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44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 884 of 920.

Cover of Bob the Castaway

Bob the Castaway

Frank V. Webster

An incorrigible village prankster finds his mischievous spirit severely tested when a long sea voyage leads straight into a violent shipwreck and survival on a desolate island.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 29, Vol. I, July 19, 1884

Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 29, Vol. I, July 19, 1884

Various

This collection captures the inquisitive, industrious spirit of the late Victorian era, blending sober social commentary with serialized fiction and practical insights into a rapidly modernizing world. It serves as a quintessential artifact of nineteenth-century intellectual life.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 34, Vol. I, August 23, 1884

Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 34, Vol. I, August 23, 1884

Various

This issue of a Victorian-era periodical serves as a diverse repository of the age’s anxieties and curiosities, blending technical reporting, narrative fiction, and observational essays into a singular, cohesive reflection of the late nineteenth century.

Journals7 min read
Cover of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 37, Vol. I, September 13, 1884

Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 37, Vol. I, September 13, 1884

Various

This collection of nineteenth-century miscellany offers a panoramic view of Victorian curiosity, bridging the gap between practical legal instruction and the sentimental spirit of the age.

Journalism/Media/Writing6 min read
Cover of Christmas on the briny : The innocents abroad

Christmas on the briny : The innocents abroad

W. Bede (William Bede) Christie

A band of holiday travelers sets sail from Western Australia into the Indian Ocean, trading modern comforts for the stark, bird-haunted coral reefs of the Abrolhos Islands.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Concerning "Bully" Hayes: From "The Strange Adventure of James Shervinton, and Other Stories" - 1902

Concerning "Bully" Hayes: From "The Strange Adventure of James Shervinton, and Other Stories" - 1902

Louis Becke

A glimpse into the adventurous life of "Bully" Hayes, a notorious yet charismatic figure of the Pacific in the 19th century.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Correspondence Relating to Executions in Turkey for Apostacy from Islamism

Correspondence Relating to Executions in Turkey for Apostacy from Islamism

Various

Diplomatic despatches reveal the intense international pressure and high-stakes negotiations surrounding capital executions for religious apostasy in mid-nineteenth-century Constantinople.

History - European5 min read
Cover of Daughters of Doom

Daughters of Doom

H. B. Hickey

A clerical error on Earth triggers an investigation that uncovers a hidden planetary menace preparing to enslave the universe.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Diana Trelawny

Diana Trelawny

Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

A wealthy, independent woman finds her peaceful life in Italy upended by the encroaching needs and romantic misunderstandings of a small, clingy circle of acquaintances.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Diary of Samuel Pepys

Diary of Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Against the backdrop of a desolating plague and distant naval wars, a meticulous official counts his growing fortune, manages the King's ships, and chronicles the fragile pulse of seventeenth-century London.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Doctor Mead's Short discourse explain'd

Doctor Mead's Short discourse explain'd

Unknown

This polemical pamphlet dismantles the medical authority of a contemporary expert, exposing the fragility of early eighteenth-century theories on how the plague might be contained or cured.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of Educational laws of Virginia

Educational laws of Virginia

Margaret Crittenden Douglass

This account details the arrest and imprisonment of a Southern woman for the "crime" of teaching free African American children to read. It serves as both a personal memoir and a sharp critique of 19th-century legislative hypocrisy.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Effie Maurice: Or What do I Love Best

Effie Maurice: Or What do I Love Best

Fanny Forester

A Sabbath evening conversation about the first commandment leads a young girl to examine her heart for hidden idols.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Essays on Taste

Essays on Taste

John Gilbert Cooper

Taste is not merely a refined preference for fine things, but a profound, almost physical resonance that hums within the human soul when it encounters truth, harmony, and moral beauty.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Evan Harrington

Evan Harrington

George Meredith

A young man struggles to outrun his humble origins, only to find that his efforts to act the gentleman are constantly sabotaged by his own family's social ambitions.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Exempting the Churches: An Argument for the Abolition of This Unjust and Unconstitutional Practice

Exempting the Churches: An Argument for the Abolition of This Unjust and Unconstitutional Practice

James F. (James Ferdinand) Morton

A sharp critique of the state-sanctioned financial privilege afforded to religious institutions, this work argues that tax exemption for churches is an unjust, unconstitutional subsidy that violates the foundational principles of democracy.

History - Modern (1750+)6 min read
Cover of Final Glory

Final Glory

Henry Hasse

A dying solar system finds a final, desperate reprieve through the unintended sacrifice of two alien travelers. This story explores the convergence of two disparate civilizations facing the same cold extinction.

