Northanger Abbey & Persuasion by Jane Austen 1818 First Edition

FIRST EDITION of Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion, By Jane Austen. With a Biographical Notice of the Author. In Four Volumes. London; John Murray; 1818.

-------------------

Northanger Abbey & Persuasion were Austen’s final novels following the success of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, etc. Quite significantly, the biographical note by Henry Austen is the first time that Jane Austen’s name was printed; the first acknowledgement of Jane Austen as the author of any of her works.

This set of first editions comes housed in a custom slipcase with chemises each lettered in gilt to the spines.

It is incredibly rare to encounter examples of this first edition in a 19th century binding, almost all examples have been rebound in a modern style. 19th century bindings of this work fetch a premium due to their scarcity. The bindings offered for sale here are rebound from the original bindings, but certainly 19th century, probably circa 1870 but perhaps earlier.

Size: 16 x 11 x 2 cm each.

Condition: 

Half titles present, final two blanks to the 4th volume are lacking else collated as complete including the very scarce biographical note. Text blocks overall in very good condition with no inscriptions apart from those on the preliminaries. The text blocks are very lightly toned with some foxing, ranging from quite prominent to very minor. The foxing is more prominent near the beginning of each book and lessens with each page (pictured). Pencil inscriptions on a preliminary page in volume one. Pen ownership inscriptions on preliminary page in all volumes. Pen marks on the title page of volume one. Very minor marks on half title in volume one. Very minor marks on title page of volume three. Spine of volume one prominently rubbed with tooled labels present. Spines of volume two, three, and four have significant rubbing. All tooled labels present. All boards securely attached with minor wear to joints and hinges. Minor scuffing on boards. Minor dulling to page edges. Shelf wear. Slipcases in near fine condition with very minor wear to labels else fine. The text blocks are trimmed quite closely to lower margins as is typical which affects some signatures with a very small amount of leaves lacking the final line of text.