Biography, autobiography Gutenberg

I was advised on all hands not to write this book, and some English friends who have read it urge me not to publish it.  "You will be accused of selecting the subject," they say, "because sexual viciousness appeals to you, and your method of treatment lays you open to attack. "You criticise and condemn the English conception of justice, and English legal methods: you even question the...

When we read about the great composers we learn that they come from all kinds of families. Bach's parents were poor. Mendelssohn's were rich. Schubert's father was a schoolmaster. Mozart's father was a violinist. The story which you are to read in this book and then write out in your own words is about a boy whose parents were neither well-to-do nor well known. His name is George Frederick...

We intend this Collection of Letters to be a Supplement to the "Life of Charles Dickens," by John Forster. That work, perfect and exhaustive as a biography, is only incomplete as regards correspondence; the scheme of the book having made it impossible to include in its space any letters, or hardly any, besides those addressed to Mr. Forster. As no man ever...

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish author, playwright and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as well as the circumstances of...

This is the picture of a boy who was born in the north of the world. He loved his mother country and the music which the people sang. But he had music, all his own, that sang and sang in his heart. It was happy music and sad; solemn and joyous. You will hear it some day and love it all. Even when this little boy was in the primary school the music knocked at his heart's door as if it would...

We intend this Collection of Letters to be a Supplement to the "Life of Charles Dickens," by John Forster. That work, perfect and exhaustive as a biography, is only incomplete as regards correspondence; the scheme of the book having made it impossible to include in its space any letters, or hardly any, besides those addressed to Mr. Forster. As no man ever...

The Journal of Sir Walter Scott is a diary which the novelist and poet Walter Scott kept between 1825 and 1832. It records the financial disaster which overtook him at the beginning of 1826, and the efforts he made over the next seven years to pay off his debts by writing bestselling books. Since its first complete publication in 1890 it has attracted high praise, being considered by many critics...

This book is one of a series known as the Child’s own book of great musicians, written by Thomas Tapper, author of "Pictures from the Lives of the Great Composers for Children," "Music Talks with Children," "First Studies in Music Biography," and others. This series will be found not only to furnish a pleasing and interesting task for the children, but will teach them the main facts with...

A Biography of Young Abe for Younger Readers From The Story Of Young Abraham Lincoln: To the motherless boy the thought of his blessed mother being buried without any religious service whatever added a keen pang to the bitterness of his lot. Dennis Hanks once told how eagerly Abe learned to write: "Sometimes he would write with a piece of charcoal, or the p'int of a burnt stick, on the fence or...

Is Shakespeare Dead? is a short, semi-autobiographical work by American humorist Mark Twain. It explores the controversy over the authorship of the Shakespearean literary canon via satire, anecdote, and extensive quotation of contemporary authors on the subject. The original publication spans only 150 pages, and the formatting leaves roughly half of each page blank. The spine is thread bound. It...

The picture on this page is of the house wherein a great composer was born. Of course, one is not born a great composer. He has to become that. So, at the moment this story begins there is, within this house, a little boy quite like any other boy. He loved to play and to make a noise and to have a good time. But most of all-what do you think he loved? A hand organ. Whenever the organ man came...

Do you remember that once upon a time Joseph Haydn lived as court musician in the Esterhazy family? He wore a tie wig and a wonderful bright uniform; for he was master of the music in that great house. Now, long after Joseph Haydn's time, Adam Liszt, father of Franz, lived with the Esterhazy's. He was the family steward, having charge of all the property. And, too, he loved music. So we may...

A very odd house used to stand in the quaint old Saxon City of Leipzig. This house was called the Red and White Lion. I suppose no one ever really saw a lion that was red and white, but nevertheless that was the name of the house. There, was born Richard Wagner, who was one day to write the wonderful opera scenes of which we will soon read. Richard Wagner's day of birth was May 22, 1813. That...

Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance is an 1871 book by American author Mark Twain. Published by Sheldon & Co. in 1871, the book consists of two short stories: A Burlesque Autobiography, which first appeared in Twain's Memoranda contributions to The Galaxy, and First Romance, which originally appeared in The Express in 1870. The book bears no relationship to Twain's...

This work is based on the article on Shakespeare which I contributed last year to the fifty-first volume of the ‘Dictionary of National Biography. But the changes and additions which the article has undergone during my revision of it for separate publication are so numerous as to give the book a title to be regarded as an independent venture.  In its general aims, however, the...

The life of Theodore Roosevelt is one well worth studying by any American boy who wishes to make something of himself and mount high on the ladder of success. The twenty-sixth President of our country is a fine type of the true American of to-day, full of vim and vigor, quick to comprehend, and equally quick to act, not afraid to defend his opinions against all comers when satisfied that he is...

This book is one of a series known as the Child’s own book of great musicians, written by Thomas Tapper, author of "Pictures from the Lives of the Great Composers for Children," "Music Talks with Children," "First Studies in Music Biography," and others. This series will be found not only to furnish a pleasing and interesting task for the children, but will teach them the main facts with...

The Rowe-Tonson edition of Shakespeare's plays (1709) is an important event in the history of both Shakespeare studies and English literary criticism. Though based substantially on the Fourth Folio (1685), it is the first, "edited" edition: Rowe modernized spelling and punctuation and quietly made a number of sensible emendations. It is the first edition to include dramatis personae, the first to...

The story about Bach with simple writing and illustrations for children. 

Robert Fulton (1765-1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat. He also designed a new type of steam warship. In 1800 he was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to design Nautilus, which was the first practical submarine in history. Eli Whitney (1765-1825) was an American inventor best known as the inventor of the...