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44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 899 of 920.

Cover of Five Men and Pompey: A Series of Dramatic Portraits

Five Men and Pompey: A Series of Dramatic Portraits

Stephen Vincent Benét

This collection of dramatic monologues explores the disintegration of the Roman Republic through the final, private reflections of the men who shaped its collapse. It captures the psychological weight of ambition, betrayal, and the crushing realization that history is a cycle of inevitable decay.

History - Ancient7 min read
Cover of Frank Merriwell's Prosperity

Frank Merriwell's Prosperity

Burt L. Standish

The life of a touring actor is rarely as glamorous as the footlights suggest, especially when your company is plagued by internal rivalries and hostile locals. This brisk, episodic adventure captures a young star navigating the treacherous waters of professional theater and personal loyalty.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Gurre Kamilaroi

Gurre Kamilaroi

William Ridley

This foundational text serves as a primer for the Kamilaroi language, bridging the gap between missionary objectives and linguistic documentation through a collection of moral narratives. It stands as a historical artifact of colonial-era efforts to formalize indigenous languages for the purpose of religious…

Language & Communication6 min read
Cover of Handbook to the new Gold-fields

Handbook to the new Gold-fields

R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

This practical guide captures the frantic energy and bureaucratic maneuverings of the 1858 Fraser River gold rush, offering a snapshot of a colony in the making.

History - British6 min read
Cover of Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895

Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895

Various

This issue of a late-19th-century youth periodical offers a curated window into the Victorian imagination, blending high-seas adventure and moral instruction with the playful, earnest preoccupations of a generation on the cusp of a new century.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Harper's Young People, October 17, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Harper's Young People, October 17, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Various

This vibrant 1882 weekly offers a kaleidoscopic view of Victorian childhood, blending adventure fiction, educational sketches, and spirited correspondence into a singular portrait of a bygone era.

Children & Young Adult Reading7 min read
Cover of Hilaria. The Festive Board

Hilaria. The Festive Board

Unknown

This collection of late 18th-century verse captures the raucous, irreverent, and deeply divided spirit of Georgian England, where high politics and bawdy humor constantly collide. It serves as a candid window into the tavern culture of 1798, documenting a society that found equal room for loyalist sentiment and…

Humour6 min read
Cover of Husbandry: Deep Waters, Part 6

Husbandry: Deep Waters, Part 6

W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

A man mistakes a stranger for his long-lost spouse, trapping an innocent night-watchman in a hilarious, inescapable web of mistaken identity and domestic chaos.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of In Camp with L Company, Second Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry

In Camp with L Company, Second Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry

George W. Petty

The Spanish-American War often retreats behind the shadow of larger twentieth-century conflicts, but for the men of Company L, it was a sudden, life-altering call to service that redefined their youth and tested their endurance.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Jim

Jim

A. A. Strachan

The bond between a man and his dog is tested to its absolute limit when a remote homesteading accident leaves the narrator helpless, forcing him to rely entirely on his companion’s intelligence to survive.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Journal of a trip to California

Journal of a trip to California

Charles W. Smith

The gold-seeking spirit of 1850 finds a vivid, honest voice in this day-by-day record of an overland trek across the American continent. It serves as a stark, unvarnished portrait of the physical and mental toll exacted by the long road to the Pacific.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Kenelm Chillingly

Kenelm Chillingly

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

The search for purpose often begins with the quiet rejection of one’s own inheritance. A young man sets out to trade the comforts of his station for the unpredictable lessons of the open road.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Kitty's enemy

Kitty's enemy

Eleanora H. Stooke

A boy arrives next door, a misunderstanding involving a garden and a pet rabbit turns into a feud, and the subsequent path to friendship requires honesty, bravery, and shared tea.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Lawyer Quince: Odd Craft, Part 5

Lawyer Quince: Odd Craft, Part 5

W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

A cobbler’s legal conceit backfires into a foolish hostage situation, only for a clever courtship to outwit both stubborn fathers in a quiet English village.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Lead Kindly Light: Its Origin and Its Romance

Lead Kindly Light: Its Origin and Its Romance

Allan Sutherland

A humble, deeply personal prayer written by a man adrift at sea became one of the most beloved hymns in the English language. This study explores the origins, reach, and enduring emotional power of a modern masterpiece.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Love Instigated: The Story of a Carved Ivory Umbrella Handle

Love Instigated: The Story of a Carved Ivory Umbrella Handle

Douglass Sherley

A curious, ornamental object becomes the silent witness to an unlikely romance in this whimsical meditation on fate and coincidence. Beneath the charm of a carved ivory handle, a quiet story of unintended affection unfolds.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Lucius Davoren

