Letters of Jane Austen. Edited with an Introduction and Critical Remarks by Edward, Lord Brabourne
London: Richard Bentley, 1884. Two volumes, measuring 8 x 5 inches: xv, [1], 374, [2]; [6], 366, [2]. Original olive-green cloth, spines lettered and ruled in gilt, “JA” monogram in gilt to upper boards, brown coated endpapers. Frontispiece portrait in Volume I; frontispiece of Godmersham House in Volume II; final leaf of publisher’s advertisements in each volume. Ownership signatures in both volumes, dated 1909; offsetting from laid-in newspaper clipping to pages 28-29 of Volume II. Spine ends and corners lightly rubbed, foxing to first and last leaves of each volume.
First edition of the first published collection of Jane Austen’s letters, most of them written to her older sister and confidante Cassandra, who famously burned most of their correspondence to protect Jane’s privacy. Cassandra distributed the surviving letters as keepsakes to the Austen family circle, including Jane’s niece Fanny Knight (later Lady Knatchbull), whose son published this group of letters shortly after he inherited them in 1882. The letters reprinted here are chatty and light in tone, sharing news of recent purchases and household projects, the state of the garden and dinner table, and local gossip: “as I must leave off being young, I find many douceurs in being a sort of chaperon, for I am put on the sofa near the fire, and can drink as much wine as I like” (November 6, 1813). The collection also includes Jane Austen’s letters to her nieces, as well as two letters from Cassandra on the subject of her sister’s death. Gilson G1. A near-fine set.
Price: $1,250.00