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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

A Word, Only a Word

by Georg Ebers 1837–1898

The book, and the century it came out of.

A German town in the sixteenth century, a Jewish physician’s daughter, a Christian boy, and one word — spoken, not meant — that decides both their lives. Ebers was an Egyptologist who found the medical papyrus that bears his name and wrote fiction to fund the digging; this novel steps out of Egypt into Reformation Germany, and the machinery of religious hatred in a small town is documented with a scholar’s exactness. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Gauermann, Friedrich and Van Beveren among them.

“A word, only a word!” cried a fresh, boyish voice, then two hands were loudly clapped and a gay laugh echoed through the forest.
The first sentence of A Word, Only a Word
A note on this edition

A Word, Only a Word, by Georg Ebers, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.

It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.

The edition
Format
Ebook
Extent
about 296 pages
Reading time
about 6 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486744020
The plates

60 paintings are bound into this edition

Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.

At the forge, Friedrich Gauermann
At the forge Friedrich Gauermann 1828
Forest Path near Meissen, Johan Christian Dahl
Forest Path near Meissen Johan Christian Dahl 1828
Woman at a Window, Caspar David Friedrich
Woman at a Window Caspar David Friedrich 1822
Zomerlandschap, Barend Cornelis Koekkoek
Zomerlandschap Barend Cornelis Koekkoek 1828
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Grounds, John Constable
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Grounds John Constable 1823
Hadleigh Castle, John Constable
Hadleigh Castle John Constable 1828
The setting

A page from this edition

Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.

A page of A Word, Only a Word as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of A Word, Only a Word as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

A Word, Only a Word, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Adventure & the Sea shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.

Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785486744020, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.

Before you buy

Questions readers ask

Is this the whole of A Word, Only a Word?
Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
What exactly did you change?
The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Georg Ebers's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
Are the pictures really in the book?
Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
How long is it?
About 296 pages, which is roughly about 6 hours of reading.
What do I actually get?
An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
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A Word, Only a Word
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