The Story of the Glittering Plain
Which Has Been Also Called the Land of Living Men or the Acre of the Undying
by William Morris 1834–1896
The book, and the century it came out of.
Hallblithe’s betrothed is carried off by sea-raiders, and he follows her to the Glittering Plain — a land where nobody dies, nobody ages, and nobody is permitted to leave. Morris designed the wallpapers still in production today and printed this at his own Kelmscott Press in 1891, the first book he made there; the immortality on offer is the thing the hero has to refuse. Illustrated with 58 full-page plates — paintings by Fearnley, Baade and Flintoe among them.
First Edition in book form, 200 copies printed at the Kelmscott Press in the Golden Type, quarto[1], April 1891, Reeves and Turner, with six copies on vellum[2].
The Story of the Glittering Plain, by William Morris, 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
- Adventure & the Sea
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 136 pages
- Reading time
- about 3 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785501448438
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.
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 Story of the Glittering Plain, first published 1890, 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, 9785501448438, 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 Story of the Glittering Plain?
- 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. William Morris'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 136 pages, which is roughly about 3 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.
