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The Case of the Lamp That Went Out — cover
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Aeneas Press edition Edwardian

The Case of the Lamp That Went Out

by Augusta Groner 1850–1929

The book, and the century it came out of.

Translated by Grace Isabel Colbron

A body in the Vienna Stadtpark, a lamp that burned out at the wrong hour, and Joseph Muller — small, shabby, apologetic, the best detective in the police, and a man with a conviction of his own in the past. Groner was an Austrian schoolteacher who invented the first professional detective in German fiction; Muller’s problem is that he keeps pitying the people he catches. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Cate, Corot and Gaertner among them.

Joseph Muller, Secret Service detective of the Imperial Austrian police, is one of the great experts in his profession.
The first sentence of The Case of the Lamp That Went Out
A note on this edition

The Case of the Lamp That Went Out, by Augusta Groner, 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 128 pages
Reading time
about 3 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Translation
Grace Isabel Colbron
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486702310
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.

The Schreierstoren in Amsterdam by moonlight, Hendrik Gerrit ten Cate
The Schreierstoren in Amsterdam by moonlight Hendrik Gerrit ten Cate 1832
Naples, Francesco Coppola Castaldo
Naples Francesco Coppola Castaldo 1880
Studio Interior, Marie-Amélie Cogniet
Studio Interior Marie-Amélie Cogniet 1831
At the barbers, Johann Baptist Kirner
At the barbers Johann Baptist Kirner 1832
Lunch break, Friedrich Philipp Reinhold
Lunch break Friedrich Philipp Reinhold 1831
The Return, Aimée Brune-Pagès
The Return Aimée Brune-Pagès 1831
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 The Case of the Lamp That Went Out as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Case of the Lamp That Went Out as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Case of the Lamp That Went Out, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Mystery & Crime 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, 9785486702310, 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 The Case of the Lamp That Went Out?
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. Augusta Groner'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 128 pages, which is roughly about 3 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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The Case of the Lamp That Went Out
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