Science-Fiction & Fantasy6 min read
Cover of Flying down a rainbow

Flying down a rainbow

Homer King Gordon

The dream of sudden fortune meets the harsh reality of the frontier in this tale of an aging prospector and a young pilot who find their luck in the most unexpected of wreckage.

Adventure5 min read
Cover of Footprints

Footprints

Annette Lyster

A heavy, uncharacteristic snowfall brings a long-buried secret to light, forcing an elderly man to confront the cowardice that shaped his entire life. This quiet, reflective tale explores the burden of hidden guilt and the grace found in final honesty.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Giles Corey, Yeoman: A Play

Giles Corey, Yeoman: A Play

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

In a village consumed by mass hysteria, an aging yeoman and his family face the dark machinery of the Salem witch trials.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Good Councell against the plague: Shewing sundry present preseruatiues for the same, by wholsome fumes, drinks, vomits, and other inward receits: as also, the perfect cure (by implaysture) of any that are therewith infected. Now necessary to be obserued of euery housholder, to auoyde the infection, lately begun in some places of this cittie

Good Councell against the plague: Shewing sundry present preseruatiues for the same, by wholsome fumes, drinks, vomits, and other inward receits: as also, the perfect cure (by implaysture) of any that are therewith infected. Now necessary to be obserued of euery housholder, to auoyde the infection, lately begun in some places of this cittie

Learned phisition

In an age of sudden, terrifying contagion, this practical manual offers a glimpse into the desperate, aromatic, and deeply earnest methods used to keep death at bay in 16th-century London.

Health & Medicine6 min read
Cover of Harper's Round Table, July 28, 1896

Harper's Round Table, July 28, 1896

Various

This issue of a late-Victorian periodical offers a vibrant window into the pastimes, ambitions, and moral instruction of young people in the 1890s. It captures the spirit of an era through a mix of adventure, practical advice, and gentle humor.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Harper's Round Table, March 9, 1897

Harper's Round Table, March 9, 1897

Various

This collection of stories and dispatches offers a vivid, multifaceted window into the cultural life and adventurous spirit of the late nineteenth century. It preserves the earnest, instructional, and action-oriented tone of a period that valued grit, discovery, and civic engagement.

Adventure5 min read
Cover of Harper's Round Table, October 27, 1896

Harper's Round Table, October 27, 1896

Various

This collection offers a vibrant window into the Victorian imagination, blending historical drama, athletic grit, and the playful wit that defined a generation of young readers at the close of the nineteenth century.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Harper's Young People, April 25, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Harper's Young People, April 25, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Various

A vibrant, multifaceted window into the Victorian era, this collection captures the curiosity and innocence of childhood through a blend of adventurous fiction, global exploration, and parlor games.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Harper's Young People, December 30, 1879: An Illustrated Weekly

Harper's Young People, December 30, 1879: An Illustrated Weekly

Various

A winter weekly periodical from 1879 offers serialized fiction, poetry, and letters that capture nineteenth-century childhood through coasting songs, fairy tokens, and cheerful holiday tales.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of Her own way

Her own way

Clyde Fitch

A devoted woman protects her reckless brother and follows her heart through financial ruin and military separation.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Hervey Willetts

Hervey Willetts

Percy Keese Fitzhugh

A reckless, irrepressible boy finds himself constantly at odds with authority, turning every misadventure into a test of his own strange, unguided courage.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of High Dragon Bump

High Dragon Bump

Don Thompson

This is a story of cosmic misunderstanding, where the vast gap between advanced alien technology and human assumptions creates a high-stakes comedy of errors. It explores how intelligence—and even the interpretation of language—can fail entirely when filtered through the lens of one’s own limited experience.

Humour5 min read
Cover of Hocken and Hunken: A Tale of Troy

Hocken and Hunken: A Tale of Troy

Arthur Quiller-Couch

Two retired sea captains anchor themselves in a Cornish coastal town, only to find their long friendship tested by a formidable local widow and a series of escalating domestic absurdities.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Ida Nicolari

Ida Nicolari

Eglanton Thorne

HOOK A devoted daughter finds her quiet, artistic world in London upended by the onset of her father’s blindness and the dawning realization of her own spiritual calling.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of In doors and out

In doors and out

Oliver Optic

A collection of sharp-edged, mid-19th-century moral tales, these stories examine the domestic and professional anxieties of an era caught between traditional values and the dizzying pressures of a rapidly modernizing society.

