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Aeneas Press edition Romantic

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

by James Hogg 1770–1835

The book, and the century it came out of.

A young Calvinist is assured by a mysterious friend that, as one of the elect, he cannot sin — and the friend has a great many suggestions. Hogg was a self-taught shepherd from Ettrick with almost no schooling; he published this in 1824, it was dismissed for a century, and the twentieth century found in it the sharpest study of religious mania and the double in the language. Illustrated with 58 full-page plates — paintings by van der Heyden and Coning among them.

A note on this edition

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg, 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 248 pages
Reading time
about 5 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501450394
The plates

58 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.

Halden (Fredrikshald), Jacob Coning
Halden (Fredrikshald) Jacob Coning 1698
Street theatre on the Werf in Antwerp, Balthasar van den Bossche
Street theatre on the Werf in Antwerp Balthasar van den Bossche 1705
Woman with a candle that a boy tries to blow out, Godfried Schalcken
Woman with a candle that a boy tries to blow out Godfried Schalcken 1702
The Explosion in the Alchemist’s Laboratory, Justus van Bentum
The Explosion in the Alchemist’s Laboratory Justus van Bentum 1703
Abendlandschaft, Franz Joachim Beich
Abendlandschaft Franz Joachim Beich 1706
View of the Antwerp roadstead, Mathys Schoevaerdts
View of the Antwerp roadstead Mathys Schoevaerdts 1692
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 Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Gothic & Horror 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, 9785501450394, 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 Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner?
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. James Hogg'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 248 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 Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
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