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The Pastor's Son — cover
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Aeneas Press edition

The Pastor's Son

by William W. Walter 1869–?

The book, and the century it came out of.

A minister’s son falls ill, the doctors fail, and the family is brought to Christian Science — a novel written to demonstrate the doctrine rather than to entertain. Walter put the teaching into fiction and sold his books through the movement’s own channels. Read it as what it is: a primary document of how a new American religion argued its case to ordinary readers at the turn of the century. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Melis, Dalsgaard and Bonnat among them.

My sole reason for writing this book and placing it before the public is to call the public’s attention to another book, wherein is contained the Christ truth, the understanding of which will free you from all your troubles.
The first sentence of The Pastor's Son
A note on this edition

The Pastor's Son, by William W. Walter, 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 104 pages
Reading time
about 2 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501391185
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.

Interieur met oude man en een vrouw die de bijbel leest, Henricus Johannes Melis
Interieur met oude man en een vrouw die de bijbel leest Henricus Johannes Melis 1879
The Prospector, John George Brown
The Prospector John George Brown 1879
High Cliff, Coast of Maine, Winslow Homer
High Cliff, Coast of Maine Winslow Homer 1894
The farm of Auvers, Paul Cézanne
The farm of Auvers Paul Cézanne 1879
A Waterfall, Erik Bodom
A Waterfall Erik Bodom 1879
Bos in de sneeuw, Willem Witsen
Bos in de sneeuw Willem Witsen 1894
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 Pastor's Son as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Pastor's Son as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Pastor's Son, 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, 9785501391185, 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 Pastor's Son?
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. William W. Walter'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 104 pages, which is roughly about 2 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 Pastor's Son
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