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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

The Sisters

by Georg Ebers 1837–1898

The book, and the century it came out of.

Translated by Clara Bell

Two sisters serve as recluses in the temple of Serapis at Memphis, pouring libations for the dead, and the elder is noticed by the King — which is the worst thing that can happen to her. Ebers found the medical papyrus that bears his name and dug in Egypt for years; the Ptolemaic temple in this 1880 novel is reconstructed from papyri he had read himself, including the real petitions of real recluses. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Cozens, de Valenciennes and de La Gourdaine among them.

Allow me, my dear friend, to dedicate these pages to you.
The first sentence of The Sisters
A note on this edition

The Sisters, by Georg Ebers, 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 312 pages
Reading time
about 6 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Translation
Clara Bell
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501972537
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.

Landscape of Ancient Greece, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes
Landscape of Ancient Greece Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes 1786
Italian Fall Landscape with Monte Porzio and an Offering to Pan, Charles-Joseph Natoire
Italian Fall Landscape with Monte Porzio and an Offering to Pan Charles-Joseph Natoire 1763
An architectural capriccio with an artist sketching in the foreground, Hubert Robert
An architectural capriccio with an artist sketching in the foreground Hubert Robert 1782
The Eruption of Vesuvius, Pierre-Jacques Volaire
The Eruption of Vesuvius Pierre-Jacques Volaire 1771
The Seasons: Summer, Jacob Philipp Hackert
The Seasons: Summer Jacob Philipp Hackert 1784
A View of the Lake at West Wycombe Park and the Temple of Daphne, William Hannan
A View of the Lake at West Wycombe Park and the Temple of Daphne William Hannan 1761
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 Sisters as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Sisters as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Sisters, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Adventure & the Sea 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, 9785501972537, 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 Sisters?
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. Georg Ebers'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 312 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.
If this one suits you
The Sisters
$6.99
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