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Emma: A Novel. London: John Murray, 1816.
細節
[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817)]
Emma: A Novel. London: John Murray, 1816.
First edition of Emma, the last of Austen’s works to be published during her lifetime. She began writing it on 21 January 1814 and finished in little over a year on 29 March 1815. Whereas each of her previous novels had been first published by Thomas Egerton, Emma was taken up by John Murray, a powerhouse in literary publishing whose clients included Lord Byron. The novel was published at her own expense in late December 1815 (the title being dated 1816), with profits going to Austen after payment of a 10 percent commission to the publisher. It was dedicated to the Prince Regent at the suggestion of the Prince's librarian.
Emma Woodhouse, the novel’s eponymous central character, was famously described by the author as ‘a heroine whom no one but myself will much like’. More so than any other of Austen’s heroines, she dominates and shapes the narrative, proactively determining the novel’s key events. Hers is a strong and striking character, whose comfortable situation grants her the freedom to be playful, though this playfulness also leads her to a series of mistakes which give the novel its main impetus. Austen’s advanced command of free indirect style, which anticipates the literary innovations of later novelists such as Flaubert and Joyce, is most apparent in this work. Gilson A8; Keynes p. 14; Sadleir I, 62d.
3volumes, 12mo (177 x 107mm). (Lacking the half-titles, variable spotting, tears into text in P5 of vol. I and B2 of vol. II, B6-7 of vol. II loose but charmingly pinned to B5 apparently at an early date). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper boards, green morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, spines gilt (vols. I and III with some splitting to joints but firm, lightly rubbed). Provenance: Bonhams, London, 27 March 2019, lot 184
Emma: A Novel. London: John Murray, 1816.
First edition of Emma, the last of Austen’s works to be published during her lifetime. She began writing it on 21 January 1814 and finished in little over a year on 29 March 1815. Whereas each of her previous novels had been first published by Thomas Egerton, Emma was taken up by John Murray, a powerhouse in literary publishing whose clients included Lord Byron. The novel was published at her own expense in late December 1815 (the title being dated 1816), with profits going to Austen after payment of a 10 percent commission to the publisher. It was dedicated to the Prince Regent at the suggestion of the Prince's librarian.
Emma Woodhouse, the novel’s eponymous central character, was famously described by the author as ‘a heroine whom no one but myself will much like’. More so than any other of Austen’s heroines, she dominates and shapes the narrative, proactively determining the novel’s key events. Hers is a strong and striking character, whose comfortable situation grants her the freedom to be playful, though this playfulness also leads her to a series of mistakes which give the novel its main impetus. Austen’s advanced command of free indirect style, which anticipates the literary innovations of later novelists such as Flaubert and Joyce, is most apparent in this work. Gilson A8; Keynes p. 14; Sadleir I, 62d.
3volumes, 12mo (177 x 107mm). (Lacking the half-titles, variable spotting, tears into text in P5 of vol. I and B2 of vol. II, B6-7 of vol. II loose but charmingly pinned to B5 apparently at an early date). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper boards, green morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, spines gilt (vols. I and III with some splitting to joints but firm, lightly rubbed). Provenance: Bonhams, London, 27 March 2019, lot 184
榮譽呈獻
Sophie Meadows
Senior Specialist