Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen First Edition Census Print, Book Lover Gift (Digital Download)

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
A Bibliographic Census, 1813–1938

Printable wall art — instant digital download

T. Egerton published it in three volumes on 28 January 1813, at eighteen shillings the set, in an edition of somewhere between one thousand and fifteen hundred copies. No print-run record survives, which is why this sheet says an estimate rather than a number.

The title page did not carry the author's name. It read: "By the Author of 'Sense and Sensibility.'"

Austen had sold the copyright outright for £110, having asked £150. Egerton is estimated to have made some £450 from the first two editions alone. It is the only one of her published novels whose copyright she sold — the rest came out on commission, with Austen carrying the risk herself. Austen’s name appeared on none of her books published in her lifetime.

IDENTIFICATION POINTS

title page dated 1813, no edition statement
vol. I printed by C. Roworth — Bell-yard, Temple-bar
vols. II–III printed by G. Sidney — Northumberland Street
half-titles issued in all three volumes — usually lost in rebinding
collation 307 · 239 · 323 pp. — Gilson A3 · Keynes 3 · Sadleir 62b

Here is the part that catches people. The second edition, also 1813, was reset but paged to match the first almost exactly; Egerton evidently wanted them indistinguishable. Collation alone will not identify a first. The three tests are a title page dated 1813 with no edition statement, three volumes, and the Roworth imprint in volume one against Sidney in volumes two and three.

Underneath, the census runs on. A third edition in 1817, the last published in Austen’s lifetime — she died on 18 July. The first American edition in 1832, from Carey & Lea of Philadelphia, printed without permission and retitled Elizabeth Bennet. Bentley's Standard Novels in 1833, the first collected Austen and the first illustrated. The Peacock Edition from George Allen in 1894, with 160 drawings by Hugh Thomson, which is where the visual world of the book has come from ever since. Everyman's Library in 1906 — Austen for a shilling. Chapman's Oxford edition in 1923, the first fully scholarly edition of any English novelist.

And in 1938 Pride and Prejudice became the first title in Penguin Illustrated Classics. Austen at sixpence.

WHAT YOU GET
Five files, ready to print:
• 4:5 ratio — 8×10, 16×20, 24×30
• 3:4 ratio — 9×12, 18×24
• 2:3 ratio — 12×18, 24×36
• ISO A-series — A4, A3, A2
• A short printing guide — paper, sizing and framing

High-resolution JPGs, each ratio drawn at its own proportions rather than cropped from one file, so nothing is cut off whichever frame you use.

MADE FOR
• Rare book collectors and dealers
• Librarians and special collections staff
• English teachers and classrooms
• Anyone who has ever checked a copyright page in a charity shop
• Studies, reading nooks, shop walls

HOW IT WORKS
1. Buy the listing
2. Files are available immediately — download from your Etsy account under Purchases, or from the emailed link
3. Print at home, at a local shop, or through an online printer

PRINTING TIPS
• Matte or lightly textured paper suits this palette better than gloss
• Ask for "fit to page, do not crop" and choose the file matching your frame ratio
• Heavyweight stock (200 gsm+) hangs flatter and looks far more expensive

Also available as a printed poster, shipped to you: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4561998676/pride-and-prejudice-jane-austen-first

PLEASE NOTE
• This is a digital file — no physical print will be shipped
• Frames are not included
• Screens vary, so colors may sit slightly differently in print
• For personal use only; not for resale or commercial reproduction
• Because files are delivered instantly, digital purchases can't be returned — but message me with any trouble and I'll sort it out

Points as recorded in Gilson, A Bibliography of Jane Austen A3. A census, not an appraisal.

From Revival Creek Books — rare books, and art for people who love them.