Fine Books and Manuscripts

Fine Books and Manuscripts

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 1032. Austen, Jane | First American edition of Austen's most beloved book.

Austen, Jane | First American edition of Austen's most beloved book

Lot Closed

December 10, 05:32 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 USD

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Lot Details

Description

Austen, Jane

Elizabeth Bennet; or, Pride and Prejudice. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1832


2 volumes., 12mo in 6s (198 × 114 mm, uncut as issued). Vol. I with the scarce integral advertisement leaf; Vol. II lacking preliminary blank, tape repairs to verso of title of Vol. II, usual foxing and browning, some scattered stains, without publisher's catalogue. Publisher’s quarter brown cloth, drab boards; rubbed and worn with some loss, text blocks a little shaken and splitting in Vol. II.


“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice


First American (from the third London) edition, one of only 750 sets printed. The author is not named, but is identified on the title-page as "the Author of 'Sense and Sensibility,' &c."


Rare: only a handful of copies have appeared at auction during the last century.


REFERENCES:

Keynes 10; Gilson (1969) passim; Gilson (1982) B2

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