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Aeneas Press edition 20th Century

Destiny

by Charles Neville Buck 1879–1930

The book, and the century it came out of.

A Kentucky mountain boy, born into a feud and educated out of it, goes down to the Bluegrass and the law schools and comes back — and the mountains have not agreed to change. Buck was a Kentucky lawyer who set his fiction among moonshiners and feudists in the country he practised in; the courtroom and the still are both drawn by someone who had been in them. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Ranger, Crane and Levitan among them.

OUTSIDE the subtle clarion of autumn’s dying glory flamed in the torches of the maples and smoldered in the burgundy of the oaks.
The first sentence of Destiny
A note on this edition

Destiny, by Charles Neville Buck, 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
9785501002630
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.

Autumn, Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania, Bruce Crane
Autumn, Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania Bruce Crane 1910
Forest road., Franciszek Władysław Sandecki
Forest road Franciszek Władysław Sandecki 1889
Drifting Snow, Jacob Gløersen
Drifting Snow Jacob Gløersen 1910
Landhaus mit Garten, August Macke
Landhaus mit Garten August Macke 1910
Forge in front the House without Roof, Franz Skarbina
Forge in front the House without Roof Franz Skarbina 1910
Easter Sunday, Gari Melchers
Easter Sunday Gari Melchers 1910
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 Destiny as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Destiny as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Destiny, 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, 9785501002630, 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 Destiny?
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. Charles Neville Buck'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
Destiny
$6.99
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