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Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories — cover
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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories

by Henry Seton Merriman 1862–1903

The book, and the century it came out of.

Stories from a man who travelled where he wrote: a Spanish beggar boy who inherits, a Russian border, a Corsican vendetta, an English country house with a secret. Merriman was Hugh Stowell Scott, a Lloyd’s underwriter who used a pen name so the City would not learn he wrote novels, and died at forty-one. His short work is tighter than his novels and half-forgotten. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Trachel, Marsal and Granet among them.

“The common problem, yours, mine, every one’s, Is—not to fancy what were fair in life Provided it could be,—but, finding first What may be, then find how to make it fair….”
The first sentence of Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories
A note on this edition

Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories, by Henry Seton Merriman, 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 200 pages
Reading time
about 4 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501684157
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.

Naufrage vers la côte italienne, Dominique Trachel
Naufrage vers la côte italienne Dominique Trachel 1900
Young Italian Street Musician, Thomas Couture
Young Italian Street Musician Thomas Couture 1877
Morning Ride on the Beach, Anton Mauve
Morning Ride on the Beach Anton Mauve 1876
Starry Night Over the Rhone, Vincent van Gogh
Starry Night Over the Rhone Vincent van Gogh 1888
The green vineyard, Vincent van Gogh
The green vineyard Vincent van Gogh 1888
End of the pier, Honfleur, Georges Seurat
End of the pier, Honfleur Georges Seurat 1886
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 Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories, 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, 9785501684157, 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 Tomaso's Fortune 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. Henry Seton Merriman'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 200 pages, which is roughly about 4 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
Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories
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