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British Literature — page 95
4,542 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 95 of 95.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, December 6, 1890
Various
From high-society double standards to parliamentary backstabbing, this 1890 periodical exposes Victorian London’s anxieties and absurdities through razor-sharp satire.

Tales
George Crabbe
Small provincial lives, bounded by trade, pride, and domestic duty, yield quiet tragedies when human stubbornness collides with time.

The crooked cross
Charles J. (Charles Judson) Dutton
A small-town summer vacation turns deadly when an eminent scientist is found murdered inside his locked octagon-shaped library.

The Dairyman's Daughter
Legh Richmond
A country clergyman traces the transformative power of faith in a humble servant girl whose quiet, radiant devotion reshapes her entire family before her early death from consumption.

The Diverting History of John Gilpin
William Cowper
When a respectable London shopkeeper attempts a quiet family holiday on horseback, his borrowed steed runs entirely wild, turning a planned anniversary dinner into an unintended, breathless, and hysterical cross-country dash.

The Last Tournament
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
A grand ideal decays into cynicism and violence as knights abandon their solemn oaths for the fleeting comforts of flesh and worldly desire.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 376, June 20, 1829
Various
Demolishing a famous London landmark, soaring over the city in a hot-air balloon, and debating the proper way to steep a cup of tea all share equal space in this vintage snapshot of Regency-era British culture.

The Red Bicycle
Fergus Hume
A mysterious murder at a secluded mansion, a missing will, and a scarlet bicycle become the center of a tangled web of secrets in this classic Edwardian mystery.

The Smuggler's Cave
George A. Birmingham
A quaint English coastal village sets out to put on a amateur historical pageant, only to stumble into a genuine contraband ring hidden right under their feet.

The Story of Charles Strange: A Novel. Vol. 3 (of 3)
Wood, Henry, Mrs.
A disgraced runaway on the brink of capture, a young lawyer burdened with family secrets, and a wife driven mad by suspicion collide in the dramatic conclusion to Mrs. Henry Wood's Victorian trilogy.

Via Crucis: A Romance of the Second Crusade
F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
A young English noble loses his father, his inheritance, and his faith in human honor, setting forth on a treacherous journey toward redemption through the bloody battlefields and decadent royal courts of the Second Crusade.

Woman and Artist
Max O'Rell
When financial ambition and weapons speculation lure a talented London painter away from his easel, the quiet devotion of his artistic wife is pushed to the breaking point.

A Letter From a Clergyman to his Friend,: with an Account of the Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver
Anonymous
A fierce anonymous tract from 1726 unveils how Jonathan Swift’s newly published fantasy masked a bitter partisan attack on the English monarchy, church, and ministry.

A modern symposium
G. Lowes (Goldsworthy Lowes) Dickinson
Gathered around a Sussex terrace on a summer evening, a group of politicians, artists, and thinkers debate the soul of modern society. Their opposing worldviews collide with brilliant, civilized intensity.

A Temporary Dead-Lock: 1891
Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone) Janvier
Separated by mislaid addresses, crossed wires, and their own comedic absent-mindedness, a Minneapolis rector and his devoted wife spend two agonizing days marooned directly across the street from one another in New York City.

An Isle in the Water
Katharine Tynan
Remote, wind-battered, and tightly bound by faith and gossip, an Irish island community unfolds through its stark joys, secret sins, and enduring tragedies.

Browning and Dogma: Seven Lectures on Browning's Attitude Towards Dogmatic Religion
Ethel M. Naish
A rigorous study of spiritual uncertainty, this literary critique explores how seven landmark poems interrogate the boundaries between blind dogmatism, intellectual doubt, and living faith.

Catalogue of Messrs Blackwood and Sons' Publications: Published in 1868 as a Part of The Handy Horse-Book by Maurice Hartland Mahon
William Blackwood and Sons
A comprehensive Victorian trade catalog offers a vivid snapshot of nineteenth-century intellectual life, commercial publishing, and cultural priorities.

Honor O'Callaghan
Mary Russell Mitford
The transformation of a lonely, romantic girl into a contented, practical woman reveals how the passage of time and the weight of "common-place" life can rewrite our most cherished personal myths.

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.

Mabel: A Novel. Vol. 1 (of 3)
Newby, C. J., Mrs.
A quiet English village becomes the backdrop for personal trials, unexpected disaster, and the quiet resilience of a woman devoted to her family.

Mr Punch's Model Music Hall Songs and Dramas: Collected, Improved and Re-arranged from Punch
F. Anstey
Humorous Victorian stage parodies expose the theatrical absurdities, moralizing platitudes, and cheap sentimentality of popular late-nineteenth-century British entertainment.

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.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 28, 1841
Various
A sharp-witted lampoon of early Victorian society, this volume skewers everything from parliamentary pomposity and social climbing to foreign intelligence and cultural fads.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, March 7, 1891
Various
A dense fog halts a husband and wife in their carriage, setting off a night of blind collisions, missed directions, and comedic misdirection through the streets of Victorian London.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, March 19, 1919
Various
Life in post-Armistice Britain moves forward with a mix of absurd bureaucratic confusion, weary relief, and sharp, persistent laughter.

The History of Richard Raynal, Solitary
Robert Hugh Benson
A serene, medieval tale of a solitary mystic who leaves his peaceful cell to carry an urgent, divine warning directly to the King of England.

The Inconstant
George Farquhar
A flighty young gentleman returns to Paris convinced he can outsmart the trap of matrimony, only to be outwitted by the woman he left behind.

The Lady of the Barge: The Lady of the Barge and Others, Part 1
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Rough-hewn bargemen, petty jealousies, and the unpredictable currents of Thames river life collide in a sly comedy of mistaken intentions, domestic terror, and performative drowning.

The Provost
John Galt
A cagey, ambitious merchant recounts his rise to civic power in a Scottish burgh, offering a masterclass in the quiet art of manipulating both the law and his neighbors for personal and public gain.