Essays & Short Works
Summer in a Garden and Calvin, A Study of Character
Read by Mark Penfold
Charles Dudley Warner
This is Warner's contemplative and humorous account of the wondrous and mysterious workings of a garden he tended for 19 weeks. After this i…
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 003
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Various
A collection of ten short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independ…
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume 4
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Robert G. Ingersoll
Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, one of the greatest orators of the mid-19th century, was a highly sought after lecturer/toastmaster who sold out e…
Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books
Read by D.E. Wittkower
Immanuel Kant
This essay of Kant’s on copyright argues that the unlicensed copying of books cannot possibly be permissible, due to the fact that it assume…
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 007
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Various
A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in this collectio…
The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52
Read by rachelellen
Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe
Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe moved to California from Massachusetts during the Gold Rush of the mid-1800’s. During her travels, Louise w…
In Defense of Harriet Shelley
Read by John Greenman
Mark Twain
Mark Twain pulls no punches while exposing the "real" Percy Shelley in this scathing condemnation of Edward Dowden's "Life of…
My First Book
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Various
This is not a children's book, as may be supposed from the title, but a collection of essays first published in The Idler magazine, in which…
Oxford Book of American Essays
Read by James E. Carson
Various
Collection of 32 essays by American authors ranging from Benjamin Franklin to Emerson to Whitman to Henry James to Theodore Roosevelt. On su…
Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Together With Death's Duel
Read by David Wales
John Donne
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions is a 1624 prose work by the English theologian and writer John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Lond…
Idle Ideas in 1905
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Jerome K. Jerome
Back in 1905 Jerome K. Jerome shared his thoughts on a variety of subjects, including "Should Women Be Beautiful?", "Should S…
Of All Things
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Robert C. Benchley
A collection of amusing essays satirizing serious consideration of topics including natural history, social etiquette, or indeed, civilized …
Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke
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Antonio Colmenero De Ledesma
The Author sings the praises of Chocolate. "By the wise and Moderate use whereof, Health is preserved, Sicknesse Diverted, and Cured, e…
The Common Reader
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Virginia Woolf
A collection of essays by Virginia Woolf, some of which originally appeared in the Times Literary Supplement or the Dial, and others were or…
Essays and Literary Studies
Read by TriciaG
Stephen Leacock
A collection of wry looks at literature, education, and other social phenomena by Canadian humourist and economics professor, Stephen Leacoc…
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences (Version 2)
Read by John Greenman
Mark Twain
This is Mark Twain's vicious and amusing review of Fenimore Cooper's literary art. It is still read widely in academic circles. Twain's essa…
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 015
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Various
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently…
The Fireside Chats
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt thirty radio addresses made throughout his terms as President of the United States between 1933 and 1944…
Coffee Break Collection 006 - Food and Drink
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Various
This is the sixth collection of our "coffee break" series, involving public domain works that are between 3 and 15 minutes in leng…
Stage Land
Read by David Muncaster
Jerome K. Jerome
A comic look at the curious habits and customs of the inhabitants of 'Stage Land'. Dedicated to 'that highly respectable but unnecessarily r…