5 h 8 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 8 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Romance promises delight, adventure brings danger, and ambition quietly schemes for power.
In Sketches, Benjamin Disraeli brings together shorter fiction and pieces shaped by romance, adventure, and political intrigue. His eye rests on vanity and ambition: the desires that make people reach for more. These are separate encounters with his storytelling, rather than one continuous plot with a steady cast.
Disraeli is both a novelist and a politician who serves as prime minister under Queen Victoria. Here, his love of stories meets his interest in power and society. Ornate prose, dry wit, and short, polished remarks invite you to linger over how he describes a person or sums up a situation.
What you’ll discover
- Romance and adventure Explore tales that draw on the Victorian appetite for love, danger, and consequential choices.
- The pull of power Follow political intrigue through the quiet scheming of people who want influence.
- An eye for vanity Meet a writer alert to ambition and the importance people place on themselves.
- Wit worth lingering over Savour dry humour and polished remarks that capture a person or situation.
- A different Disraeli Discover the storyteller alongside the statesman, with his lasting taste for fiction.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy old romance, sunlit travel, Egyptian ruins, drawing-room wit and sharp political argument will love this collection. It also suits those curious about the young Disraeli.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Secret love opens onto wider worlds
- Henrietta trusts her own judgment
- Restlessness is not the same as action
- Carelessness leaves an army exposed
- Egypt's monuments reveal its former life
- Small encounters give places their character
- One ruler's imagination reshapes Munich
- Institutions stand against rule by factions
- Purpose and imagination connect the pieces
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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25 languages, side by side
Sketches in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Sketches
A white dove carries love letters between two feuding castles, and a huntsman takes aim.
Challenging2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Disraeli's career was a romance such as no i Eastern vizier or Western plutocrat could tell. He began as a pioneer in dress and an aesthete of words.”
In short
A white dove slips through a tower window with a love letter under its wing. Inside sits Lady Imogene, locked up by her father, the Count of Charolois, for loving the heir of the rival castle.
Sketches at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 55 min2 h 20 min fast, 3 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 42,200 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dove carries love across a feud
The first tale is set in a valley split by hatred. On one height stands Charolois Castle, home of a count whose only son died in a tournament. On the other rises Branchimont, whose baron dealt that fatal blow by accident and paid for it with his life.
Into this feud falls a love. Lady Imogene meets Lothair, the young Lord Branchimont, disguised as a pilgrim, beside the shrine that holds her brother's heart. Her father learns of the meetings and shuts her in a high tower under the watch of a sour old servant named Martha.
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Which edition is right for me
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 20 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Disraeli, Benjamin. Sketches. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/sketches.
Disraeli, B. (2026). Sketches. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/sketches
Disraeli, Benjamin. Sketches. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/sketches.
@book{disraeli2026sketches,
author = {Disraeli, Benjamin},
title = {Sketches},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/sketches}
}
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What is Sketches by Benjamin Disraeli about?
It is a collection of short romantic tales, travel sketches from Egypt, Syria and the Bosphorus, an essay on Munich, a report on Ibrahim Pasha's Syrian war, and a political pamphlet on the Whigs and the English constitution.
Is Sketches a novel or a set of separate pieces?
It is a set of separate pieces. Two are tales of love and mystery, one is a conversation set in Dresden, and the rest are travel writing, reporting and political argument, each readable on its own.
Who is Ibrahim Pasha in this book?
He is the general sent by Mehemet Ali, the ruler of Egypt, to invade Syria in 1831. The essay follows his sieges and victories, and a shorter sketch shows him in conversation with the author.
The author
Benjamin Disraeli
1804–1881 · British statesman and novelist
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) was a British politician and novelist. He was born in London and lived in England. His novels include Henrietta Temple (1837), Coningsby (1844), Sybil (1845), and Tancred (1847). He led the Conservative Party and served as British prime minister in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880.
“to friends we give only the sunny side”
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