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Aeneas Press edition 20th Century First published 1922

The Man Who Knew Too Much

by G. K. Chesterton 1874–1936

The book, and the century it came out of.

Horne Fisher knows everybody in England worth knowing, which is why he can solve any crime in the book and prevent almost none of them — the murderer is always a man the country cannot afford to hang. Chesterton was six foot four and twenty stone, created Father Brown, and wrote these eight stories in 1922 as a political indictment dressed as detection. The despair under the paradoxes is real. Illustrated with 48 full-page plates — paintings by Derain, Marquet and Babbage among them.

Harold March, the rising reviewer and social critic, was walking vigorously across a great tableland of moors and commons, the horizon of which was fringed with the far-off woods of the famous estate of Torwood Park.
The first sentence of The Man Who Knew Too Much
A note on this edition

The Man Who Knew Too Much, by G. K. Chesterton, 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 160 pages
Reading time
about 3 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501198623
The plates

48 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.

Pont de Charing Cross, André Derain
Pont de Charing Cross André Derain 1906
Place Vendôme, Paris, Isaac Israëls
Place Vendôme, Paris Isaac Israëls 1906
The Girl and the Candle, Ivar Arosenius
The Girl and the Candle Ivar Arosenius 1907
The Fountain, Charles Sims
The Fountain Charles Sims 1907
Great Western Railway, Acton, Lucien Pissarro
Great Western Railway, Acton Lucien Pissarro 1907
Waves breaking at Skagens Gren, Holger Drachmann
Waves breaking at Skagens Gren Holger Drachmann 1907
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 Man Who Knew Too Much as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Man Who Knew Too Much as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Man Who Knew Too Much, first published 1922, 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, 9785501198623, 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 Man Who Knew Too Much?
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. G. K. Chesterton'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 160 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 Man Who Knew Too Much
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