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“Jack and Molly were twins, and this was their ninth birthday. Such a happy, exciting day it had been; it felt like a birthday all day long, so you can guess how jolly it was, and how special it made Jack and Molly feel. Little did they guess what a weird and mysterious end to the day was now approaching!.... “Had Aunt Phœbe known when she bought ‘this useful little thing’ what it Really Was—could she have foreseen any of the mysterious happenings that were to follow the arrival of her birthday present—she would have preferred to send her niece half a dozen of the most jingly silver bangles ever made; for she disapproved of adventures in any shape or form, even more than she disapproved of bangles. Yet it was entirely through Aunt Phœbe that Jack and Molly took part in the adventure of the Grey Pumpkin at all.” - Summary excerpted from Chapter 1 of Knock Three Times!

Arthur Scott Bailey (1877 - 1949)

Betsy Butterfly has an exciting time in the meadow. Some dangers of course but lots of fun and productive work. Join her as she flutters from adventure to adventure. 

Genre(s): Animals & Nature

Language: English

The Black Cat (1895-1922) was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine.
This is the eighth issue of volume 2 with the following five short stories:
"The Passing of the Polly Ann", by Collins Shackelford: the survivor of a drifting ship testifies to a startling revelation
"The Obsequies of Ole Miss Jug", by Jean Ross Irvine: these children know how to bury a faithful dog in style
"A Modern Goliath", by J. C. W. Brooks, U.S.A.: witness a spectacular court-martial trial, trying to prove a soldier's innocence
"The Colby Girls", by Charles Bryant Howard: two sturdy spinsters battle through a storm at sea
"Trans-Saharan Station 15-M", by J. E. Pember: three men are struggling to stay alive in the stifling heat of the Sahara

Genre(s): Fantastic Fiction, Short Stories

Language: English

Hugh Walpole (1884 - 1941)

Hjalmar Johanson (novel, 1926) is a boyish unworldly Swedish body builder come to Walpole’s fictional cathedral town of Polchester. His name is “simplified” by the townsfolk to Harmer John. He is attracted to Polchester by the cathedral. He has a vision of transforming the town and its populace to a healthier and more beautiful state. He establishes a business, essentially a gymnasium, to help people become healthier. He envisions tearing down the slums along the river and rebuilding the area with more attractive and publicly healthier buildings. But not everyone shares his vision, especially the slumlords who make their money by renting the slum to those who are poor and vulnerable, those unable to afford anything better. Harmer John encounters xenophobia, jealousy, and malice. In an earlier story Walpole novelized the Francis Thompson poem The Hound Of Heaven about a fearful soul pursued by an insistently loving God. Some observers see in Harmer John a parallel to Francis of Assisi, that is, a naïve holy man opposed by the selfish worldliness around him. 

Genre(s): Literary Fiction, Published 1900 onward

Tatian (c120 - c180)
Translated by Hope W. Hogg (1863 - 1912)

The Diatessaron is such an impersonal work that we do not need to know very much about its compiler. It will suffice here to say that he tells us himself that he was born "in the land of the Assyrians," and brought up a heathen. After travelling in search of knowledge, he settled at Rome, where he became a pupil of Justin Martyr, professed Christianity, and wrote in Greek his Address to the Greeks, translated in vol. iii. of the Ante-Nicene Christian Library. He was too independent in his attitude to maintain a permanent popularity, and after Justin's death left Rome and returned to Mesopotamia. It was probably here that he issued in Syriac his most important work, the Diatessaron, which won such a warm place in the heart of the Syrian church. Among the Greek scholars, however, he became more and more regarded as a heretic, Encratite (ascetic), and Gnostic.

Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)

Dorothy Parker was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York. She was best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. This poem is taken from her book "Enough Rope" (1926), freshly out of US copyright. 

Genre(s): Multi-version (Weekly and Fortnightly poetry)

Henry Lawson (1867 - 1922)

01. That Pretty Girl in the Army

The Salvation Army is having a hard time of things in the rough Outback town of Bourke.  That is, until Sister Hannah arrives... 

François Coppée (1842 - 1908)
Translated by George Curzon (1859 - 1925)

The poem was written in Paris during the Siege, November 1870 and celebrates caring nurses (specifically, nuns) who work with difficult patients.

François Coppée was a French poet and novelist. He was famed as le poète des humbles (the poet of the humble). His verse and prose focus on plain expressions of emotion, patriotism, the joy of young love, and the pitifulness of the poor.

