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The Rise of Roscoe Paine — cover
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Aeneas Press edition 20th Century

The Rise of Roscoe Paine

by Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1870–1944

The book, and the century it came out of.

A man who has buried his own name after his father’s disgrace keeps house for his mother on a Cape Cod bluff, and does nothing whatever — until a right-of-way, a millionaire’s daughter and a piece of town politics oblige him to be somebody again. Lincoln built a whole career out of one place; the town meeting in this one is as good as anything in American regional fiction, and Roscoe’s uselessness is diagnosed rather than excused. Illustrated with 58 full-page plates — paintings by Locher, Sorolla and Celommi among them.

“I’m going up to the village,” I told Dorinda, taking my cap from the hook behind the dining room door.
The first sentence of The Rise of Roscoe Paine
A note on this edition

The Rise of Roscoe Paine, by Joseph Crosby Lincoln, 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 392 pages
Reading time
about 8 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501113282
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.

Boats and Fishermen, Valência, Joaquín Sorolla
Boats and Fishermen, Valência Joaquín Sorolla 1910
Josep Sugrañes Florit- El porxo del jardí- 3816, Josep Sugrañes Florit
Josep Sugrañes Florit- El porxo del jardí- 3816 Josep Sugrañes Florit 1900
White Beeches in Fall, Christian Rohlfs
White Beeches in Fall Christian Rohlfs 1910
Street in Kragerø, Edvard Munch
Street in Kragerø Edvard Munch 1910
Interior from Uvdal Stave Church, Harriet Backer
Interior from Uvdal Stave Church Harriet Backer 1909
‘Tess’, Portrait of a Dog, George Paice
‘Tess’, Portrait of a Dog George Paice 1910
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 Rise of Roscoe Paine as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Rise of Roscoe Paine as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Rise of Roscoe Paine, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Comedy & Satire 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, 9785501113282, 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 Rise of Roscoe Paine?
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. Joseph Crosby Lincoln'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 392 pages, which is roughly about 8 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 Rise of Roscoe Paine
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