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Where the Blue Begins — cover
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Aeneas Press edition 20th Century

Where the Blue Begins

by Christopher Morley 1890–1947

The book, and the century it came out of.

Mr Gissing, a dog, keeps a suburban house and three puppies, and sets out to find God — via a department store, a bishopric and a berth as a ship’s stoker. Morley was a Rhodes Scholar and a founder of the Saturday Review; this 1922 fantasy is his strangest book, and the theology is entirely serious under the fur. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Frieseke, Bonnard and Jorde among them.

“I am not free— And it may be Life is too tight around my shins; For, unlike you, I can’t break through A truant where the blue begins.
The first sentence of Where the Blue Begins
A note on this edition

Where the Blue Begins, by Christopher Morley, 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 120 pages
Reading time
about 2 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785486241307
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.

Blue Interior: Giverny (The Red Ribbon), Frederick Carl Frieseke
Blue Interior: Giverny (The Red Ribbon) Frederick Carl Frieseke 1912
La crypte, Fernand Sabatté
La crypte Fernand Sabatté 1909
McSorley’s Bar, John Sloan
McSorley’s Bar John Sloan 1912
Brug over de Kromme Waal, Willem Witsen
Brug over de Kromme Waal Willem Witsen 1912
Point Lobos, Monterey, California, Thomas Moran
Point Lobos, Monterey, California Thomas Moran 1912
Lijsters in avondstemming, Jan Mankes
Lijsters in avondstemming Jan Mankes 1912
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 the Blue Begins as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Where the Blue Begins as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Where the Blue Begins, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Comedy & Satire 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, 9785486241307, 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 the Blue Begins?
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. Christopher Morley'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 120 pages, which is roughly about 2 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.
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Where the Blue Begins
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