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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

Frederick the Great and His Family

A Historical Novel

by Luise Mühlbach 1814–1873

The book, and the century it came out of.

Translated by Mrs. Chapman Coleman

The Seven Years’ War: Frederick against Austria, Russia, France and Saxony at once, and the court at Sans Souci going on around him — his brothers, his sister, the actresses, the poets, the flute. Mühlbach was Klara Mundt, who wrote nearly three hundred volumes and put the courts of Europe into them; she is a gossip working from documents, and the family here is far more interesting than the battles. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Canaletto and Bellotto among them.

The king laid his flute aside, and with his hands folded behind his back, walked thoughtfully up and down his room in Sans-Souci.
The first sentence of Frederick the Great and His Family
A note on this edition

Frederick the Great and His Family, by Luise Mühlbach, 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 784 pages
Reading time
about 16 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Translation
Mrs. Chapman Coleman
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486341472
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.

Königstein Fortress, Canaletto
Königstein Fortress Canaletto 1756
The Music Lesson, Nicolas Lancret
The Music Lesson Nicolas Lancret 1743
Broken Eggs, Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Broken Eggs Jean-Baptiste Greuze 1756
Beggar playing the pochette, Johann Philipp von der Schlichten
Beggar playing the pochette Johann Philipp von der Schlichten 1731
Flusslandschaft, Franz Ignaz Flurer
Flusslandschaft Franz Ignaz Flurer 1736
The Reaper, Jean-Honoré Fragonard
The Reaper Jean-Honoré Fragonard 1754
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 Frederick the Great and His Family as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Frederick the Great and His Family as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Frederick the Great and His Family, 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, 9785486341472, 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 Frederick the Great and His Family?
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. Luise Mühlbach'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 784 pages, which is roughly about 16 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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Frederick the Great and His Family
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