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Aeneas Press edition Edwardian

The Princess Aline

by Richard Harding Davis 1864–1916

The book, and the century it came out of.

A young American painter falls in love with a photograph of a German princess and sets off across Europe to find her — Gibraltar, Cairo, Baden — with a friend who watches him do it. Davis was the most famous reporter of his age and the model Charles Dana Gibson drew for the Gibson Man; this 1895 novella is the joke about romantic pursuit told by a man who could see the ending from the first page. Illustrated with 59 full-page plates — paintings by Arnesen, Boudin and Monet among them.

H. R. H. the Princess Aline of Hohenwald came into the life of Morton Carlton—or “Morney” Carlton, as men called him—of New York city, when that young gentleman’s affairs and affections were best suited to receive her.
The first sentence of The Princess Aline
A note on this edition

The Princess Aline, by Richard Harding Davis, 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 80 pages
Reading time
about 2 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486486555
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.

Sunset over the Sea with Numerous Ships, Vilhelm Arnesen
Sunset over the Sea with Numerous Ships Vilhelm Arnesen 1896
The Stacks, Guernsey, England, William Trost Richards
The Stacks, Guernsey, England William Trost Richards 1897
Lunchtime at the Building Site on the Van Diemenstraat in Amsterdam, George Hendrik Breitner
Lunchtime at the Building Site on the Van Diemenstraat in Amsterdam George Hendrik Breitner 1897
Crue de la Seine, aux abords du canal Saint-Martin, en novembre 1896, Gustan Le Sénéchal de Kerdréoret
Crue de la Seine, aux abords du canal Saint-Martin, en novembre 1896 Gustan Le Sénéchal de Kerdréoret 1896
Ida in an interior, Vilhelm Hammershøi
Ida in an interior Vilhelm Hammershøi 1893
View of Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme, Edgar Degas
View of Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme Edgar Degas 1896
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 Princess Aline as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Princess Aline as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Princess Aline, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Love & Society 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, 9785486486555, 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 Princess Aline?
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. Richard Harding Davis'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 80 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 Princess Aline
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