Genre(s): Multi-version (Weekly and Fortnightly poetry)

Jack London (1876 - 1916)

Ten short stories on various themes and subjects, all more or less bizarre.

The Night-Born is about a woman who draws inspiration to change her life from an article she chanced to read.

In The Benefit of the Doubt, a crooked judge gets a lesson in justice.

When The World Was Young is the story of Primitive Man and Civilized Man sharing the same body.

And so on. Each story is unique and thought-provoking. 

Genre(s): Single Author Collections

"From vocalists you may learn much, but do not believe all that they say." Robert Schumann's Advice to Young Musicians is replete with good counsel. How, what, and from whom we learn is thematic to many of these 20 nonfiction selections, chosen by their readers. We learn from the lives of valorous persons (Simón Bolívar; José de San Martín; Booker T. Washington; Ishi, the last Yana Indian); from literature (Political Naturalism in England; Editorial Prejudice Against the Occult; Barbara Frietchie); from journalists, activists, and the opinionated (America and the English Tradition; Interned by the Bolshevists; The Cholera; Chimney Sweeping; Diet & Hygiene; Progress in Dairy Farming; Concerning Tobacco; Beer & Cider), and from nature (Duck Hawks of Taughannock; Sponges & Sponge Fisheries; The Grand Canyon; and Social Wasps Polistes). 

Genre(s): *Non-fiction, Essays & Short Works

Language: English

G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Originality and humor characterize the plots of these clever detective stories. The mysteries are solved by the detective priest, Father Brown. His application of shrewd, common sense to the unraveling of a succession of strange crimes and happenings rob them of the supernatural element attributed to them by the credulous. This is the third collection of similar stories. 

Genre(s): Detective Fiction

A. A. Milne (1882 - 1956)

A charming collection of 10 relaxing tales, come along into the Forest as Winnie-the-Pooh tries to get some honey, the search is on for Eeyore's tail, some new visitors arrive in the form of Kanga and Baby Roo and an 'Expotition' is held to discover the North Pole! A classic for over 95 years and one that everyone young and old will surely adore. 

Genre(s): Animals & Nature, Family

Arthur Gray Butler (1831 - 1909)

This is a novel that describes the life of three friends while they are attending Rugby School. The work illustrates for the reader many of the boys' pranks, challenges, sorrows, and victories and, as well, gives a good sense of school life in the middle of the 19th Century. Anyone who looks back with fondness on his or her younger days of schooling will enjoy this work. 

Genre(s): Published 1900 onward

Peter Coffey (1876 - 1943)

The book is an introduction to metaphysics and Thomistic Ontology. 

Genre(s): Modern

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family was written in serial form in 1854- 1855 by the author of such works as Vanity Fair, The Book Of Snobs. It tells the story of a few generations of the Newcome family: their rise to respectability, marriages, love, and the culture in which they lived. The novel teaches the reader what it was like to live in Victorian England 

Genre(s): Fictional Biographies & Memoirs

Language: English

Anita Loos (1888 - 1981)

In this comic novel written by American author Anita Loos, we follow the adventures of the fictional character Lorelei Lee who is a young blonde flapper. This story takes place in the hedonistic Jazz Age and is written in the form of a diary from Lorelei's viewpoint as she shares stories of the men she entertains in New York City and Europe. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” was an instant bestseller and has been declared as “the great American novel” by Edith Wharton. 

Genre(s): Humorous Fiction, Published 1900 onward

Language: English

Arthur Wing Pinero (1855 - 1934)

Left a widow 5 years ago at age 21, Iris Bellamy is shackled by terms of her husband's will that would leave her penniless if she remarries. Of course, "if she married a rich man, her interest in her late husband's estate would be no longer indispensible to her." But "rich men generally have some odious quality to counterbalance their wealth. The men one would marry are as poor as mice." So what do you think is likely to happen? 

Genre(s): Drama

Language: English

Julia Darrow Cowles (1862 - 1919)

In preparing this book the author has sought to awaken a keener perception and a higher appreciation of the artistic and ethical value of story-telling; to simplify some of its problems; to emphasize the true delight which the story-teller may share with her hearers; and to present fresh material which answers to the test of being good in substance as well as in literary form. 

Genre(s): Anthologies, Performing Arts

Language: English

General Foods Corporation

Published by the General Foods Corporation, featuring Calumet Baking baking powder, these recipes cover a variety of baked goods from biscuits, cakes, cookies, pies, rolls & bread, frostings & sauces, muffins, waffles & griddle cakes. 

