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Aeneas Press edition Victorian

Youth

The Autobiographical Trilogy, Book 3

by Leo Tolstoy 1828–1910

The book, and the century it came out of.

Translated by C. J. Hogarth

The third part of Tolstoy’s autobiographical trilogy: Moscow University, a boy of sixteen who has decided to become perfect, the rules he writes in a notebook, his first drunk, his first calls on society, and the exam he fails. Tolstoy was in his twenties and had not yet fought at Sevastopol; the honesty is already frightening — no writer has ever caught the vanity of a serious young man more precisely, or with less mercy for his younger self. Illustrated with 59 full-page plates — paintings by Khrutsky and Hau among them.

I have said that my friendship with Dimitri opened up for me a new view of my life and of its aim and relations.
The first sentence of Youth
A note on this edition

Youth, by Leo Tolstoy, 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
Translation
C. J. Hogarth
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501418479
The plates

59 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 Room of the Russian School, Eduard Hau
The Room of the Russian School Eduard Hau 1855
A Letter from the Colonies, Thomas Webster
A Letter from the Colonies Thomas Webster 1852
The Shepherd Girl, Camille Roqueplan
The Shepherd Girl Camille Roqueplan 1855
A rooster with Hens and Chicks, Albertus Verhoesen
A rooster with Hens and Chicks Albertus Verhoesen 1855
Les bords de l’Oise, Charles-François Daubigny
Les bords de l’Oise Charles-François Daubigny 1875
Moonlight on the Friedrichskanal in Old Berlin, Adolph von Menzel
Moonlight on the Friedrichskanal in Old Berlin Adolph von Menzel 1855
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 Youth as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of Youth as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

Youth, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Salon & Steppe 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, 9785501418479, 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 Youth?
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. Leo Tolstoy'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
Youth
$4.99
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