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Aeneas Press edition Edwardian First published 1905

Where Angels Fear to Tread

by E. M. Forster 1879–1970

The book, and the century it came out of.

A widow from suburban England marries an Italian dentist’s son half her age in a Tuscan hill town, and her late husband’s family sends someone to bring her home — then someone else. Forster was twenty-six and had just come back from Italy; his first novel already does the thing he never stopped doing, which is to let two respectable people cause a catastrophe out of pure good intentions. Illustrated with 36 full-page plates — paintings by Signorini, Renoir and Manet among them.

They were all at Charing Cross to see Lilia off—Philip, Harriet, Irma, Mrs. Herriton herself.
The first sentence of Where Angels Fear to Tread
A note on this edition

Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E. M. Forster, 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 152 pages
Reading time
about 3 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501342965
The plates

36 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.

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Telemaco Signorini
The Ponte Vecchio in Florence Telemaco Signorini 1878
Every Occasion is Good, Giovanni Battista Quadrone
Every Occasion is Good Giovanni Battista Quadrone 1878
Mora en su jardín, Rafael Romero Barros
Mora en su jardín Rafael Romero Barros 1878
Maraîchères, Victor Gilbert
Maraîchères Victor Gilbert 1878
The National Gallery and Saint Martin’s Church in London, Giuseppe De Nittis
The National Gallery and Saint Martin’s Church in London Giuseppe De Nittis 1877
Saint Martin’s Summer, John Everett Millais
Saint Martin’s Summer John Everett Millais 1878
Afterwards

This book in culture: one version

Most people meet a book like this one on a screen first. Here is what was made of it — and none of these is the book.

  • 1992 Where Angels Fear to Tread Charles Sturridge
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 Where Angels Fear to Tread as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Where Angels Fear to Tread as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Where Angels Fear to Tread, first published 1905, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Literary Classics 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, 9785501342965, 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 Where Angels Fear to Tread?
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. E. M. Forster'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 152 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.
If this one suits you
Where Angels Fear to Tread
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