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Biography Genre

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Books in the Biography genre:

Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838)

Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi dickens UK 2.jpg book cover
This autobiography of a famous British clown was rewritten by Dickens. Read online at Internet Archive: Volume 1, and Volume 2.... View More

Author(s): Charles Dickens
Joseph Grimaldi
Thomas Egerton Wilks
Illustrator(s): George Cruikshank
W. Greatbach
S. Raven

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Two Years Before the Mast (1840)

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His studies at Harvard interrupted by vision problems, the author embarked as a merchant seaman aboard the brig Pilgrim in 1834 on a voyage to Alta California, still under Mexican rule. After helping to cure and load a cargo of cow hides, he was tran... View More

Author(s): Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
Illustrator(s): None

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The Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith (1848)

Life and adventures of Oliver Goldsmith forster.jpg book cover
This detailed biography of the author and poet was published in two volumes. The title was changed for the second and subsequent editions, of which there were many. Read for free online at HathiTrust.... View More

Author(s): John Forster
Illustrator(s): Richard Doyle
Robert James Hamerton
John Leech
Daniel Maclise
Clarkson Stanfield

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David Copperfield (1850)

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This autobiographical novel was considered by its author as his greatest work, and his readers over the last century and a half have agreed with him. Read online at archive.org.... View More

Author(s): Charles Dickens
Illustrator(s): Hablot K. Browne

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The Perils of Greatness (1865)

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A biography of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, who rose from selling pirozhki on the streets of Moscow to Marshall, then Generalission of the Russian Imperial Army. Famously corrupt, he temporarily managed to save himself by joining in the elevation ... View More

Author(s): Gustav Nieritz
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

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A Memoir of Jane Austen (1871)

Memoir of Jane Austen austen leigh 2nd edition.jpg book cover

This second edition of a family biography of the author contains previously unpublished works. Read online at archive.org.

Author(s): Jane Austen
James Edward Austen-Leigh
Illustrator(s): None

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Roughing It (1872)

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An account of the author’s adventures in the West, in particular among the mining camps. It was published in England in two volumes, the second part titled The Innocents at Home. Read online at archive.org.... View More

Author(s): Mark Twain
Illustrator(s): Eminent Artists

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Frank Mildmay, or, The Naval Officer (1873)

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One of the first novels of the British navy. Read for free online at HathiTrust.

Author(s): Frederick Marryat
Illustrator(s): Randolph Caldecott

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Old Times on the Mississippi (1876)

Old Times on the Mississippi twain.jpg book cover
Twain’s memories of his prewar time spent as an apprentice pilot on the Mississippi River. It later was used as the first part of Life on the Mississippi. Includes an additional story: A Literary Nightmare. Read online at Hathitrust. Or at Arch... View More

Author(s): Mark Twain
Illustrator(s): Unknown

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Being a Boy (1878)

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The story of the author’s boyhood in Charlemont, Massachusetts in the 1830’s. Read online at archive.org.... View More

Author(s): Charles Dudley Warner
Illustrator(s): Champ

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Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, KG in Upwards of 100 Cartoons (1878)

Benjamin Disraeli Earl of Beaconsfield, KG in Upwards of 100 Cartoons doyle.jpg book cover
The career of the British Prime Minister and novelist as depicted in the cartoons published in Punch. Read for free online at HathiTrust.... View More

Author(s): Various
Illustrator(s): Richard Doyle
Et al

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An Inland Voyage (1878)

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Robert Louis Stevenson and his friend Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson embark on a trip through Belgium and France by canoe which is chronicled in this book. Read online at archive.org.... View More

Author(s): Robert Louis Stevenson
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

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Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879)

Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes stevenson crane.jpg book cover
The account of a twelve days’ hiking expedition in the south of France. Read for free online at HathiTrust. Or at archive.org.... View More

Author(s): Robert Louis Stevenson
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

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A Christmas Child (1880)

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The story of a young boy whose life is cut short too soon. It is based on the life of Thomas Grindal Hutton, who died at age thirteen in 1875. Read for free online at Internet Archive.... View More

Author(s): Mrs. Molesworth
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

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Tufts of Heather Volume 1 (1881)

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A collection of essays, chiefly about the author’s native Lancashire. Read online at Hathitrust.... View More

Author(s): Edwin Waugh
Illustrator(s): Randolph Caldecott
Et al

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Tufts of Heather Volume 2 (1881)

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A collection of essays, chiefly about the author’s native Lancashire. Read online at Hathitrust.... View More

Author(s): Edwin Waugh
Illustrator(s): Randolph Caldecott
George Sheffield

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Tufts of Heather Volume 2 (1882)

Tufts of Heather volume 2 waugh caldecott 1882.jpg book cover

A collection of essays, chiefly about the author’s native Lancashire. A new edition, this includes a different image on the title page.

Author(s): Edwin Waugh
Illustrator(s): Randolph Caldecott

Details »

Life on the Mississippi (1883)

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The author reminisces about his years as a Mississippi River pilot before the Civil War, then brings things up-to-date on a trip down river in the 1880’s. The first part was originally published as Old Times on the Mississippi in 1876. Read onl... View More

Author(s): Mark Twain
Illustrator(s): John Harley
Et al

Details »

Letters of Jane Austen (1884)

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A few of the author's letter were published in the Memoir, but this is the first substantial collection to appear. Read online at Archive.org: Volume 1,and Volume 2.... View More

Author(s): Jane Austen
Illustrator(s): None

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Dick Doyle’s Journal (1885)

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An illustrated journal kept by the artist for the year 1840, when he was fifteen. Read for free online at HathiTrust.

Author(s): Richard Doyle
Illustrator(s): Richard Doyle

Details »

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