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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

Lorna Doone

A Romance of Exmoor

by R. D. Blackmore 1825–1900

The book, and the century it came out of.

Exmoor in the 1680s: the Doones, a clan of outlawed gentry, ride down from their valley to rob and murder as they please, and a yeoman’s son who saw them kill his father falls in love with the girl they are raising as their own. Blackmore grew fruit in Teddington and insisted the market garden mattered more than the writing; this 1869 romance made Exmoor a place people visit, and John Ridd’s voice — slow, literal, immovable — carries all thirteen hundred pages. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by van de Velde and Wouwerman among them.

This work is called a “romance,” because the incidents, characters, time, and scenery, are alike romantic.
The first sentence of Lorna Doone
A note on this edition

Lorna Doone, by R. D. Blackmore, 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
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486333736
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.

Hilly landscape with high road, Adriaen van de Velde
Hilly landscape with high road Adriaen van de Velde 1666
The Watermill, Meindert Hobbema
The Watermill Meindert Hobbema 1666
View of a farmyard near a cottage, Nicolaes de Vree
View of a farmyard near a cottage Nicolaes de Vree 1666
Le Départ pour la chasse, Frederik de Moucheron
Le Départ pour la chasse Frederik de Moucheron 1666
Zwei Tiger, einen Hirsch reißend, Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart
Zwei Tiger, einen Hirsch reißend Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart 1663
Interior of New Delft Church with the Tomb of William the Silent, Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet
Interior of New Delft Church with the Tomb of William the Silent Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet 1662
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 Lorna Doone as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Lorna Doone as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Lorna Doone, 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, 9785486333736, 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 Lorna Doone?
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. R. D. Blackmore'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.
If this one suits you
Lorna Doone
$6.99
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