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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

The Good Time Coming

by T. S. Arthur 1809–1885

The book, and the century it came out of.

A man devotes his life to getting on, and the good time is always one more year away — while his wife and children have the life he is postponing. Arthur left school at thirteen, half-blind and apprenticed to a watchmaker, and became one of the most widely read Americans of his century; the moral is on the surface, and the portrait of a household waiting for a father to arrive at his own life is underneath it. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Bingham, Woodville and Sr. among them.

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX XL XLI XLII XLIII…
The first sentence of The Good Time Coming
A note on this edition

The Good Time Coming, by T. S. Arthur, 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 240 pages
Reading time
about 5 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501419452
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.

Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, George Caleb Bingham
Jolly Flatboatmen in Port George Caleb Bingham 1857
White Mountains, New Hampshire, Thomas Doughty
White Mountains, New Hampshire Thomas Doughty 1836
Il pecoraio (Shepherd), Aleksander Lauréus
Il pecoraio (Shepherd) Aleksander Lauréus 1822
A Landscape at Wick, Gloucestershire, ‘Below the Rocks’, Benjamin Barker
A Landscape at Wick, Gloucestershire, ‘Below the Rocks’ Benjamin Barker 1824
Called Walton Bridge by Moonlight (actually Chertsey Bridge), Sebastian Pether
Called Walton Bridge by Moonlight (actually Chertsey Bridge) Sebastian Pether 1838
Sunset, Caspar David Friedrich
Sunset Caspar David Friedrich 1837
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 Good Time Coming as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Good Time Coming as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Good Time Coming, 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, 9785501419452, 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 Good Time Coming?
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. T. S. Arthur'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 240 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 Good Time Coming
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