Museum of Wonders, or Curiosities of the World

A cabinet of curiosities in book form, 1890: monsters of the ancient world, wild animals, queer wanderers in the vasty deep, famous inventions and sublime scenery — assembled to astonish the young and, the preface admits, their elders too.

This site is the complete 1900 book Museum of Wonders, page by page as originally printed — period spelling, remedies and opinions included. About this edition →

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Beasts of the Land

67 pages

Birds & Their Ways

40 pages

Wonders of the Deep

37 pages

Insects & Small Life

9 pages

Monsters of the Ancient World

1 page

Trees, Plants & Flowers

16 pages

Sublime Scenery

23 pages

Peoples & Their Customs

29 pages

Inventions & Great Works

23 pages

Portraits & Lives

6 pages

More Curiosities

215 pages

See the full table of contents →

Highlights

Looking Out for Number One

put them into her mouth, holding, at the after eating, if presented with a toothpick same time, the plate in the other hand.

Beautiful Stars of the Ocean

an inch to more than a foot. The snake, seas a very singular species, the aboresor Sand Star, is another species. In most cent…

David L. Proudfit

Ary Scheffer was an eminent French painter. He was born in 1795, and died in 1858.

The Long-Clawed Iguana

(37) thus precipitated, the water was sweet Capital sport we had, pulling them out enough and wholesome. The river had often two…

Beautiful Giraffe or Camelopard

herds containing thirty where to be met with in great numbers. to sixteen; but I have not unfrequently In countries unmolested by…

Strange Method of Discovering a Witch

the nose upward, divided his forehead in this stood a looking-glass, beside which two parts. Another red stripe passed lay a…

Curious Facts

15 genuinely curious things this book actually says, each linked to its page.

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Rights & ReuseThe complete text of Museum of Wonders (1900) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.