The Monk: A Romance

Inside this edition

Every LitLab edition is illustrated from the text itself — the world of the book mapped, its people drawn, its scenes staged. 19 plates are open to everyone in this book; here are 8 of them.

• Gothic Madrid — the map of the romance, from the Capuchin church to the haunted castle.
• The Abbey Garden & GrottoA walled monastery garden of roses and dark cypress by moonlight, with its shadowy grotto — the still, secret place where the novice is unveiled and the first temptation takes root.
• A Map of Connections — the abbey, the convent, and the fates that bind them.
• The Characters — the household of the abbey and the convent, in medallion.
• The Characters — the monk, the maiden, and the shadows around them, at full length.
• Ambrosio — the Abbot of the Capuchins.
• The Sermon — Ambrosio preaching in the Church of the Capuchins.
• The Bleeding Nun — the spectre on the road to Lindenberg.

This edition

Title

The Monk: A Romance

Author

Matthew G. Lewis (1775–1818)

First published

1796

Illustrated plates

41 original artworks · 19 open to everyone

Chapters

18 · about 136,882 words

Reading time

9 h 8 min

Language

EN

Formats

Read online · EPUB and PDF download with a subscription

Publisher

LitLab — The Illustrated Classics

On LitLab since

August 2026

Rights

Text in the public domain. Illustrations and edition © LitLab.

Source text

Project Gutenberg #601