Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. In Three Volumes by the Author of “Sense and Sensibility.”

AUSTEN, Jane.

Item Number: 146681

London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1813.

Rare first edition of all three volumes of Jane Austen’s masterpiece, her bestselling book during her lifetime which remains a landmark of English literature. Small octavo, three volumes, elaborately bound in full crushed morocco by Riviere & Son, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, triple gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. From the library of American industrialist and notable book collector William Hartman Woodin with his bookplate to the front pastedown of volume I. In near fine condition. An exceptional example of one of the most highly coveted titles in English literature.

Originally titled First Impressions, Pride and Prejudice was written between October 1796 and August 1797 when Jane Austen was not yet twenty-one, the same age, in fact, as her fictional heroine Elizabeth Bennet. After an early rejection by the publisher Cadell who had not even read it, Austen’s novel was finally bought by Egerton in 1812 for £110. It was published in late January 1813 in a small edition of approximately 1500 copies and sold for 18 shillings in boards. “The size of the edition is not known... perhaps 1500 copies... The first edition was sold off very rapidly and a second one was printed in the same year” (Keynes, 8). A novel of manners, the story follows the character development of young Elizabeth Bennet, an independent young lady who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. “Elizabeth’s own energy and defiance of character respond to Rousseau’s and the popular notion of the pliant, submissive female... None of her novels delighted Jane Austen more than Pride and Prejudice... She had given a rare example of fiction as a highly intelligent form... This remains her most popular and widely translated novel” (Honan, 313-20). Pride and Prejudice has become one of the most popular novels in English literature, with over 20 million copies sold, and has inspired many derivatives and dramatic adaptations, reaching mass audiences. The most popular film adaptations include the 1995 BBC television adaptation starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and the 2005 film starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen.