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Aeneas Press edition 20th Century

The Elusive Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel Series, Book 2

by Baroness Orczy 1865–1947

The book, and the century it came out of.

Chauvelin has learned who the Scarlet Pimpernel is, and this time he does not want an arrest — he wants Sir Percy Blakeney to walk into Boulogne of his own accord and choose between his wife and his honour. Orczy arrived in London from Hungary at fifteen with no English; a dozen publishers rejected the first Pimpernel before the stage version made it a phenomenon. Illustrated with 59 full-page plates — paintings by Noël and Raguenet among them.

On! ever on! in that wild, surging torrent; sowing the wind of anarchy, of terrorism, of lust of blood and hate, and reaping a hurricane of destruction and of horror.
The first sentence of The Elusive Pimpernel
A note on this edition

The Elusive Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy, 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 264 pages
Reading time
about 5 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486784507
The plates

59 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.

Le Pont-Neuf et la Pompe de la Samaritaine, vus du quai de la Mégisserie, Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste Raguenet
Le Pont-Neuf et la Pompe de la Samaritaine, vus du quai de la Mégisserie Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste Raguenet 1777
A Nobleman’s Picture Gallery, Balthasar van den Bossche
A Nobleman’s Picture Gallery Balthasar van den Bossche 1750
Watson and the Shark, John Singleton Copley
Watson and the Shark John Singleton Copley 1778
Koopvaardijschepen nabij Marken, Jochem de Vries
Koopvaardijschepen nabij Marken Jochem de Vries 1780
A Man on Horseback, John Nost Sartorius
A Man on Horseback John Nost Sartorius 1779
Mountain Landscape with Banditti, Elias Martin
Mountain Landscape with Banditti Elias Martin 1780
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 Elusive Pimpernel as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Elusive Pimpernel as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Elusive Pimpernel, 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, 9785486784507, 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 Elusive Pimpernel?
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. Baroness Orczy'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 264 pages, which is roughly about 5 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 Elusive Pimpernel
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