The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 903
44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 903 of 920.

A Jolly Jingle-Book
Unknown
The everyday wonders of a child’s world—from the mystery of a lost toy to the magic of the moon—come alive in this gentle, rhythmic collection of verse. It captures the fleeting spirit of youth with quiet observation and charm.

A Method of Tanning without Bark
William Maple
This work presents a practical, patriotic solution to a stalled economy, arguing that Ireland can bypass expensive imports by harvesting native roots to cure leather. It serves as both a scientific manual and a political manifesto.

A Mixed Proposal: The Lady of the Barge and Others, Part 9
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Two aging bachelors engage in a ridiculous, high-stakes rivalry to win the heart of a local widow, turning courtship into a game of wits. Their elaborate schemes reveal more about their own vanity than the woman they pursue.

A New Species of Wood Rat (Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico
Ticul Alvarez
This technical report formally identifies and classifies a distinct population of the White-throated woodrat found in the Sierra Madre Oriental. It serves as a foundational reference for mammalogists mapping biodiversity in northeastern Mexico.

A Reversion To Type
Josephine Daskam Bacon
A quiet academic life begins to unravel when an unmarried instructor of thirty realizes that seven years of teaching have left her hollow, prompting a sudden, reckless attempt to reclaim the love she abandoned in Germany.

A Sermon Delivered before His Excellency Levi Lincoln, Governor, His Honor Thomas L. Winthrop, Lieutenant Governor, the Hon. Council, the Senate, and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the day of General Election, May 28, 1828
James Walker
The vitality of a republic rests entirely upon the moral character of those entrusted with power, demanding that voters prioritize integrity over the flash of personality or the rigid demands of party loyalty.

A Sketch of Charles T. Walker, D.D., Pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga
Silas Xavier Floyd
HOOK Born into the shadow of orphanage in rural Georgia, Charles T. Walker rose to become a defining voice of his generation, balancing deep spiritual conviction with the urgent, practical demands of a changing nation.

A Strange Story
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
The soul’s journey is a hazardous navigation, often leading the most rational minds into the uncharted shadows where science falters and the supernatural begins. When the rigid boundaries of logic are breached, even a man of medicine must learn to confront the phantoms of his own making.

Alice, or the Mysteries
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
The shadows of a reckless youth cast a long, suffocating pall over a man who discovers, too late, that the woman he intends to marry is the daughter he never knew he had. Fate, in this Victorian moral drama, is a relentless creditor that demands payment in the currency of shattered pride and ruined lives.

All That Goes Up
Kirby Brooks
A father’s quiet evening of relaxation turns into an agonizing, days-long ordeal when a stray experiment in his son’s bedroom leaves them permanently pinned to the ceiling.

An Essay Towards Regulating the Trade, and Employing the Poor of This Kingdom: Whereunto is Added, an Essay Towards Paying Off the Publick Debts
John Cary
Prosperity for a nation depends not on the accumulation of gold, but on the relentless industry of its people and the careful regulation of its commerce. This foundational text argues that by manufacturing domestic goods and refining colonial trade, a kingdom may secure its wealth and provide meaningful labor for…

Arachne
Georg Ebers
The creative fire of a sculptor collides with the dangerous, vengeful obsession of a spurned woman in the shifting landscape of Hellenistic Egypt.

Arachne
Georg Ebers
The restoration of a blind sculptor’s sight serves as the catalyst for his reconciliation with the past, his artistic maturation, and his eventual escape from the suffocating political atmosphere of Ptolemaic Egypt.

Arctic angels
A. De Herries (Augustus De Herries) Smith
This short, tense drama follows two Royal North West Mounted Police officers navigating the brutal moral and physical landscape of the Arctic to preserve their authority and protect a starving community. It is a taut study of duty, manipulation, and the thin veneer of order in a frozen wilderness.