Lucius Davoren

M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

A determined doctor finds himself embroiled in a chilling web of family secrets, stolen treasures, and calculated poisoning within a quiet, atmospheric Victorian home. This is a story of medical suspense and domestic mystery where love and greed collide.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Mammy Tittleback and Her Family: A True Story of Seventeen Cats

Mammy Tittleback and Her Family: A True Story of Seventeen Cats

Helen Hunt Jackson

A house full of children, a wandering cat, and a whimsical, true-life journey of seventeen felines reveal the quiet joys of animal companionship and the lessons learned through caring for others.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Mostly Mary

Mostly Mary

Clementia

A frail but spirited young girl faces a season of profound change, navigating illness and the temporary absence of her beloved parents with the help of her devoted uncle.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of Mr. Kris Kringle: A Christmas Tale

Mr. Kris Kringle: A Christmas Tale

S. Weir (Silas Weir) Mitchell

This Christmas story portrays the quiet desperation of a mother facing financial ruin and the miraculous return of an estranged father who assumes the guise of the holiday spirit to save his family.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of My Valued Ruby: Poems

My Valued Ruby: Poems

Perry Honce McGee

This collection of poetry captures the intimate, daily rhythms of an African American man’s life at the dawn of the 1920s. Through a blend of standard verse and folk dialect, the work serves as a personal archive of devotion, observation, and moral reflection.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Needwood Forest

Needwood Forest

Francis Noel Clarke Mundy

A lyrical celebration of a Staffordshire woodland and a mournful requiem for its enclosure, capturing the vanishing spirit of a storied landscape through shifting seasons and intimate observation.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Never Gut-Shoot a Wampus

Never Gut-Shoot a Wampus

Winston K. (Winston Kinney) Marks

An interstellar hunting trip with a cruel, wealthy industrialist and his neglected wife reveals the true, dangerous cost of a billionaire’s obsession with power and sport.

Science-Fiction & Fantasy6 min read
Cover of Newcom Tavern

Newcom Tavern

Anonymous

A sturdy log structure born from the Ohio wilderness, this historic tavern serves as an enduring sentinel of Dayton’s earliest frontier days.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Night and Morning, Volume 5

Night and Morning, Volume 5

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

A dispossessed heir fights to reclaim his name and inheritance, navigating a treacherous path between cold-blooded villains, long-buried secrets, and the transformative power of unselfish love.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Notes and Queries, Index to Seventh Volume, January-June 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Notes and Queries, Index to Seventh Volume, January-June 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Various

This archival index maps a vast, curious network of Victorian intellectual inquiry, where antiquaries and literary enthusiasts exchanged knowledge on everything from obscure heraldry to the etymology of everyday slang.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of One thousand dollars a day. Studies in practical economics

One thousand dollars a day. Studies in practical economics

Adeline Knapp

This collection of stories and fables explores the friction between human needs and rigid economic systems, offering a sympathetic yet critical look at the social inequalities of the late 19th century. Through speculative fiction, allegory, and grounded realism, the work challenges the reader to consider whether…

Economics6 min read
Cover of Peggy-Alone

Peggy-Alone

Mary Agnes Byrne

HOOK A young girl finds health and belonging when she forms a club dedicated to small acts of kindness, transforming her own loneliness into a vibrant summer of friendship and shared discovery.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of Planet of Doom

Planet of Doom

Stephen Marlowe

A reporter risks her life on a doomed world, racing against a stellar catastrophe to document the final stand of a civilization that refuses to abandon its dying sun.

Novels5 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, April 11, 1891

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, April 11, 1891

Various

This collection serves as a vibrant, kaleidoscopic snapshot of late-Victorian British life, capturing the era’s preoccupations through a lens of biting, rhythmic, and often weary wit. It is a curated miscellany—a bustling theater of politics, social anxiety, and literary parody that demands its reader be as…

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, February 4, 1893

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, February 4, 1893

Various

This collection serves as a vibrant, multifaceted snapshot of British life at the turn of 1893. It captures the anxieties of a shifting empire and the absurdity of social conventions through a blend of satirical poetry, fictionalized dialogues, and theatrical sketches.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Queen of the Blue World

Queen of the Blue World

Basil Wells

A daring rescue mission goes awry, leaving a Martian officer and a stranded princess to navigate a hostile, primordial Earth while the clock ticks toward a critical planetary transition.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Railroad building, and other stories

Railroad building, and other stories

Pansy

HOOK Ordinary childhood moments transform into profound moral lessons, where a broken banjo string or a simple botany lesson serves as a catalyst for growth, honesty, and spiritual reflection.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Richard Carvel

Richard Carvel

Winston Churchill

A young gentleman from Maryland navigates the treacherous social and political waters of London, risking everything to rescue his childhood love from an unwanted marriage to a villainous duke.

