"YOU PIERCE MY SOUL. I AM HALF AGONY, HALF HOPE": SCARCE SECOND EDITION OF AUSTEN'S NORTHANGER ABBEY AND PERSUASION

AUSTEN, Jane. Northanger Abbey; Persuasion. London: Richard Bentley, 1833. 12mo, contemporary three-quarter tan calf gilt, raised bands, red and blue morocco spine labels, marbled boards. $6500.

Second edition of the last of Austen's novels to be published, with engraved frontispiece illustration and engraved vignette title page, in contemporary three-quarter calf.

Published posthumously, this volume includes Northanger Abbey, "written in 1797-98 with the title Susan… [but] not printed." When Austen inquired in 1809 why the manuscript remained unpublished, Crosby sold it back to her for the same price he had paid. Meanwhile, "in 1809 a novel called Susan was published by another author and Austen changed the name of her work to Catherine… Seven years later, in 1816, negotiations were re-opened and the manuscript was bought back for £10, Crosby still being unaware of the identity of the author… The publication of the book under [the title Catherine] was still being discussed in March 1817. Ultimately the name was changed to Northanger Abbey… Persuasion, the latest of the novels, was begun in 1815 and completed on July 18, 1816" (Keynes 9). The two novels, Austen's first sold and last written, were finally published in December 1817, five months after her death. "In a flash of mischief the author has put two rogues of like aptitudes together… In the 20th century [Persuasion] has been felt to be her most emotionally powerful work… Northanger Abbey does make serious points about social education and … became a running debate… over the real values of fiction" (Honan, Jane Austen, 385, 139). "No English reissue of Austen's novels is known after 1818 until in 1832 Richard Bentley decided to include them in his series of Standard Novels… Bentley's reprinting of the novels, each complete in one volume (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion being published together), was presumably intended for the private buyer; there is evidence that some circulating libraries were still well supplied with copies of the original editions" (Gilson, 211). First published in 1818. Bentley's "Standard Novels" edition, the second edition, first appeared in May 1833, with series title noting this is No. XXVIII in the series. (An American edition also appeared in 1833, in January.). Gilson D4; D7.

Text with a few instances of mild foxing, front inner paper hinge splitting; contemporary calf with minor expert restoration. A handsome copy.