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In a Hollow of the Hills — cover
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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

In a Hollow of the Hills

by Bret Harte 1836–1902

The book, and the century it came out of.

Two prospectors find a cabin in a fold of the California hills with a woman in it and no explanation, and the arrangement they come to shapes the next fifteen years. Harte made the gold rush into literature and gave America its gamblers and its snowbound cabins; this late novel is quieter than the famous stories and harder about what the camps did to the women in them. Illustrated with 53 full-page plates — paintings by Villaamil and Durand among them.

It was very dark, and the wind was increasing.
The first sentence of In a Hollow of the Hills
A note on this edition

In a Hollow of the Hills, by Bret Harte, 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 120 pages
Reading time
about 2 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501206601
The plates

53 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.

Attack on the Stagecoach, Genaro Pérez Villaamil
Attack on the Stagecoach Genaro Pérez Villaamil 1850
A River Landscape, Théodore Rousseau
A River Landscape Théodore Rousseau 1849
Evening Landscape, Ignaz Raffalt
Evening Landscape Ignaz Raffalt 1849
Landscape near Crmieu, Charles-François Daubigny
Landscape near Crmieu Charles-François Daubigny 1849
Burnt Out, Charles Felix Blauvelt
Burnt Out Charles Felix Blauvelt 1849
A Bull leaping a Fence, Eugène Verboeckhoven
A Bull leaping a Fence Eugène Verboeckhoven 1849
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 In a Hollow of the Hills as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of In a Hollow of the Hills as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

In a Hollow of the Hills, 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, 9785501206601, 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 In a Hollow of the Hills?
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. Bret Harte'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 120 pages, which is roughly about 2 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
In a Hollow of the Hills
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