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1English Fairy Tales

By Joseph Jacobs

A collection of traditional English fairy tales. (description by Joy Chan)

2Monkey's Paw

By W. W. Jacobs

The Monkey’s Paw was written in 1902 by W.W. Jacobs. It’s a dark brooding tale which promises from the start that the light you see at the end of the tunnel is actually an oncoming train. Mr and Mrs White of Laburnum Villas step out toward that light by taking up the three wishes granted to the owner of the Monkey’s Paw. Terrible things have happened to previous owners of this artifact but surely the Whites will fare better than those who have gone before… (Summary by Jim Mowatt.)

3Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

By Harriet Jacobs

Harriet Jacobs' autobiography, written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, details her experiences as a slave in North Carolina, her escape to freedom in the north, and her ensuing struggles to free her children. The narrative was partly serialized in the New York Tribune, but was discontinued because Jacobs' depictions of the sexual abuse of female slaves were considered too shocking. It was published in book form in 1861. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett).

4Celtic Fairy Tales

By Joseph Jacobs

Celtic Fairy Tales is a collection of 25 folk and fairy stories collected from Ireland and Scotland. At what I imagine is the Frontispiece, or the dedication page, is the phrase:<br /> _SAY THIS /Three times, with your eyes shut_/ <br /> Mothuighim boladh an Éireannaigh bhinn bhreugaigh faoi m'fhóidín dúthaigh. <br /> _And you will see/What you will see_ <br /> A loose translation of this Gaelic phrase is "I sense the smell of a sweet, enchanting Irishman around my dear homeplace." <br /> Translation provided by www.irishgaelictranslator.com/ (Summary by Pete Lutz)

5Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales

By Joseph Jacobs

A collection of folk and fairy tales from the Emerald Isle. There is an earlier version of this book - <a >Celtic Fairy Tales</a>, but this recording was done from a different book in Project Gutenberg. Same book, new readers! (Summary by Ann Boulais)

6Indian Fairy Tales

By Joseph Jacobs

This book is a fine collection of Indian fairy tales, some are folklore, some are from the Jataka tales, and some from panchatantra. (Summary by sidhu177)

7Night Watches

By W. W. Jacobs

A most popular Jacobs character, a night watchman along the English coast, remembers troubles his friends got into during shore leave. At least part of the fault lay with those friends, who were both careless and naïve. But not all the stories are linked to just shore leave even though they relate to the sea in some way. Included are a ghost story, a warehouse worker playing sick, a couple sparring for new income, and even a makeover story. (Bill Boerst based on Wikipedia)

8More English Fairy Tales

By Joseph Jacobs

"This volume will come, I fancy, as a surprise both to my brother folk-lorists and to the public in general. It might naturally have been thought that my former volume (English Fairy Tales) had almost exhausted the scanty remains of the traditional folk-tales of England. Yet I shall be much disappointed if the present collection is not found to surpass the former in interest and vivacity, while for the most part it goes over hitherto untrodden ground, the majority of the tales in this book have either never appeared before, or have never been brought between the same boards." - Summary from the preface

9Story of Geographical Discovery: How the World Became Known, Version 2

By Joseph Jacobs

From the time of the Ancients to expeditions to the North Pole, Jacobs tells the adventure story of the discovery of the different lands and cultures up to the present day (1897) - Summary by SkyRider

More fairy tales from the early days of the British Isles, collected and edited by Joseph Jacobs. - Summary by bookworm360

11Skipper's Wooing

By W. W. Jacobs

The crew of the ship come together in a syndicate to find the missing father of the lady whom their skipper should like to favour. Their resulting escapades prove to be highly amusing - Summary by Alan Lord

12Story of Geographical Discovery: How the World Became Known

By Joseph Jacobs

This book was first published in 1897. It's a short work, but it encompasses a vast subject—nothing less than determining the detailed geographical plan of our entire world! In the process, Jacobs feeds us dates and names and events and places and maps in a dense stream. It's a bit like drinking from a fire hose, but see it through, and the reader (or listener) will acquire a surprisingly complete overview of world history as well as geography. It's well worth absorbing, even by those not so geographically inclined, if only as a source for winning endless bar bets. Beginning in ancient times, the author identifies three main forces that have contributed to our present understanding: wars of conquest, competition for trade, and (eventually) pure scientific curiosity. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, early Greeks, Babylonians, and many other Mediterranean peoples contributed, often unwillingly, the streams of knowledge that Ptolemy of Alexandria summed up in the great Ptolemaei Orbis (ca.150 AD), the first “real” map of the whole known world. The evolution of world maps to incorporate (and sometime conceal) new discoveries is a key theme of this fascinating work. (Summary by Steven Seitel)

13Light Freights

By W. W. Jacobs

A collection of weird and humorous short stories known for their good twists featuring a trio attempting some get-rich-quick schemes, the goings on at a small village, sailors attempting to stand up to bullies, more sailors dealing with orphans, hypnotists and accidental stowaways, wives trying to scare their husbands straight and what telling tall tales in inns can lead to. (Summary by Inkell)

14Lady of the Barge

By W. W. Jacobs

Another collection of short stories, a mixture of the humorous and the horrifying all with unexpected twists - Summary by Inkell