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The Wife, and Other Stories — cover
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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

The Wife, and Other Stories

by Anton Chekhov 1860–1904

The book, and the century it came out of.

Translated by Constance Garnett

A landowner is told, in his own house, that his relief work during the famine is worthless and his wife despises him — and the story simply follows what he does next. Chekhov practised medicine throughout his career, ran famine relief and cholera districts himself, and knew precisely how well-meaning gentlemen behave when the peasants are actually starving. Illustrated with 44 full-page plates — paintings by Vuillard, Hammershøi and Norrman among them.

“Not far from you—that is to say, in the village of Pestrovo—very distressing incidents are taking place, concerning which I feel it my duty to write to you.
The first sentence of The Wife, and Other Stories
A note on this edition

The Wife, and Other Stories, by Anton Chekhov, 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 232 pages
Reading time
about 5 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Translation
Constance Garnett
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501492127
The plates

44 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.

Under the Lamp, Édouard Vuillard
Under the Lamp Édouard Vuillard 1892
Maenan Hall, near Llanrwst, Joseph Thomas Steadman
Maenan Hall, near Llanrwst Joseph Thomas Steadman 1887
Kids, Louise Catherine Breslau
Kids Louise Catherine Breslau 1890
Christmas market, Georg Schöbel
Christmas market Georg Schöbel 1890
Moonlit Night, Arkhip Kuindzhi
Moonlit Night Arkhip Kuindzhi 1890
View of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Ilya Repin
View of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg Ilya Repin 1890
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 Wife, and Other Stories as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Wife, and Other Stories as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Wife, and Other Stories, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Salon & Steppe 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, 9785501492127, 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 Wife, and Other Stories?
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. Anton Chekhov'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 232 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.
If this one suits you
The Wife, and Other Stories
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