Sylvia's Lovers
by Elizabeth Gaskell 1810–1865
The book, and the century it came out of.
Whitby in the 1790s, a whaling town: the press gang takes men off the ships as they come in, a girl loves a specksioneer, and a shopman who loves her hears something he chooses not to repeat. Gaskell, a Manchester minister’s wife, called this the saddest story she ever wrote; she researched the Whitby press-gang riots on the spot, and the lie at the centre is told in half a sentence, by a decent man. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Turner, Morland and Serres among them.
Oh for thy voice to soothe and bless! What hope of answer, or redress?
Sylvia's Lovers, by Elizabeth Gaskell, 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
- Literary Classics
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 568 pages
- Reading time
- about 11 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785501165212
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.
Whitby in the 1790s, written in the 1860s
The press gang was real, legal and hated: naval officers seized men off the streets and out of ships to crew the fleet against France, and whole coastal towns rioted against it. Gaskell researched the Yorkshire whaling ports and set her novel where the practice was most bitterly resented.
She called it the saddest story she ever wrote. It was published while the American Civil War was cutting off the cotton that Manchester lived on, and while her own city was starving.
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.
Sylvia's Lovers, 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, 9785501165212, 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 Sylvia's Lovers?
- 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. Elizabeth Gaskell'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 568 pages, which is roughly about 11 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.
