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Jean of the Lazy A — cover
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Aeneas Press edition 20th Century

Jean of the Lazy A

by B. M. Bower 1871–1940

The book, and the century it came out of.

Jean rides the Lazy A alone — her father is in prison for murder, the ranch is going, and a moving-picture outfit turns up wanting a real cowgirl for the camera. Bower was Bertha Muzzy Sinclair, and the initials were deliberate; readers assumed for years that the creator of the Flying U was a man. She had lived the work, and the film company in this one is drawn from the outfits she had watched shooting in Montana. Illustrated with 57 full-page plates — paintings by Reaugh, Cropsey and Streeton among them.

Without going into a deep, psychological discussion of the elements in men’s souls that breed events, we may say with truth that the Lazy A ranch was as other ranches in the smooth tenor of its life until one day in June, when the finger of fate wrote bold and black across the face of it the word that blotted out…
The first sentence of Jean of the Lazy A
A note on this edition

Jean of the Lazy A, by B. M. Bower, 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 216 pages
Reading time
about 4 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501408906
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.

Breezy morning, Frank Reaugh
Breezy morning Frank Reaugh 1896
Walpurgis Night in Bergslagen, Grangärde in Dalarna, Anshelm Leonard Schultzberg
Walpurgis Night in Bergslagen, Grangärde in Dalarna Anshelm Leonard Schultzberg 1896
Vårafton, Nils Kreuger
Vårafton Nils Kreuger 1896
Breakfast under the Big Birch. From A Home (26 watercolours), Carl Larsson
Breakfast under the Big Birch. From A Home (26 watercolours) Carl Larsson 1896
Preparing for the lesson, Hugo Löffler
Preparing for the lesson Hugo Löffler 1896
Pines Along the Shore, Henri-Edmond Cross
Pines Along the Shore Henri-Edmond Cross 1896
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 Jean of the Lazy A as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Jean of the Lazy A as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Jean of the Lazy A, 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, 9785501408906, 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 Jean of the Lazy A?
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. B. M. Bower'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 216 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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Jean of the Lazy A
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