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Ideala — cover
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Aeneas Press edition Edwardian

Ideala

by Sarah Grand 1854–1943

The book, and the century it came out of.

A woman in a bad marriage refuses to be consoled, sets up on her own terms and thinks aloud about what women are permitted — and the club of friends around her cannot follow her all the way. Grand was born Frances Clarke, left an unhappy marriage to write, and in 1894 gave the age its keyword: the New Woman. This was her first novel, and Ideala is the sketch from which she built everything after. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Leader, Bough and Creswick among them.

A note on this edition

Ideala, by Sarah Grand, 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 200 pages
Reading time
about 4 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486058271
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.

Mawddach Estuary, Barmouth, Benjamin Williams Leader
Mawddach Estuary, Barmouth Benjamin Williams Leader 1888
Le bateau au claire de lune, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Le bateau au claire de lune Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1875
Les bords de la Seine près d’Argenteuil, Gustave Caillebotte
Les bords de la Seine près d’Argenteuil Gustave Caillebotte 1888
Summer Sunset, Théodore Rousseau
Summer Sunset Théodore Rousseau 1866
Winter, Jørgen Sørensen
Winter Jørgen Sørensen 1888
Hoar-Frost, Peasant Girl Making a Fire, Camille Pissarro
Hoar-Frost, Peasant Girl Making a Fire Camille Pissarro 1888
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 Ideala as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Ideala as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Ideala, 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, 9785486058271, 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 Ideala?
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. Sarah Grand'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 200 pages, which is roughly about 4 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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Ideala
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