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AUSTEN, Jane.
Sense and Sensibility: a novel. In three volumes. By a Lady.
Publisher: for the author, by C. Roworth, and published by T. Egerton, 1811
Stock code: 62111
Price: £100,000 Currency Conversion
First edition of Jane Austen's first published novel, scarce thus in the original boards, and with a distinguished provenance. From the libraries of Sir John Shelley, 6th Baronet (1772-1852), of Maresfield Park, Sussex, with his armorial bookplates; with the ownership signatures of his wife Frances, Lady Shelley (neé Winckley) on upper boards; Jerome Kern, leather library ticket in chemise of volume 1; sale of his library at Anderson Galleries, 9-10 January 1929, lot 19, $3,600; subsequently in the collection of Mrs R. Hartz (c.1982, as recorded by Gilson); sale at Sotheby's New York, 12 December 2001, lot 107, $70,000. Sir John Shelley, who played in a number of major cricket matches in the 1790s and who represented Helson and then Lewes as member of parliament, married Frances Winckley (d. 1873) on 4 June 1807. Sir John was a member of the Shelley baronetcy of Michelgrove in Sussex, one of three baronetcies created for members of the Shelley family, all with a common ancestor in John Shelley of Michelgrove (d. 1526). The most famous member of the family, of course, is the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Begun in the mid-1790s, Sense and Sensibility, like Pride and Prejudice, went through two versions before publication, but the fact that it was published first was more or less accidental. First Impressions (the first version of Pride and Prejudice) had been summarily rejected, and Susan (the first version of Northanger Abbey and probably the first to be started of the three) had been sold to the publishers Richard Crosby & Son, but they failed to publish it. Keynes suggests the size of the edition may have been as few as 750 copies.
3 volumes, duodecimo. Uncut in the original publisher's boards, original pink paper labels on spines, skilfully rebacked preserving most of the original spines. Preserved in folding cloth chemises and brown quarter morocco slipcase. Half-titles. Occasional spotting and foxing, some slight marginal stains on D10-D11 in vol. 1, minor discolouration and staining of a few gatherings in vols 2 and 3, short tears on B11 and H5 in vol. 2 (affecting three lines and two lines respectively), tiny paper flaw on I2 in vol. 2, some slight wear to boards, front joint of vol. 2 just starting at head, a very good copy.
