Selections from Special Collections
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Description
xxvii, 476 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.
Some of the pages in this document were selected as part of a class project for Professor Garth Bond’s History of the Book seminar, Fall 2014. The abstract was prepared by Aubrey Klein.
Publication Date
1894
Publisher
New York : Macmillan ; London, : G. Allen
City
New York, London
Rights
This work is in the public domain under United States Copyright Law. If you use any part of this work please include Lawrence University Special Collections in your citation.
Recommended Citation
Austen, Jane, "Pride and prejudice / by Jane Austen, preface by George Saintsbury and illustrations by Hugh Thomson." (1894). Selections from Special Collections. 31.
https://lux.lawrence.edu/selections/31
Abstract
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” So begins one of the most beloved novels of all time written by an equally beloved author: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813, the third—and arguably most popular—of her six major novels. The story follows the young and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet and her four unmarried sisters as she navigates issues of wealth, class, and morality in a society that prizes marriage above all other goals for any respectable young woman.
Pride and Prejudice has enjoyed lasting popularity in the 200 years since its first publication, and continues to be widely read and appreciated by casual readers and literary scholars alike. It is frequently included on “Best Books” lists and has been adapted for film, television and the theatre as well as served as the inspiration for numerous literary adaptations including sequels and spin-offs.
This particular edition of Pride and Prejudice was published in 1894, 81 years after its original publication, and contains a preface by George Saintsbury, a scholar and literary historian. It also contains a variety of whimsical pen-and-ink illustrations by Irish illustrator Hugh Thomson. This beautiful edition is only one of many examples of the way in which Austen and her works have been read and enjoyed by many different people over a long period of time, and interpreted through many mediums.