Cosimo Classics

Charles had always been a frail, delicate boy. As he was riding one evening, a strange, wild-looking being sprang out of the darkness and seized the bridle of his horse, crying, "Fly, fly! You are...

At the wedding festivities of his sister Wilhelmine, Frederick secreted himself among the servants in humble attire. He was discovered, and the King, who must have been in a genial mood that night,...

[A]n army of crusaders with the avowed purpose of pillage took possession of Constantinople, and after committing every outrage which can attend the sacking of a city, they bore away to Venice an...

Occasionally there arises a man in history who, without distinction of birth or other advantages, is strong enough by sheer ability to grasp the opportunity, vault into power, and then stem the tide...

This 1911 work, by one of the best-known newspapermen and writers of the day, is a lyrical and engrossing account of the peoples and places of the northern reaches of the Sceptered Isle, from its...

At the time of the sacking of Rome, this Gothic prince fell in love with Placidia, the sister of the Emperor Honorius; and after the fashion of his people, carried her away as his captive; not an...

These first real humans beings we know of in Europe appear already to have belonged to one or other of at least two very distinct races. One of these races was of a very high type indeed; it was tall...

When H. G. Wells published this popular history of planet Earth in 1922, the highest off the surface humans had reached was seven miles, barely 37,000 feet; the best guess at the planet's age was...

Perhaps a word on the status of women in slavery among the Germanic nations will not be out of place. The new nations looked upon a slave as chattel, much as the Romans did. If a wrong was done a...

The literary education of a Spartan youth was of a most restricted kind. He was taught to despise literature as unworthy of a warrior, while the study of eloquence and philosophy, which were...

Immediately after the war legislation enacted in the South made severe provision with reference to vagrancy. Negroes were arrested on the slightest pretexts and their labor as that of convicts leased...

She laughed gently, standing quite still. Her dress and her gloves were white, but she had on a small black hat, very French, and at the back of her hair there was a broad black ribbon tied in a big...

"A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul is St. John of the Cross s most famous work. Composed mainly while he was imprisoned for refusing to follow his superior s orders, the poem reflects the suffering...

In this early work of science fiction narrated by an Englishman in America on business, Doctors Bainbridge and Castleton discover that their patient is one Dirk Peters, a character from Edgar Allan...

A Study in Scarlet, originally titled A Tangled Skein and published in 1887, was the first story to ever feature Detective Sherlock Homes and his trusty sidekick Watson. Written by Sir Arthur Conan...

The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan is a Sufi text, a sub-sector of Islamic teaching. It is one of a series of short essays on spirituality from Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan, who journeyed from...

Theosophy is an esoteric course of study that resides at the crossroads of philosophy, religion, and science. This expository work, by renowned spiritual adept Charles W. Leadbeater and first...

If men's minds were as easily controlled as their tongues, every king would sit safely on his throne, and government by compulsion would cease; for every subject would shape his life according to the...

An early voice calling for reason as the ruler of the human mind, and a man with, at best, a Deistic outlook on religion, Spinoza is perhaps the first truly modern philosopher. He is certainly the...

Walter Rauschenbusch addresses the rise of the Social Gospel movement in A Theology for the Social Gospel. As an American Christian theologian, he introduces the idea that theology must grow to...

Four-dimensional beings. Telekinesis. A future that is latent in the present. Coincidence and precognition. The tantalizing possibilities of such marvels have fascinated humanity for millennia, and...

In his only published work, nearly forgotten English author WILLIAM FREDERIC WINGFIELD takes readers on a trip though Croatia and its history. Wingfield strives to give his audience a full account of...

"The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."-John Maynard Keynes, A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923) A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923), by British...

"That's the difference between governments and individuals. Governments don't care, individuals do."-Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad (1880)A Tramp Abroad (1880), by Mark Twain, is about his travels with...

"That's the difference between governments and individuals. Governments don't care, individuals do."-Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad (1880) A Tramp Abroad (1880), by Mark Twain, is about his travels with...

A Traveler at Forty ".rises completely out of the commonplace, and becomes something new, illuminating and heretical. It differs enormously from the customary travel books: it is not a mere...

"You are a traveller in little things--in something very small--which takes you into the villages and hamlets, where you meet and converse with small farmers, innkeepers, labourers and their wives,...

This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the...

How do we discern between true religion, and false? In this classic treatise on the nature of authentic faith, enormously influential American preacher and theologian JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758)...

It is indeed an opinion strangely prevailing amongst men that houses, mountains, rivers, and, in a word, all sensible objects have an existence, natural or real, distinct from their being perceived...