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Aeneas Press edition Victorian First published 1846

Typee

A Romance of the South Seas

by Herman Melville 1819–1891

The book, and the century it came out of.

Two sailors desert a whaler in the Marquesas and walk into a valley whose people treat them with perfect kindness and will not let them leave. Melville had done exactly this at twenty-two; the book made him famous as the man who lived among cannibals, his publisher cut the attacks on the missionaries, and he spent the rest of his life being asked whether it was true. Illustrated with 50 full-page plates — paintings by Prömmel, Chambers and Eckersberg among them.

More than three years have elapsed since the occurrence of the events recorded in this volume.
The first sentence of Typee
A note on this edition

Typee, by Herman Melville, 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 360 pages
Reading time
about 7 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486252419
The plates

50 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.

Danish Frigate in the Port of Naples, Julius Prömmel
Danish Frigate in the Port of Naples Julius Prömmel 1835
View to the sea coast near St. Petersburg, Ivan Aivazovsky
View to the sea coast near St. Petersburg Ivan Aivazovsky 1835
Mountains in the Rising Fog, Caspar David Friedrich
Mountains in the Rising Fog Caspar David Friedrich 1835
The Eruption of the Great Geyser in Iceland in 1834, Frederik Theodor Kloss
The Eruption of the Great Geyser in Iceland in 1834 Frederik Theodor Kloss 1835
Landscape with Chestnut Tree, Peter De Wint
Landscape with Chestnut Tree Peter De Wint 1835
Plants. Study, Gustav Friedrich Papperitz
Plants. Study Gustav Friedrich Papperitz 1845
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 Typee as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Typee as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Typee, first published 1846, 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, 9785486252419, 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 Typee?
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. Herman Melville'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 360 pages, which is roughly about 7 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
Typee
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