A summary and list
The following articles will be an detailed account of the most important and most attractive illustrated editions of the novels of Jane Austen. In this first part, I will simply list the editions that will be covered and give a brief summary of the illustrator and the edition. These editions will be listed in the order of first publication. This page will therefore be an index page for the following pages as they are developed. I will mostly focus on English editions, but there will be some notable exceptions. For every book that I cover, a reference will be given from the second revised 1997 edition of the magisterial bibliography of Jane Austen published by the late David Gilson, in the form of a “Gilson number” (eg. “Gilson D1”, which refers to the first Bentley edition of Sense and Sensibility published in December 1832). Each of the individual articles will present many examples of the illustrations, scanned from my own copies where possible. Where there are illustrated dust wrappers, I will show these as well.
In the Beginning…
None of the first English or American editions of the Austen novels were illustrated, so the story of illustrated editions of Austen begins surprisingly in France. The first French edition of a Jane Austen novel to appear was Raison et Sensibilité, translated from Sense and Sensibility by Mme Isabelle de Montelieu and published in Paris by Arthus Bertrand in 1815 in four volumes. It did not have any illustrations. The second French edition to appear was La Famille Elliot, translated by Mme de Montelieu from Persuasion and published by Arthus Bertrand in two volumes in 1821. It had two illustrations, a frontispiece to each volume. This is the first edition of any Austen novel to have any illustrations. Second editions of both of these books were published by Bertrand in Paris in 1828. This time, the Raison et Sensibilité (in three volumes) had a frontispiece in each of the three volumes. The two illustrations from the 1821 edition of La Famille Elliot were reissued in the 1828 second edition.
My listing of the illustrated editions of the Jane Austen Novels therefore begins with these two entries:
- 1821 La Famille Elliot, 2 vol., Arthus Bertrand Paris. Reissued 1828. Gilson C12.
- 1828 Raison et Sensibilité, 3 vol., Arthus Bertrand Paris. Gilson C8.
The next Austen novels to be published with illustrations were the individual volumes and the five volume set offered by Richard Bentley with frontispieces and title page vignettes:
- 1832 Sense and Sensibility, Richard Bentley, London, Gilson D1.
- 1833 Emma, Richard Bentley, London, Gilson D2.
- 1833 Mansfield Park, Richard Bentley, London, Gilson D3.
- 1833 Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, Richard Bentley, London, Gilson D4.
- 1833 Pride and Prejudice, Richard Bentley, London, Gilson D5.
- 1833 Works of Jane Austen, 5 vol., Richard Bentley, London, Gilson D6
These were the first English illustrated editions of Jane Austen’s novels. The novels were reprinted many times before being reissued in a new edition by Bentley starting in 1870. The details of the reprints and the second Bentley edition of 1870 will be given in the individual articles.
The first Austen novel to have illustrations throughout the text block was the edition of Mansfield Park published by Richard Groombridge and Sons in 1875. It had 7 full page illustrations engraved from pictures by A.F. Lydon.
More books will be added to the list as new articles are developed.
Keep watching.
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