Joseph II and His Court
An Historical Novel
by Luise Mühlbach 1814–1873
The book, and the century it came out of.
Translated by Adelaide de Vendel Chaudron
Vienna, 1760s: Maria Theresa rules, her son waits, and the court’s business is arranged by confessors, favourites and the Empress’s chastity commission. Klara Mundt wrote as Luise Mühlbach and produced nearly three hundred volumes of this — history as gossip, delivered at speed, with real archives underneath. Nineteenth-century readers learned their European courts from her.
In the council-chamber of the Empress Maria Theresa, the six lords, who composed her cabinet council, awaited the entrance of their imperial mistress to open the sitting.
Joseph II and His Court, 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.
- Series
- Adventure & the Sea
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 1128 pages
- Reading time
- about 23 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Translation
- Adelaide de Vendel Chaudron
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785501678262
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.
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.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
Joseph II and His Court, 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, 9785501678262, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of Joseph II and His Court?
- 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 1128 pages, which is roughly about 23 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.
