The Reef
by Edith Wharton 1862–1937
The book, and the century it came out of.
A diplomat, delayed in Paris by a letter putting him off, spends a few days with a girl he meets by chance — and months later finds her installed in the French château where he has come to marry the widow he has loved for years. Wharton wrote this in 1912 in the middle of her own affair and her divorce; James called it her finest book. Nothing is confessed and everything is understood, which is worse. Illustrated with 57 full-page plates — paintings by Hammershøi and Q123740 among them.
“Unexpected obstacle. Please don’t come till thirtieth.
The Reef, by Edith Wharton, 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.
- Series
- Love & Society
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 296 pages
- Reading time
- about 6 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785486864414
57 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.
1912 — the novel Wharton wrote in the middle of an affair
She was in her late forties, in a marriage that was collapsing, conducting the one passionate affair of her life with a journalist. The book turns on what a man did once, casually, and what it costs a woman to find out about it.
Henry James told her it was her best. It sold worse than anything she had written, which she minded a good deal.
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.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
The Reef, 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, 9785486864414, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of The Reef?
- 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. Edith Wharton'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 296 pages, which is roughly about 6 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.