As holy and enchanted
Kris Neville
This brief, poignant fantasy follows a lonely city mechanic who meets an ethereal woman in a park on a Sunday morning, only to discover that their worlds are fundamentally incompatible.

Beyond the Ultra-Violet
Frank M. Robinson
What if a human eye could be re-engineered to see the entire light spectrum, and what would happen if we looked past the veil of our own reality?

Blanche: The Maid of Lille
Ossip Schubin
A haunting waxen bust in a museum archives a sixteenth-century tragedy of misplaced devotion and the crushing weight of a broken heart.

Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 458: Volume 18, New Series, October 9, 1852
Various
This mid-century periodical captures the Victorian appetite for discovery, offering a blend of hair-raising personal narratives, industrial reportage, and moral reflections on the nature of duty and social order.

Christina and the boys
Amy Le Feuvre
This story follows a young girl struggling with her own perceived timidity as she navigates the complexities of her household and friendships. It is a quiet, earnest portrait of a child learning that true courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act in spite of it.

Colored Branches of the Louisville Free Public Library
Louisville Free Public Library
This volume records a pioneering decade of civic achievement, documenting the establishment and daily operations of the first public library system in America created specifically to serve Black readers.

Conscience
Hector Malot
A brilliant physician, driven by crushing poverty and a desperate need to secure his professional future, commits a calculated murder that entangles an innocent family in a web of legal ruin.

Courage
J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
The secret of a meaningful life is not found in ambition or prosperity, but in the steadfast, light-hearted cultivation of courage—a virtue that acts as a bridge between the generations.

Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3), Essay 9: The Expansion of England
John Morley
Politics and history are inseparable forces, and a failure to study them in tandem risks reducing the growth of nations to a mere collection of dull, disconnected events.

Decidedly Odd
William MacHarg
A psychologist uses a primitive lie detector to unmask a dangerous double agent who is manipulating a young woman through a secret, rhythmic language.

Diary of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
This singular document captures the frantic, tactile reality of a man navigating the corridors of power and the messy, intimate corners of his own life. It remains a definitive account of 17th-century London, preserved through an astonishingly candid private record.

Donovan Pasha, and Some People of Egypt
Gilbert Parker
This collection of tales explores the moral complexities and dangerous intrigue surrounding the British presence in 19th-century Egypt, anchored by the enigmatic figure of a resourceful civil servant.

Duel in Black
John Foster West
This story of a high-stakes standoff on the lunar surface pits a young prospector against a lethal claim jumper, where the difference between life and death is measured in shadows and heat.

E Being
James Stamers
The first human to reach the speed of light discovers that the journey has a cost: he is no longer matter, but an energy-based entity hungry for power, trapped on a world he can no longer truly inhabit.

Education of the Negroes Since 1860
J. L. M. (Jabez Lamar Monroe) Curry
This historical survey chronicles the organized efforts to provide schooling for formerly enslaved people in the American South following the Civil War. It documents the transition from private missionary initiatives to state-supported public education.

Edward MacDowell, His Work and Ideals
Elizabeth Fry Page
An intimate exploration of a celebrated tone-poet’s creative spirit, this volume blends biography with sensitive poetic interpretations to honor a life defined by nature, mysticism, and the pursuit of artistic excellence.

Fostina Woodman, the Wonderful Adventurer
Avis A. Burnham Stanwood
A young woman’s peaceful life in a mountain cottage is shattered by the lure of gold and the treachery of kin, forcing her to embark on a perilous, transformative journey to reclaim her destiny.

Frank Merriwell in Maine
Burt L. Standish
The quintessential American boy-hero embarks on a Maine wilderness retreat, only to find himself entangled in a rugged struggle against poachers, smugglers, and the perils of the river drive.

Free Trapper's Pass
William R. (William Reynolds) Eyster
A daring rescue mission unfolds across the rugged Yellowstone wilderness as a band of frontiersmen battles to save a young woman from captivity.

