Skip to content
Fraternity — cover
Get your copy
Aeneas Press edition Edwardian

Fraternity

by John Galsworthy 1867–1933

The book, and the century it came out of.

Two households a hundred yards apart in Kensington: cultivated people who write books about the poor, and the poor, who model for them. Galsworthy trained as a barrister, never practised, and was told to write by Joseph Conrad; this 1909 novel is the sharpest thing he did about his own class — the shadow of the title falls between people who mean well and people who need bread. Illustrated with 57 full-page plates — paintings by Moritz, Mol and Elder among them.

In the afternoon of the last day of April, 190-, a billowy sea of little broken clouds crowned the thin air above High Street, Kensington.
The first sentence of Fraternity
A note on this edition

Fraternity, by John Galsworthy, 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 288 pages
Reading time
about 6 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501805446
The plates

57 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 Drawing Lesson, Louis Moritz
The Drawing Lesson Louis Moritz 1808
Lezende vrouw aan het venster, Abraham van Strij
Lezende vrouw aan het venster Abraham van Strij 1797
A Woman and a Boy at a Table, Georg Karl Urlaub
A Woman and a Boy at a Table Georg Karl Urlaub 1793
King’s Parade, Cambridge, Thomas Malton
King’s Parade, Cambridge Thomas Malton 1798
Landscape with a Rainbow, Joseph Wright of Derby
Landscape with a Rainbow Joseph Wright of Derby 1793
The Ploughing Lesson, François-André Vincent
The Ploughing Lesson François-André Vincent 1798
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 Fraternity as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Fraternity as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Fraternity, 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, 9785501805446, 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 Fraternity?
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. John Galsworthy'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 288 pages, which is roughly about 6 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
Fraternity
$6.99
Buy the ebook