Austen, Jane

EMMA [THREE VOLUMES]

London: John Murray, 1816. First Edition, First Impression. 12mos., 3 volumes; Near Fine; bound for Sotheran in 3/4 brown calf, pattered cloth boards, paneled spines with two green morocco labels, gilt titling and tooling; top edges gilt; head/tail bands; marbled endpapers; very minor wear and rubbing;

With all three scarce title pages. While the second and third are not rare, the half-title in volume 1 is, as it was printed at P6, the end of the volume, and so discarded by many binders. This copy has the half-title for the first volume tipped in at its proper place from P6. Printers imprint on half-title for volumes 1 and 2 read "London: Printed by C. Roworth, Bell-yard, Temple-bar.", volume 3 reads London: Printed by J. Moyes, Greville Street.";

Interestingly, this copy has no ownership marks whatsoever.

With autograph note purported to be written by James Edward Austen-Leigh, reading:
"In the first edition of Jane Austen's Emma (Vol 1 p. 202) Cobham is printed instead of Highbury the imagined locality of the fiction, to the delight of enthusiastic writers who had already --- it as the point at which the indications of distance from various places mentioned in the tale had been made to converge. Ed. Review [?] in 269 p. 280" Typewritten note appended stating "Autograph note in the hand of J. E. Austen Leigh (Jane Austen's Nephew, author of "A Memoir of Jane Austen". Bently. London. 1870."" [dropped parentheses as written];
The location of the fictional town of Highbury, the main locality in Emma, has been a point of contention over the last 200 years, with the general consensus being that it was modeled after several real towns, Cobham included.

[6], 322, [2]; [2], 351, [1, printer's imprint]; [4], 363, [1, advertisement]. The advertisement in the rear of volume 3 is for the second edition of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, and for the first edition of Mansfield Park.

Volume 1: Gatherings B-D feel slightly more worn, as is unsurprising as the beginning of a book, pinprick sized mark to margin of F7, extending from F5-F12, very small stain to G4, covering two letters that are still visible, pinprick sized mark to margin of K1, extending from I11-K3, pinprick sized mark to center of L1, not impacting text, extending from K12-L3, small stain to lower fore corners of L6-L12, 0.4 cm at its widest, P4-5 creased horizontally before printing, rear endpaper with one crease that has impacted the P gathering
Volume 2: front endpaper with two creases that have impacted the A/B gatherings, small dot of repair to H6, small dot of ink on N5, covering one letter 'e', Q4-6 creased horizontally before printing, rear endpaper with two creases that have impacted the Q gathering;
Volume 3: Very small chip to lower fore corner of H1, H3 with one crease horizontally before printing, page 215 is incorrectly numbered 515, as usual;

A truly lovely copy of the classic, starring "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition... and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. [page 1]

TH consignment; shelved case 3.

1330637

Shelved Dupont Bookstore

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NOTES

Gilson A8; Keynes p. 14;

"2000 copies were printed, and of these the records show that 1248 were sold by October 1816" (Gilson);