From Dixie to Canada: Romances and Realities of the Underground Railroad
H. U. (Homer Uri) Johnson
The Underground Railroad was not a physical machine, but a hidden, human network of courage and ingenuity. This account preserves the memories of those who risked everything to guide fugitives from bondage toward the freedom of Canada.

Gypsy Coppersmiths in Liverpool and Birkenhead
R. A. Scott (Robert Andrew Scott) Macfie
A band of foreign coppersmiths descends upon industrial Liverpool, turning a neglected plot of land into a sovereign, nomadic kingdom that defies the modern world’s expectations of labor, wealth, and social order.

Harper's Round Table, June 18, 1895
Various
This collection of mid-1890s periodical entries captures a vanished world of youth, where adventure narratives and practical instruction sit side-by-side with the dry, earnest humor of a bygone age. It offers a glimpse into a time when reading was a rigorous, multifaceted pursuit for the young.

Historical Record of the Seventieth, or, the Surrey Regiment of Foot: Containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1758, and of its subsequent services to 1848
Richard Cannon
This formal chronicle documents the operational life of the 70th Regiment of Foot, tracing its decades of colonial service and the quiet endurance of soldiers stationed in distant territories during the nineteenth century.

Hold Back Tomorrow
Kris Neville
In a world where humans live for centuries, one young woman desperately clings to the fleeting beauty of youth, terrified by the inevitable, slow march toward physical decay and the burden of becoming an adult.

Household words, no. 306, February 2, 1856
Unknown
This mid-Victorian periodical offers a vivid, multifaceted portrait of English life, blending earnest social commentary with whimsical anecdotes. It captures the rhythm of 1856 through diverse voices that explore everything from culinary obsessions to industrial unrest.

Image of Splendor
Lu Kella
The space between worlds is long, lonely, and governed by a rigid, gendered hierarchy—until a stowaway from Venus disrupts the peace of a routine Earth-bound freighter. This brisk science fiction tale explores the delicate power dynamics of two planets, one where women hold supreme authority and another where men…

Imitation of death
Lester Del Rey
A political operative believes he has mastered the art of deception, only to discover that his reliance on mechanical control is no match for the ingenuity of those he seeks to ruin. This taut narrative explores the vulnerability of authoritarian power when it underestimates the humanity it intends to replace.

Jakie's Christmas
Lida B. Robertson
An inquisitive, impoverished boy ventures from his rural cabin into the city to find the legendary Santa Claus, only to discover that the spirit of Christmas is found in the unexpected kindness of strangers.

Kobiety (Women): A Novel of Polish Life
Zofia Nałkowska
A portrait of early twentieth-century Polish intellectual life, this novel captures the internal displacement of women who reject traditional domesticity yet find themselves adrift in a world of limited agency. It is an exploration of the psyche, lingering on the friction between romantic ideals and the cold, often…

Lighter Moments from the Notebook of Bishop Walsham How
William Walsham How
A collection of ecclesiastical anecdotes gathered by a Victorian bishop, revealing the lighter, more human side of church life in late nineteenth-century England.

Little Meg's Children
Hesba Stretton
A young girl’s unwavering faith sustains her three siblings through the crushing poverty and isolation of London’s docklands, where she clings to a dying mother’s final, heavy secret.

Little Oskaloo
T. C. (Thomas Chalmers) Harbaugh
A lone white girl raised among native villagers moves like a shadow across the frontier to shield imperiled settlers and unravel the mystery of her stolen past.

Madame Goubaud's pillow lace patterns, and instructions in Honiton lace making
Madame Adolphe Goubaud
This instructional guide demystifies the intricate, time-honored craft of Honiton lace, offering the aspiring needleworker a practical path toward creating delicate, professional-grade textile art.

Medoline Selwyn's Work
Colter, J. J., Mrs.
A young woman’s arrival in a new town sparks a quiet, transformative journey of faith, social discovery, and unexpected romance, proving that small acts of kindness can reshape the lives of both the giver and the recipient.