Genre(s): Cooking

Language: English

Mother Stories from the Old Testament is a book of the best stories from the Old Testament that mothers can tell their children. 

Genre(s): Religion

Language: English

Rudyard Kipling (1868 - 1936)

Barrack-Room Ballads is a collection of poems by Rudyard Kipling which describe life in the British Army, particularly in India, in his time. The poems are written in the voice and language of soldiers of that time. The collection includes some of his best known poems. 

Genre(s): Single author

Language: English

“The device on his shield was a young oak tree pulled up by the roots, with the Spanish word Desdichado, signifying Disinherited.” The novel opens with Mrs. Murray walking with two of her grandchildren along the banks of Loch Arroch in the Scottish border country. They appear to be well-to-do and distinguished, but all is not well within the family and sacrifices are necessary. 

Genre(s): Published 1800 -1900

Margaret O. Oliphant (1828 - 1897)

Frederick Adams Woods (1873 - 1939) and Alexander Baltzly

A study In the prevalence of war in Europe from 1400 to the present day. This small book summarises historical periods of peace compared to periods of war, as concluded by consultation with other historians, and seeks to answer the question as to if the incidence and duration of periods of national conflict were becoming more intense or not, and how the periods of war may correlate to other social trends.

Genre(s): War & Military, History

B. M. Bower (1871 - 1940)

This is an action-packed tale of the old west with richly drawn characters including the notorious Butch Cassidy, most of them upstanding but some decidedly not. A cashier is murdered during a bank robbery. The loot and the thieves are sought with dark concerns about who may be guilty. Family ties, ranch life, humor, and romance are interwoven throughout. B. M. Bower was one of the first women to write novels and short stories about the American Old West, of which more than 10 were adapted as films. 

Genre(s): Action & Adventure Fiction

Jack London (1876 - 1916)

This is a political play which is set in Washington DC. Howard Knox is a congressman and believes that there are corrupt practices going on at the firm of a very wealthy industrialist. Knox is being helped by the industrialists daughter who is helping him to locate documents that will support his claims. 

Genre(s): Suspense, Espionage, Political & Thrillers, Drama

Language: English

Lucian of Samosata (c. 125 - c. 180)

Dialogues of the Dead are 30 miniature dialogues mocking the Homeric conception of the Greek gods, originally written in Attic Greek by Syrian author Lucian of Samosata. Almost 1900 years old, these dialogues still retain a lot of their original humor and wit.

Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble (1809 - 1893)

These are 28 recordings of Faith by Fanny Kemble.

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Fanny Kemble was a British actress who also found time to be a popular author of poetry, plays, travelogues, eleven volumes of memoirs, and more. She was an abolitionist after having been married for 14 years to a wealthy American plantation owner. This poem expresses the desire for trust over cynicism. 

Genre(s): Multi-version (Weekly and Fortnightly poetry)

Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957)

The great Canadian journalist and humorist ruminates and reflects upon his life and calling in this 1924 little gem. 

Genre(s): Essays & Short Works, Memoirs

H. Rider Haggard (1856 - 1925)

Rachel Dove is a British missionary's daughter in the wilds of Africa. Her life is turned around when fellow teenager Richard Darrien rescues her from a flash flood; their common initials alone may clue the reader in that these two are another pair of Haggard's predestined lovers. Some years later, after not having seen Richard in the meantime, Rachel runs afoul of one of the author's patented lustful villains, Ishmael, a renegade Englishman who plots with the Zulu king to have Rachel for his own. The rest of the story you'll have to listen to discover. 

Genre(s): Action & Adventure Fiction, Fantastic Fiction

Arthur Young (1741 - 1820)

Arthur Young, an English agriculturist, set out to write a travelogue on the state of agriculture in France and found himself in the midst of the French Revolution. His report on life in the capital and in the countryside in the years 1787, 1788, and 1789, replete with droll traveler's mishaps, becomes an eyewitness account of a society on the brink of catastrophe. From the court scene at Versailles to backroads villages comes this astonishing record of unfolding events, conspiracy theories about the queen, jubilation, and mass hysteria. 

Genre(s): Travel & Geography, Memoirs, Early Modern

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849 - 1924)

T. Tembarom is a young man who grew up in New York City, scraping his way by blacking shoes and selling newspapers. On day, he gets notified that he has become heir to a large estate in England with a healthy income. Though this would the the ultimate blessing to most, it sets him too high in class in English society for the simple Little Anne, the love of his life. His main goal is to prove to her that he would give High Society a good chance, then she would agree to marry him, knowing that she was his real choice. 

