The Distributed Proofreaders project has just released another book from our Digital Library into Project Gutenberg: Grace Miller White‘s Shadows of a Great City, an entry in J. S. Ogilvie‘s Play Book Series of novelizations of plays.

The novel is an adaptation of an 1884 play which also saw later silent film adaptations. The plot revolves around the cruel (and sometimes murderous) schemes of a greedy nephew to inherit his uncle’s fortune, in spite of the fact that it rightfully belongs to his cousin. The melodramatic tone would not be out of place in a dime novel or story paper serial of the period, though in comparison, the story and characters here seem quite simplistic, perhaps due to the time limitations of the theatrical format. Unlike many dime novels, the book includes several illustrations, though most of these are outdoor scenes that do not seem to be reflective in any way of a theatrical production.

If you would like to learn more, you can find the entire book available for free download or online reading through Project Gutenberg.