Pride and Prejudice. A Novel. London: Ward, Lock & Co., (1885). Publisher’s half calf and cloth boards with gilt lettering & decoration to spine. A nice bright copy.

Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice (originally titled First Impressions) between October 1796 and August 1797 when she was not yet twenty-one — the same age, in fact, as her fictional heroine Elizabeth Bennet.

After an early rejection by the publisher Cadell who had not even read it, Austen’s novel was finally bought by Egerton in 1812 for £110. It was published in late January 1813 in a small edition of approximately 1500 copies and sold for 18 shillings in boards.