Short Stories6 min read
Cover of International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science - Volume 1, No. 7, August 12, 1850

International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science - Volume 1, No. 7, August 12, 1850

Various

This mid-nineteenth-century miscellany offers a panoramic window into the Victorian era, capturing the intersection of global political upheaval, scientific discovery, and the shifting social roles of women across Europe.

Art6 min read
Cover of Islam

Islam

Annie H. Small

A nineteenth-century missionary examines the irreconcilable divide between two major world faiths, arguing that the future of their relationship rests not on conquest, but on a more authentic presentation of the Christian message.

History - Religious6 min read
Cover of Jock with Mousie

Jock with Mousie

Agnes Giberne

A sensitive boy finds his courage tested when he is sent away to live with relatives and falls under the sway of a mischievous, strong-willed girl.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Leila or, the Siege of Granada, Book I

Leila or, the Siege of Granada, Book I

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

Besieged by Spain and fractured by internal treason, Granada stands on the brink of ruin as mystic and warrior alike maneuver for its fragile throne.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Man's Best Friend

Man's Best Friend

Evelyn E. Smith

The future is not a cold, mechanical certainty, but a fragile construction maintained by the most unlikely of architects. In this satirical vision, destiny is less a matter of physics and more a matter of family.

Humour6 min read
Cover of Married or single?, Vol. 2 (of 3)

Married or single?, Vol. 2 (of 3)

B. M. (Bithia Mary) Croker

The secret of a hidden marriage strains against the rigid decorum of Victorian high society, where wealth and station threaten to eclipse the ties of the heart.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of May Brooke

May Brooke

Anna Hanson Dorsey

In Anna Hanson Dorsey’s May Brooke, a steadfast Catholic orphan confronts the spiritual trials of nineteenth-century Maryland, where quiet faith, moral clarity, and self-sacrifice clash with worldly ambition, greed, and religious indifference.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency

Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency

Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de

Starving subjects fund royal pageantry while a shadowed Court gambles on sudden death; an insider records the glittering, rotting heart of Versailles.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Mission Work among the Negroes and the Indians:: What Is Being Accomplished by Means of the Annual Collection Taken Up for Our Missions

Mission Work among the Negroes and the Indians:: What Is Being Accomplished by Means of the Annual Collection Taken Up for Our Missions

Catholic Church. Commission for Catholic Missions among the Colored People and the Indians

This report serves as a detailed ledger and plea, documenting the late-nineteenth-century efforts of the Catholic Church to establish schools and missions for African American and Native American communities across the United States.

History - American7 min read
Cover of Mixed Grill

Mixed Grill

W. Pett (William Pett) Ridge

Through a series of glimpses into the lives of ordinary Londoners, this collection captures the small triumphs and persistent illusions of the Edwardian era with biting, observational wit.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Monthly supplement of the penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, issue 37, September 29 to October 31, 1832

Monthly supplement of the penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, issue 37, September 29 to October 31, 1832

Unknown

This biographical record captures the life and final months of a literary titan, tracing his trajectory from an imaginative, sickly schoolboy to a global phenomenon whose later years were defined by noble struggle. It serves as a poignant, immediate memorial to a man whose stories shaped the cultural identity of…

General6 min read
Cover of My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women. Issue 2, October 6, 1900: Marion Marlowe's Courage

My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women. Issue 2, October 6, 1900: Marion Marlowe's Courage

Lurana Sheldon

The city is a gauntlet of villains, but for one farm-bred girl, every trial is a chance to prove her grit. In this Victorian-era serial, courage is the only currency that truly matters.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch

Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch

Annie Roe Carr

When a spirited Western girl brings her vast Montana ranch home to the bustling world of an Eastern boarding school, youthful mischief soon gives way to genuine frontier adventure.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Nibble Rabbit Makes More Friends

Nibble Rabbit Makes More Friends

John Breck

A curious rabbit learns that the boundary between the wild and the human is not as rigid—or as hostile—as the woodland creatures first fear.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850

Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850

Various

This Victorian periodical serves as a communal clearinghouse for historical curiosities, literary detective work, and the preservation of fading folk traditions. It provides a fascinating, unfiltered window into the mid-nineteenth-century intellectual appetite for antiquarian discovery.

History - Modern (1750+)6 min read
Cover of Notes and Queries, Number 80, May 10, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Notes and Queries, Number 80, May 10, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Various

In an era of rapid industrialization, a quiet fraternity of scholars and curious readers gathered in print to trade historical clues, solve literary puzzles, and preserve the fading fragments of the past.

British Literature7 min read