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Aeneas Press edition Victorian First published 1844

Barry Lyndon

by William Makepeace Thackeray 1811–1863

The book, and the century it came out of.

An Irish adventurer tells the story of his own life — duels, cards, the Seven Years’ War, and a marriage to a rich widow — and is a liar in every sentence. Thackeray lost his own inheritance at the tables and wrote this before Vanity Fair, letting the scoundrel narrate himself into the ground. Kubrick filmed it, slowly and beautifully, and only made the cruelty clearer. Illustrated with 59 full-page plates — paintings by Barret, Sr. and Hogarth among them.

Barry Lyndon—far from the best known, but by some critics acclaimed as the finest, of Thackeray’s works—appeared originally as a serial a few years before VANITY FAIR was written; yet it was not published in book form, and then not by itself, until after the publication of VANITY FAIR, PENDENNIS, ESMOND and THE…
The first sentence of Barry Lyndon
A note on this edition

Barry Lyndon, by William Makepeace Thackeray, 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 352 pages
Reading time
about 7 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501001329
The plates

59 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.

The Lady’s Last Stake, William Hogarth
The Lady’s Last Stake William Hogarth 1759
Schloss Hof, Garden Side, Bernardo Bellotto
Schloss Hof, Garden Side Bernardo Bellotto 1758
Bothwell Castle, Charles Cordiner
Bothwell Castle Charles Cordiner 1760
Elegant Group in the Open, Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich
Elegant Group in the Open Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich 1760
Two Sportsmen being offered Refreshment, Paolo Monaldi
Two Sportsmen being offered Refreshment Paolo Monaldi 1749
Man with a tankard, Frans van Mieris the Younger
Man with a tankard Frans van Mieris the Younger 1739
Afterwards

This book in culture: one version

Most people meet a book like this one on a screen first. Here is what was made of it — and none of these is the book.

  • 1977 Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick
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 Barry Lyndon as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Barry Lyndon as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Barry Lyndon, first published 1844, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Literary Classics 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, 9785501001329, 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 Barry Lyndon?
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. William Makepeace Thackeray'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 352 pages, which is roughly about 7 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.
If this one suits you
Barry Lyndon
$6.99
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