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Doctor Therne — cover
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Aeneas Press edition Edwardian

Doctor Therne

by H. Rider Haggard 1856–1925

The book, and the century it came out of.

A doctor makes his career on an anti-vaccination platform, wins a seat in Parliament on it, and is in office when smallpox comes to the town. Haggard wrote this in 1898 as a deliberate polemic — he published it anonymously, and it is the only book of his with no adventure in it at all. The last chapters are as grim as anything he wrote, and he meant them to be. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Mander, Leader and Bough among them.

Some months since the leaders of the Government dismayed their supporters and astonished the world by a sudden surrender to the clamor of the anti-vaccinationists.
The first sentence of Doctor Therne
A note on this edition

Doctor Therne, by H. Rider Haggard, 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 144 pages
Reading time
about 3 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501714359
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.

Harlech Castle, William Henry Mander
Harlech Castle William Henry Mander 1890
Twee dienstboden op een Amsterdamse brug bij avond, George Hendrik Breitner
Twee dienstboden op een Amsterdamse brug bij avond George Hendrik Breitner 1890
Pond in the Woods, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Pond in the Woods Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1875
Wagnonville Castle, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Wagnonville Castle Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1875
Vanneuses, femmes aux environs de Carnac, Théodore Valério
Vanneuses, femmes aux environs de Carnac Théodore Valério 1876
Lever de lune à Auvers, Charles-François Daubigny
Lever de lune à Auvers Charles-François Daubigny 1877
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 Doctor Therne as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Doctor Therne as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Doctor Therne, 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, 9785501714359, 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 Doctor Therne?
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. H. Rider Haggard'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 144 pages, which is roughly about 3 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
Doctor Therne
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