Historical Novels6 min read
Cover of Rosemary and Pansies

Rosemary and Pansies

Effie Waller Smith

The quiet dignity of a life lived in shadow, marked by the labor of the hands and the steady, unsung discipline of the spirit, forms the heart of this collection.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Salute

Salute

Thomson Burtis

The wreckage of a man’s life can sometimes reveal a hidden core of nobility, provided someone is willing to look past the smoke and the scars. This story follows two army pilots whose friendship is tested by the sudden arrival of a ghost from a checkered past.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Sketches from Memory: (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches")

Sketches from Memory: (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches")

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A keen observer wanders through the bustling borderlands and infant cities of early nineteenth-century America, recording the quiet poetry and restless energy of a nation in motion.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Some Personal Reminiscences of Service in the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac

Some Personal Reminiscences of Service in the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac

Hampton Sidney Thomas

The cavalrymen of the Army of the Potomac were once dismissed as mere scouts or messengers, but these pages reveal the desperate, bone-weary reality of the men who rode into the heart of the storm.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 18, August 21, 1858

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 18, August 21, 1858

Unknown

This defiant, singular publication serves as both a blistering courtroom diary and a frantic dispatch from the front lines of mid-nineteenth-century New York’s cutthroat political and media landscape. It captures the chaotic intersection of public scandal, judicial overreach, and the raw, unvarnished power…

History - American6 min read
Cover of Tecumseh: A Chronicle of the Last Great Leader of His People: Vol. 17 of Chronicles of Canada

Tecumseh: A Chronicle of the Last Great Leader of His People: Vol. 17 of Chronicles of Canada

Ethel T. Raymond

Tecumseh spent his life defending the red man’s rightful home against relentless American expansion, rising from an orphaned Shawnee boy to the visionary commander of a great tribal confederacy.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Bible, King James version, Book 51: Colossians

The Bible, King James version, Book 51: Colossians

Anonymous

The central figure is an imprisoned teacher who writes to a distant community to redefine their understanding of reality and restore their focus on a single, singular connection.

Religion/Spirituality6 min read
Cover of The case of the Black Twenty-Two

The case of the Black Twenty-Two

Brian Flynn

A wealthy collector’s murder and the theft of priceless historical relics pull an amateur sleuth into a web of international intrigue, hidden codes, and high-stakes family secrets.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Complete Works of Artemus Ward

The Complete Works of Artemus Ward

Artemus Ward

The American landscape is a patchwork of absurdity, and this wandering showman observes it all with a sharp wit that favors the Union, the common person, and the occasional well-timed "goak.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The devil downstairs

The devil downstairs

P. F. Costello

This surreal fantasy explores the nature of evil through the lens of a domestic crisis: what happens when a private investigator captures the Devil and tries to keep him under control at home?

Humour6 min read
Cover of The Duty of Submission to Civil Authority,: A Sermon Preached in the Parish Church of Bradfield, Berkes, on Sunday, November 28, 1830, on Occasion of the Late Disturbances

The Duty of Submission to Civil Authority,: A Sermon Preached in the Parish Church of Bradfield, Berkes, on Sunday, November 28, 1830, on Occasion of the Late Disturbances

J. F. (John Frewen) Moor

HOOK This nineteenth-century sermon explores the intersection of spiritual faith and civic duty, arguing that a true commitment to Christianity necessitates a steadfast and loyal submission to the established laws of the land.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of The Erie Train Boy

The Erie Train Boy

Alger, Horatio, Jr.

A plucky seventeen-year-old takes to the rail cars to support his family, only to find that doing the right thing draws both desperate scoundrels and extraordinary luck.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of The Flame Breathers

The Flame Breathers

Ray Cummings

An expedition to a hidden, hostile planet turns into a desperate fight for survival when an Earth crew discovers they are not the first to land—and that the locals are far more dangerous than expected.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The Good Resolution

The Good Resolution

Unknown

HOOK A young girl struggles to overcome a volatile temper that alienates her from family and friends, ultimately finding peace through faith, self-reflection, and quiet acts of daily perseverance.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read