Genre(s): Published 1900 onward

James Stephens (1882 - 1950)

James Stephens is famous for his retellings of Irish myths and fairy tales. This tale is about 1.5 hours in length, full of magical lore and you will spend some considerable time in Faery. It is funny, quirky, fast paced, full of surprises, and sometimes sarcastic, as only James Stephens can be. Stephens also wrote several original novels (The Charwoman's Daughter, The Crock of Gold, Etched in Moonlight, Deirdra, Demi-Gods) also loosely based on Irish fairy tales. Enjoy! 

Genre(s): Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales

Margaret Vandercook (1877 - 1958)

The story of the four Ranch Girls is plainly just beginning. Girls so entirely unlike in temperament and ideals, as Jack, Jean, Olive and Frieda, cannot fail to lead lives that will develop in interest.

Genre(s): Action & Adventure

Language: English

Frank W. Boreham (1871 - 1959)

Frank Boreham was a well known preacher who served in England, Australia, and New Zealand. He published dozens of books and thousands of editorials during his lifetime, with no sign of slowing down, even up until his death at age 88. He wrote with a distinctive style, seeming to be able to draw a spiritual lesson out of any conceivable topic.

Boreham admits that this volume is but a collection of his reflections on things. But he hopes that by viewing the reflections, we will be more apt to take notice of the things themselves than if we had looked directly at them in full light of day. 

Genre(s): Essays & Short Works, Christianity - Other

In 1887 Dr. Young issued a Revised Edition, of which two impressions are exhausted. The work has been subjected to a new revision, making no alteration on the principles on which the Translation proceeds but endeavoring to make it as nearly perfect in point of accuracy on its present lines as possible. 

Genre(s): Young's Literal Translation

Language: English

Frances Trego Montgomery (1858 - 1925)

Billy Whiskers, Stubby and Button return from France to New York where new adventures await our favorite goat and his friends. Trouble is sure to turn up in all sorts of places – at school, an unexpected shower, up in a dirigible and in Chicago. Who are the old crow and the elephant? 

Genre(s): Action & Adventure, Animals & Nature

C. E. Smith

A charming and informative volume about the trees one might find in one's backyard and farther environs. A touch of science and a love of beauty are displayed here. 

Genre(s): Science

Hannah Cowley (1743 - 1809)

"Plays, where the scene is placed in a foreign country, particularly when that country is Spain, have a license to present certain improbabilities to the audience, without incurring the danger of having them called such; and the authoress, by the skill with which she has used this dramatic permittance, ... has formed a most interesting plot, and embellished it with lively, humorous, and affecting incident.... Here is contained no oblique insinuation, detrimental to the cause of morality—but entertainment and instruction unite, to make a pleasant exhibition at a theatre, or give an hour's amusement in the closet." 

Genre(s): Comedy

Language: English

READERS The design of this work is to show the unhappy results of jealousy and misplaced confidence, arid the wicked designs of corrupt parties. Man and woman were created for a noble purpose by their Creator; but how often do we see families that have lived long happily together rent in twain by such malignant characters as Mrs. H., Aunt Polly and Martha Lovejoy more fully explained in the following work. Such characters are to be found in all communities, like hungry wolves hunting down their prey; they often paralyze the hopes of the good and just, cause doubts, gloom and despair to overhang their pathway, where the radiant sunlight of happiness had long beamed. Malicious persons, like Sampson's foxes, are ever scattering the firebrands of hate, mischief and discord, and should be shunned by all lovers of good society. 

Genre(s): Single Author Collections

Pieter Harting (1812 - 1885)

Curious to see how the world was imagined to be 50 years from now? Harting, under the pseudonym Dr. Dioscorides, originally published his steampunk utopian novelette in 1865 under the title Anno 2065, but soon had to publish new editions because of all the changes happening at the time. We have in the catalogue the 1870 edition "Anno 2070" recorded in Dutch. This is the English translation of that edition, published in 1871, and naturally titled "Anno Domini 2071". It isn't free from racial defamation, but it does contain some radical ideas for its time, like the Suffragette movement, the Darwinian Evolution model, and many creatively imagined inventions! 

Genre(s): Fantastic Fiction

William Wilfred Campbell (1860 - 1918)

A Collection of poems by the Canadian poet William Wilfred Campbell most of which describe the natural beauty of the Great Lakes region of Ontario. These poems reflect Campbell's deep love of Nature as God's Creation. 

