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Aeneas Press edition Edwardian

The Freelands

by John Galsworthy 1867–1933

The book, and the century it came out of.

Four Freeland brothers — a squire, a bureaucrat, a banker and a Tolstoyan — quarrel over England while farm labourers are evicted from their cottages and a girl of their own family takes the labourers’ side. Galsworthy wrote it in 1915, at the height of his fame and his doubts; the land question is real, the family is his own class, and nobody comes out well. Illustrated with 42 full-page plates — paintings by Chełmoński, Ancher and Mali among them.

One early April afternoon, in a Worcestershire field, the only field in that immediate landscape which was not down in grass, a man moved slowly athwart[1] the furrows, sowing—a big man of heavy build, swinging his hairy brown arm with the grace of strength.
The first sentence of The Freelands
A note on this edition

The Freelands, by John Galsworthy, 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 304 pages
Reading time
about 6 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501046863
The plates

42 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.

Scythemen, sketch for “Racławice”, Józef Chełmoński
Scythemen, sketch for “Racławice” Józef Chełmoński 1905
Home-Along: Evening, Stanhope Forbes
Home-Along: Evening Stanhope Forbes 1905
The Smithy at Szeliwy, Poland, Robert Bevan
The Smithy at Szeliwy, Poland Robert Bevan 1905
Interior from the Farm Tomle, Eilif Peterssen
Interior from the Farm Tomle Eilif Peterssen 1901
Windmill at the Gein, Piet Mondrian
Windmill at the Gein Piet Mondrian 1905
Wigeon and Teal by the water’s edge., Archibald Thorburn
Wigeon and Teal by the water’s edge Archibald Thorburn 1906
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 Freelands as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Freelands as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Freelands, 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, 9785501046863, 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 Freelands?
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. John Galsworthy'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 304 pages, which is roughly about 6 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
The Freelands
$6.99
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