost of American slavery, documenting specific cases of kidnapping, forced labor, and the systematic dismantling of families during the 1830s.

The bedbug
United States. Public Health Service
A clinical, dispassionate examination of a persistent household pest, detailing its biology and the rigorous sanitary protocols required for its eradication.

The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 46: 2 Machabees: The Challoner Revision
Unknown
This ancient account captures the intensity of a people fighting for their spiritual survival, framing their struggle not merely as a military conflict, but as a test of faithfulness to divine law. It is a dramatic, vivid chronicle of resistance, martyrdom, and the enduring belief in a power that intervenes…

The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron
Robert Shaler
A cold Thanksgiving hike into the woods turns into an unexpected military mystery for a pair of ambitious Boy Scouts.

The British Journal of Dermatology, April 1905
Various
This early twentieth-century medical periodical captures the rigorous, methodical spirit of clinical dermatology at the dawn of the radio-therapeutic age. It documents the transition from observational diagnosis to the experimental application of emerging technologies like X-rays.

The Buckle My Shoe Picture Book
Unknown
A traditional counting rhyming collection weaves domestic routines, whimsical cumulative tallies, and maternal devotion into a celebrated classic of childhood verse.