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Aeneas Press edition 18th Century First published 1798

Wieland

Or, The Transformation: An American Tale

by Charles Brockden Brown 1771–1810

The book, and the century it came out of.

A voice with no body speaks in the summerhouse — commanding, reasonable, unanswerable — and a devout Pennsylvania family does what it says. Brown was the first American to live by his pen, threw over the law for it, and wrote four novels in fifteen months; he took a real Yates murder case, added ventriloquism, and produced the first American Gothic novel. Illustrated with 52 full-page plates — paintings by Lépicié, David and de Wouters among them.

From Virtue’s blissful paths awayThe double-tongued are sure to stray;Good is a forth-right journey still,And mazy paths but lead to ill.
The first sentence of Wieland
A note on this edition

Wieland, by Charles Brockden Brown, 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 248 pages
Reading time
about 5 hours
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501249622
The plates

52 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.

Les apprêts d’un déjeuner, Nicolas Bernard Lépicié
Les apprêts d’un déjeuner Nicolas Bernard Lépicié 1760
Paternal Love, Étienne Aubry
Paternal Love Étienne Aubry 1775
Card players in an interior, Léonard Defrance
Card players in an interior Léonard Defrance 1777
Second Staubbach Falls during the Winter, Caspar Wolf
Second Staubbach Falls during the Winter Caspar Wolf 1775
The Death of Epaminondas, Benjamin West
The Death of Epaminondas Benjamin West 1773
A Wall in Naples, Thomas Jones
A Wall in Naples Thomas Jones 1782
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 Wieland as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Wieland as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Wieland, first published 1798, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Gothic & Horror 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, 9785501249622, 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 Wieland?
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. Charles Brockden Brown'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 248 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
Wieland
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