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Jane Austen First edition of Sense and Sensibility, Austen’s first published novel
作品估价：USD 70,000 - 100,000
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拍品名称：
Jane Austen First edition of Sense and Sensibility, Austen’s first published novel
拍品描述：
[Jane Austen]
Sense and Sensibility: a Novel. In Three Volumes. By a Lady. London: Printed for the author by C. Rowarth […] and published by T. Egerton, 1811
3 volumes, 12mo (164 x 95 mm), with half-titles from the second edition watermarked "AP | 1811”; contents very faintly toned with occasional pale spots, spotting to the endpapers and adjacent leaves, a small stain in Vol. I on leaf D7. Modern speckled calf, gilt tooled boards, spines, and turn-ins, dark green spine labels lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, brown silk ribbons, signed “Bartlett and Co., Boston”; a few small spots of wear to spines and extremities, Vol. I with spine labels fading to brown, Vol. III with a tiny chip at edge of spine label. Custom clamshell case.
First edition of Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility.
Jane Austen wrote a version of Sense and Sensibility, originally titled Elinore and Marianne, as an epistolary novel in 1795 when she was just 19 years old. She reworked the story into its present narrative form in 1797 and revised it for publication in 1809-1810 during her first year at Chawton Cottage. By then, she had already attempted to publish two other novels, an early version of Pride and Prejudice titled First Impressions, which was rejected, and a version of Northanger Abbey titled Susan, which had been sold to a publisher in 1803 but never came to fruition.
Sense and Sensibility, on the other hand, was accepted by Thomas Egerton to be published on commission, or “for the author,” as stated on the title page. This meant that Austen would finance the printing of the book herself and then pay Egerton a commission on the sales. Her brother, Henry Austen, in his “Biographical Notice of the Author,” states that Jane’s “invincible distrust of her own judgement induced her to withhold her works from the public.” He goes on to explain that “it was with extreme difficulty that her friends… could prevail on her to publish her first work. Nay, so persuaded was she that its sale would not repay the expense of publication, that she actually made a reserve from her very moderate income to meet the expected loss” (Northanger Abbey & Persuasion, Vol. I). Henry's claims surrounding Jane's distrust of her own judgements should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, but in any case, the novel was a success. All the printed copies of the first edition, estimated at 750 to 1000 copies, had been sold by 1813, and a second edition was issued that year. Jane wrote to her brother Francis on July 3, 1813 about her successful venture: “You will be glad to hear that every copy of Sense and Sensibility is sold and that it has brought me £140 beside the copyright, if that should ever be of any value.”
Sense and Sensibility tells the story of the three Dashwood sisters, who are left in much reduced circumstances after the death of their father. The sisters and their mother are forced to rely on extended family—and sometimes friends—for support, renting a cottage on a second cousin’s estate. In some respects, the narrative echoes Austen’s own life—Jane experienced a similar chain of events after the death of her father, George Austen, in 1805. For example, in an important, intimate letter sent to her sister Cassandra, dated April 11, 1805, Jane writes from Bath about her changing life. “What a different set we are now moving in!” she writes, later noting: "I think we are just the kind of people & party to be treated about among our relations;—we cannot be supposed to be very rich" (see lot 3). In early 1809, Jane moved to Chawton Cottage on her brother Edward’s estate, easing her precarious financial situation. The peaceful setting and stability she found at Chawton allowed Austen’s final eight years to be the most productive of her career.
REFERENCE:
Gilson A1; Le Faye, Dierdre, ed., Jane Austen’s Letters (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995)
Sense and Sensibility: a Novel. In Three Volumes. By a Lady. London: Printed for the author by C. Rowarth […] and published by T. Egerton, 1811
3 volumes, 12mo (164 x 95 mm), with half-titles from the second edition watermarked "AP | 1811”; contents very faintly toned with occasional pale spots, spotting to the endpapers and adjacent leaves, a small stain in Vol. I on leaf D7. Modern speckled calf, gilt tooled boards, spines, and turn-ins, dark green spine labels lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, brown silk ribbons, signed “Bartlett and Co., Boston”; a few small spots of wear to spines and extremities, Vol. I with spine labels fading to brown, Vol. III with a tiny chip at edge of spine label. Custom clamshell case.
First edition of Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility.
Jane Austen wrote a version of Sense and Sensibility, originally titled Elinore and Marianne, as an epistolary novel in 1795 when she was just 19 years old. She reworked the story into its present narrative form in 1797 and revised it for publication in 1809-1810 during her first year at Chawton Cottage. By then, she had already attempted to publish two other novels, an early version of Pride and Prejudice titled First Impressions, which was rejected, and a version of Northanger Abbey titled Susan, which had been sold to a publisher in 1803 but never came to fruition.
Sense and Sensibility, on the other hand, was accepted by Thomas Egerton to be published on commission, or “for the author,” as stated on the title page. This meant that Austen would finance the printing of the book herself and then pay Egerton a commission on the sales. Her brother, Henry Austen, in his “Biographical Notice of the Author,” states that Jane’s “invincible distrust of her own judgement induced her to withhold her works from the public.” He goes on to explain that “it was with extreme difficulty that her friends… could prevail on her to publish her first work. Nay, so persuaded was she that its sale would not repay the expense of publication, that she actually made a reserve from her very moderate income to meet the expected loss” (Northanger Abbey & Persuasion, Vol. I). Henry's claims surrounding Jane's distrust of her own judgements should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, but in any case, the novel was a success. All the printed copies of the first edition, estimated at 750 to 1000 copies, had been sold by 1813, and a second edition was issued that year. Jane wrote to her brother Francis on July 3, 1813 about her successful venture: “You will be glad to hear that every copy of Sense and Sensibility is sold and that it has brought me £140 beside the copyright, if that should ever be of any value.”
Sense and Sensibility tells the story of the three Dashwood sisters, who are left in much reduced circumstances after the death of their father. The sisters and their mother are forced to rely on extended family—and sometimes friends—for support, renting a cottage on a second cousin’s estate. In some respects, the narrative echoes Austen’s own life—Jane experienced a similar chain of events after the death of her father, George Austen, in 1805. For example, in an important, intimate letter sent to her sister Cassandra, dated April 11, 1805, Jane writes from Bath about her changing life. “What a different set we are now moving in!” she writes, later noting: "I think we are just the kind of people & party to be treated about among our relations;—we cannot be supposed to be very rich" (see lot 3). In early 1809, Jane moved to Chawton Cottage on her brother Edward’s estate, easing her precarious financial situation. The peaceful setting and stability she found at Chawton allowed Austen’s final eight years to be the most productive of her career.
REFERENCE:
Gilson A1; Le Faye, Dierdre, ed., Jane Austen’s Letters (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995)