Best of
19th-Century

1865

Our Mutual Friend


Charles Dickens - 1865
    When the body of John Harmon, the dust-heap’s expected heir, is found in the Thames, fortunes change hands surprisingly, raising to new heights “Noddy” Boffin, a low-born but kindly clerk who becomes “the Golden Dustman.” Charles Dickens’s last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend encompasses the great themes of his earlier works: the pretensions of the nouveaux riches, the ingenuousness of the aspiring poor, and the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt all who crave it. With its flavorful cast of characters and numerous subplots, Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens’s most complex—and satisfying—novels.

Can You Forgive Her?


Anthony Trollope - 1865
    In Can You Forgive Her? Trollope inextricably binds together the issues of parliamentary election and marriage, of politics and privacy. The values and aspirations of the governing stratum of Victorian society are ruthlessly examined and none remain unscathed. Above all Trollope focuses on the predicament of women. 'What should a woman do with her life?' asks Alice Vavasor of herself, and this theme is echoed by every other woman in the novel, from the uncomfortably married Lady Glencora to the coquettish Mrs Greenow and Alice's clear-headed cousin, Kate.

Drum Taps


Walt Whitman - 1865
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk


Nikolai Leskov - 1865
    Chastened and stifled by her marriage of convenience to a man twice her age, the young Katerina Lvovna goes yawning about the house, missing the barefoot freedom of her childhood, until she meets the feckless steward Sergei Filipych. Sergei proceeds to seduce Katerina, as he has done half the women in the town, not realizing that her passion, once freed, will attach to him so fiercely that Katerina will do anything to keep hold of him. Journalist and prose writer Nikolai Leskov is known for his powerful characterizations and the quintessentially Russian atmosphere of his stories.

Miss Mackenzie


Anthony Trollope - 1865
    Instead he depicts Margaret Mackenzie, overwhelmed with money troubles, as she tries to assess the worth and motives of four very different suitors. Although her creator calls her "unattractive," most readers will warm to Miss Mackenzie and admire her modesty, dignity, and shrewdness.

The Poetical Works of Longfellow


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1865
    The Poetical Works of Longfellow. London: Frederick Warne, [1879]. Octavo. 610 pages.

Experiments in Plant Hybridisation (Revised)


Gregor Mendel - 1865
    A simple, eloquent description of his 1856-1863 study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants--Mendel analyzed 29,000 of them--this is essential reading for biology students and readers of science history.

Pioneers of France in the New World


Francis Parkman - 1865
    He is best known for his works The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life and the 7 volume France and England in North America. Published in 1907 Pioneers of France in the New World is an in depth look at the history of Canada and the Northwest. Some of the topics covered area as follows: Early French Adventure in North America; La Roche-Champlain-De Monts, Acadia Occupied, Lescarbot and Champlain, Early Spanish Adventure, Villegagnon, The Great War Party; Hostile Sects-Rival Interests, and The English at Quebec