Cirrus@Austlit

Descent into a crater on Mount Hecla, Iceland, just before its eruption in 1845 nearly ends in disaster. Vivid. (PB)

Dramatised account of Thomas Edison's first day as a telegraphist in Boston when his unprepossessing appearance belied his skill. (PB)

The secret marriage of the Man in the Iron Mask to the daughter of his prison governor, de Bonpart, results in two children brought up on Corsica. Purported historical irony. Turgid. (PB)

A tramp in rags refuses to join an old companion from Darlinghurst Gaol as a bushranger but seeks work on a nearby station. The owner hires him but a 'Joe 45' discovers that the owner's wife is in fact his own wife whose false testimony put him in jail for the murder she committed. Revenge tempts him but gratitude to his employer wins his dying battle. Tale of a fierce prisoner reformed on release from a false imprisonment, set near the Murray. (PB)

Set in Toulon, France and a little valley near Casteland in 1842. Victor Lacour is imprisoned for assisting the starving poor to gain food from a local landowner, but escapes. He gives himself up to earn the reward for a poor peasant family - and gains a pardon. Conventional narrative. (PB)

A widower marries again to find a mother for his children but the sensible couple find after a time that they do care for each other. Slight. (PB)

Anecdotes of an US soldier who claimed only to be a private and a poor British curate who had only 'the Lord of Hosts' to recommend him. (PB)

A husband dissatisfied with his wife's manner of running the house tries to manage their servant while his wife is 'ill' - disastrously. Predictable. (PB)

Mark Sinclair's investigations of grave robbery while stationed as a country policeman in 1869 reveal the iniquity of an 'old hand', his family, and an Italian wood-splitter accomplice. (PB)

Encounter at breakfast between pater familias and his son over his (the son's) late return the night before. Slight, domestic. (PB)

A bachelor's story of his love for a girl portrayed on a locket - and when he finally discovers its owner how she told him it was her grandmother. Thin story, with derogatory references to an old maid. (PB)

In 1720 in Hanover, Danish Vice-Admiral Tordenskiold is killed in a duel which he was persuaded against his judgement to fight with a gambling colonel who had cheated his protege of 500 in Hamburg. Romanticised historical tale. (PB)

Exemplary tale showing how a wife must trust her husband and allow him to smoke and go to club meetings and how he will then try to make her happy. Sententious. (PB)

A Colorado native moves to Atlantic City for his health. Mistaking oysters in their shell for stones he borders his garden beds with them until hot days and irate neighbours show him the truth. (PB)

Account of a London student's visit to the poet James Montgomery in Sheffield, and an uneasy night in a public-house where he feared to be robbed. Slow. (PB)

A colonial lawyer proves his client innocent of murder through a suicide note found on the prosecuting counsel. Style very little like a detective story; fast-paced with disappointing conclusion. (PB)