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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

Dora Deane

Or, The East India Uncle

by Mary Jane Holmes 1825–1907

The book, and the century it came out of.

An orphan is taken in by relatives who use her as a servant, and a rich uncle is expected home from India — after which everyone’s manners improve remarkably. Holmes sold something like two million books, outsold in her century by almost no American woman except Harriet Beecher Stowe; she wrote orphans, wills and just deserts, and the pleasure of the machinery is that it never once fails to deliver. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Pinheiro, Leighton and Schneider among them.

Author of “Tempest and Sunshine,” “Meadow Brook,” “Homestead on the Hillside,” “The English Orphans,” “Maggie Miller,”…
The first sentence of Dora Deane
A note on this edition

Dora Deane, by Mary Jane Holmes, 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 168 pages
Reading time
about 3 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486406379
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.

Five o’clock Tea, Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro
Five o’clock Tea Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro 1896
Die Tanten gehen auf die Reise, Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff
Die Tanten gehen auf die Reise Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff 1876
Salt Meadow in October, John Frederick Kensett
Salt Meadow in October John Frederick Kensett 1872
Potato harvest, Emil Hallatz
Potato harvest Emil Hallatz 1888
Pond in the Woods, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Pond in the Woods Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1875
Thatched Cottage in Normandy, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Thatched Cottage in Normandy Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1872
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 Dora Deane as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Dora Deane as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Dora Deane, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Love & Society 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, 9785486406379, 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 Dora Deane?
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. Mary Jane Holmes'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 168 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.
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Dora Deane
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