Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long (née Campbell; 1 November 1885 - 23 December 1952), who used the pseudonym Marjorie Bowen, was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and biography. Her total output numbers over 150 volumes with the bulk of her work under the 'Bowen' pseudonym. She also wrote under the names Joseph Shearing, George R. Preedy, John Winch, Robert Paye. After The Viper of Milan (1906), she produced a steady stream of writings until the day of her death. Bowen's work under her own name was primarily historical novels.

A TREASURY OF HEROES AND HEROINES- A RECORD OF HIGH ENDEAVOUR AND STRANGE ADVENTURE FROM 500 B.C. to 1920 A.D. ILLUSTRATED BYFLORENCE CHOATE AND ELIZABETH CURTIS

Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, was a French-German author, philosopher, encyclopedist and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, but lived and worked mainly in Paris, where he kept a salon.

As members of the Portola Expedition of 1769 climbed to the top of Sweeney Ridge, they looked upon what is now San Bruno, and beyond it the unspoiled beauty of the San Francisco Bay. Since that time, San Bruno has grown into a major metropolitan area and residential suburb of San Francisco. Along the way it has been home to an important U.S. Navy base, a popular horse-racing track, and a World War II Japanese internment camp. Shown here in 200 vintage photographs is the story of San Bruno from its initial settlement of a handful of people, through the raucous early years of gambling and "watering holes," to its gradual development into a modern, commercial city.

Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901), was an English novelist, known for her huge output. She was devoted to the Church of England, and much influenced by John Keble, a near neighbour and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Her novels reflected the values and concerns of Anglo-Catholicism. She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 100 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1854), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. She was also editor, for nearly forty years, of a magazine for young ladies, the Monthly Packet with a varied readership, but targeted at British Anglican girls.