Genre(s): Poetry, Single author

A collection of twenty stories featuring ghoulies, ghosties, long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. Expect shivers up your spine, the sound of a monstrous howl, and the occasional touch of wonder.

"The Elixir of Life" was written in collaboration by Marc R. Schorer and August W. Derleth.

Genre(s): Horror & Supernatural Fiction

A. A. Milne (1882 - 1956)

Winnie the Pooh, the loveable little bear with a great big heart (and only a slightly less large appetite for honey), has fun and adventures in this book. All of the other residents of the 100 acre wood join in to help this happen. Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, Kanga and Roo and of course the every depressed Eeyore who manages to lose his tail somehow. But what more needs to be said except that it Christopher Robin and Pooh are here? Listen and enjoy. 

Genre(s): Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales

Clayton Knight (1891 - 1969)

D-Day: 6 June 1944. The date of the invasion of the Normandy Coast of France by the Allies. This novel gives a different look at that invasion than most of us have ever seen. It tells of a young French boy, André Gagnon, and his exciting adventures as he helps the Maquis (the French Underground fighting the Germans), a shot down British airman, and the American soldiers in their successful attempt to liberate France from German occupation. An entertaining and informative family friendly tale.

Genre(s): Action & Adventure Fiction, Historical Fiction

Luther Newton Hayes (1883 - 1978)

The subject of this little book [1923] is of general interest to people who are acquainted with things Chinese. The dragon has played a large part in Chinese thought through four thousand and more years…. The author is peculiarly fitted to undertake this piece of work. He was born in China and speaks the Chinese language as a native. Thus, he has had the first-hand knowledge and the language to help him in his study. He has been studying on the subject of the dragon for fourteen years. In this time, he has traveled over more than one half the number of provinces of China…. The author’s acquaintance with the people and the language of China have made it possible for him to go to original sources and to study the subject from every angle. (Introduction)

The son of American missionaries, Luther Newton Hayes was born in 1883, in Soochow, China. He received a B.S. from Wooster College in 1905 and an M.A. from Princeton University in 1907. For the next twenty-five years, Hayes worked in China, mostly with the YMCA. The book is replete with illustrations. This recording adds their descriptions at the end of each chapter. - Summary by Book Introduction and David Wales

Genre(s): Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)

Nicholas Carter

A prominent banker calls Nick Carter in to investigate $90,000 in missing funds—and a trusted clerk who has disappeared. 

Genre(s): Detective Fiction

Frances Trego Montgomery (1858 - 1925)

Billy Whiskers is in France, but he is homesick. Of course, he makes new friends and entangles himself in many adventures. He has encounters with nurses, farmers, and a terrible wharf rat. Why is he at a dog cemetery? Why is there a submarine explosion? Join our favorite goat on his adventures in France.

Genre(s): Action & Adventure, Animals & Nature

Language: English

Auguste Groner (1850 - 1929)

"The Case of the Lamp That Went Out" is one of the earlier Joseph Muller stories by Austrian author, Auguste Groner, originally published in German in 1899. The English translation was published in 1910 in a collection of five detective stories in "Joseph Muller: Detective - Being the Account of Some Adventures in the Professional Experience of a Member of the Imperial Austrian Police." The body of a well-dressed man is found in a vacant lot early one morning. With very few clues and no witnesses, it is up to Muller to sort out the true reason for the crime and identify the murderer. 

Genre(s): Detective Fiction

Arthur B. Reeve (1880 - 1936)

Mansiche, the ruler of ancient Northern Peru was believed to have buried a huge treasure. But he cast a curse on, whoever, divulged the whereabouts of the treasure and those who might discover it. A Peruvian dagger is stolen from the Museum from under the nose of Prof. Allen Norton and a treasure hunter Don Luis de Mendoza is killed by it. Is it the curse of Mansiche? Will the curse next befall on his beautiful daughter Inez Mendoza, who is being wooed by Mr. Lockwood and Alfonso de Moche. Detective Kennedy steps in. Will he be able to unravel the mystery of the murder, dagger, and the curse .......

Genre(s): Detective Fiction

Catherine Anne Hubback (1818 - 1877)

Emma Watson, the youngest child of six from a poor family, was sent away as a child to be raised by her wealthy aunt and uncle. When her uncle dies and her aunt remarries, Emma (now a pretty, well-educated, and opinionated young woman) returns home to help care for her ailing father and reconnect with her estranged siblings. She quickly must learn how to behave among the less affluent and navigate her way through the affections of many young men vying for her attention.

The Younger Sister is the first published completion of Jane Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons. 

Genre(s): General Fiction