Sense and Sensibility - 200 Year Anniversary

2011 will see the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Thomas Egerton of the Military Library publishing house in London accepted the manuscript for publication, in three volumes. Jane paid for the book to be published and paid the publisher a commission on sales. The cost of the project represented more than one third of the Austen's annual household income of £460 which is about £16,000 in today's money! The first edition of 760 copies sold out by July 1813, which was remarable for those days, and it made Jane a profit of £140 approximately £5,000.  A second edition was advertised in October 1813, and the book has never been out of print since then.

The Jane Austen's House Museum own one of those rare 750 first editions and, together with Trail Publishing, will celebrate the event by publishing a limited boxed edition of 500 faithful copies of the book, complete with a certificate of authenticity. The book will faithfully recreate the look and feel of the original, as in the Georgian era, all books were published with just a plain canvas cover and then the owners would have them bound in finely tooled leather to match the style of their libraries, or to emulate the latest fashion; style was everything to the Georgians.

Jane wrote the first draft of Elinor and Marianne (later retitled Sense & Sensibility) sometime around 1795 when she was about 19 years old. She had written a great deal of short fiction whilst in her teens, but Elinor and Marianne was her first full-length novel. The plot revolves around the contrast between the two sisters; Elinor's sensible approach to life and Marianne's emotional character. The novel displays Jane's subtle irony at its best, with many outstanding comic passages.

This outstanding Limited Edition is going to be one for the collectors of all things Jane!