Description

“NO ONE? WOULD HAVE SUPPOSED HER BORN TO BE AN HEROINE”:
SCARCE FIRST EDITION OF AUSTEN’S NORTHANGER ABBEY AND PERSUASION IN ORIGINAL BOARDS

AUSTEN, Jane. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. By the Author of “Pride and Prejudice,” “Mansfield Park,” &c. With a Biographical Notice of the Author. London: John Murray, 1818. Four volumes in two. Small octavo, contemporary three-quarter tan calf rebacked with original elaborately gilt-decorated spines laid down, tan and brown morocco spine labels, original marbled boards.

First edition, one of 1750 copies of the last of Jane Austen’s novels to be published.

Published posthumously, these works include a biographical note by her brother Henry, providing the first account of Jane Austen’s life. “The facts appear to be that [Northanger Abbey] was written in 1797-98 with the title Susan… and that it was sold for £10 in the spring of 1803 to Messrs. Crosby & Co…. [but] was not printed.” When Austen inquired in 1809 why the manuscript had never been published, Crosby sold it back to her for the same price he had paid. Meanwhile, “in 1809 a novel called Susan was published by another author, and Miss Austen changed the name of her work to Catherine… Seven years later, in 1816, negotiations were re-opened and the MS. was bought back for £10, Crosby still being unaware of the identity of the author… The publication of the book under [the title Catherine] was still being discussed in March 1817. Ultimately the name was changed to Northanger Abbey… Persuasion, the latest of the novels, was begun in 1815 and completed on July 18, 1816” (Keynes 9). The two novels, Austen’s first sold and last written, were finally published in December 1817, five months after Austen’s death. “In a flash of mischief the author has put two rogues of like aptitudes together… In the twentieth century [Persuasion] has been felt to be her most emotionally powerful work and perhaps the most difficult to judge… Northanger Abbey does make serious points about social education and language, and the novel became a running debate…over the real values of fiction” (Honan, Jane Austen, 385, 139). With all half titles except for the first Volume of Persuasion.Gilson A9; Keynes 9; Sadleir I, 62e. (2) Armorial bookplates.

Text with only lightest scattered spotting. Contemporary boards only lightly rubbed and in excellent condition, extremities with light expert restoration. A near-fine copy.