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Aeneas Press edition Victorian First published 1854

Boyhood

The Autobiographical Trilogy, Book 2

by Leo Tolstoy 1828–1910

The book, and the century it came out of.

Translated by C. J. Hogarth

The second panel of the trilogy: a boy of fourteen at the awkward age, jealous, ashamed of his hands, in love with a footman’s opinion of him, watching his family from a corner. Tolstoy wrote it at twenty-six, before Sevastopol; the astonishing thing is not the memory but the refusal to make the boy likeable, and the chapter on the tutor Karl Ivanitch is one of the kindest things he ever wrote. Illustrated with 48 full-page plates — paintings by Kirner, Witherington and Küchler among them.

Again two carriages stood at the front door of the house at Petrovskoe.
The first sentence of Boyhood
A note on this edition

Boyhood, by Leo Tolstoy, 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 88 pages
Reading time
about 2 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Translation
C. J. Hogarth
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486786075
The plates

48 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.

Children at play, Johann Baptist Kirner
Children at play Johann Baptist Kirner 1838
La Pie voleuse, Jean Jalabert
La Pie voleuse Jean Jalabert 1840
Scène de charité sur la place des Quinconces, Louis Mathieu Didier Guillaume
Scène de charité sur la place des Quinconces Louis Mathieu Didier Guillaume 1840
Peter Schwingen - Hestehandler - TKM-490-1935 - Trondheim kunstmuseum (cropped-2), Peter Schwingen
Peter Schwingen - Hestehandler - TKM-490-1935 - Trondheim kunstmuseum (cropped-2) Peter Schwingen 1838
Winterlandschap, gezicht op Kleef, Barend Cornelis Koekkoek
Winterlandschap, gezicht op Kleef Barend Cornelis Koekkoek 1839
Pond in the Riesengebirge, Ludwig Richter
Pond in the Riesengebirge Ludwig Richter 1839
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 Boyhood as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Boyhood as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Boyhood, first published 1854, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Salon & Steppe 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, 9785486786075, 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 Boyhood?
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. Leo Tolstoy'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 88 pages, which is roughly about 2 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
Boyhood
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