MANSFIELD PARK: A NOVEL IN THREE VOLUMES
London: J.[ohn] Murray, 1816. Second Edition. Octavos, 360 pp (Vol. 1); 294 pp (Vol. 2); 354 pp (Vol. 3); Good+; bound in contemporary marbled paper with 3/4 calf and marbled endpapers, tooled and gilt decorations and titles to spines and around marbled paper, some fading and rubbing to paper covers and wear to edges and corners. housed in cloth display box; bindings tight; marbled text blocks clean; slight foxing to pages throughout; lacking half-titles; previous owner bookplate to inside front pastedowns "Osman Ricardo."
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NOTES
Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817. She learned to read and write early, and had full access to her clergyman father's library, probably reading many of the same works he taught to the neighborhood boys he tutored. With her sister, Cassandra, she was sent to a school in Oxford for further education, where she nearly died from typhus. She wrote short novellas, satirical epistolary exchanges, and dramatics to perform with her seven siblings. None of the editions of the four novels published during her lifetime (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma) bear her name. The memoir of her life written by her brother and published posthumously with Northanger Abbey and Persuasion identified her as the author of all six novels.
Mansfield Park was Jane Austen's third published novel. The first edition, published by Thomas Egerton in 1814, sold out within six months. In 1815, emboldened by this success, Austen decided to switch publishers. John Murray, who was much better known, was tasked in 1816 with publishing the second edition of Mansfield Park as well as her newest novel, Emma, the latter of which she grudgingly dedicated to the profligate Prince Regent at his own request.
Osman Ricardo was the first elected Whig MP for Worcester at the 1847 general election. He became a Liberal in 1859, and held the seat until 1865. (via Wikipedia)