J.K. Rowling owns a Jane Austen first edition
Alert Janeite Paola wrote to tell us that the Harry Potter weblog The Leaky Cauldron has scans of an article in the Tatler in which it is revealed that Friend of Jane J.K. Rowling owns a Jane Austen first edition–but not which one. We are guessing Emma, which Ms. Rowling has often said is her favorite.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
We have an Emma favorite quotes section of the Longbourn Loungers website, though Pride and Prejudice dominates!
January 13th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
How much exactly does a Jane Austen first edition cost? Or the ballpark estimate at least…I’m sure that it’s far more than I can afford to spend unless I strike it rich, but you never know
January 13th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Well, I assure you that if I were as rich as Ms. Rowling is, I’d own a first edition too!!!
January 14th, 2006 at 1:34 am
Look here; first edition of Emma starting at $19,366.16 and going up to $44,691.13. You can get a first edition Northanger Abbey for as little as $100…
Yeah, if I were to suddenly have a great deal of money, I think I would have a first edition Jane Austen or two.
January 14th, 2006 at 8:05 am
^most of the books there are no real “first editions”, merely first editions of an edition published some 20 or 50 years later.
you have to lay down about $125.000 for a 1811 edition of “pride and prejudice”, for example.
still - a very proper and admirable way to spend your money when you strike rich.
January 14th, 2006 at 8:08 am
sorry, for “sense and sensebility”, of course. a 1811 edition of “pride and prejudice” would be somewhat more. *lol*
January 14th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
JA first editions are rare because they didn’t print that many and because for many years she was not considered an important writer, so the books would not have been saved and treasured and passed on. Crazy but true!
As JuliaB said, there are different kinds of first editions, but I do believe there are “real” first editions extant of all the novels. Expect to pay in the mid five figures U.S. dollars. P&P would be around $40,000 U.S. dollars, the others less. I’d say $25,000 U.S. dollars for NA and P, the rest fall between. But of course, it’s all in what someone is willing to pay that particular day, especially in an auction situation (I watch a lot of Antiques Roadshow).
The Alberta Burke notebooks and papers that were bequeathed to Goucher College in Baltimore have her records of collecting Austeniana in the 1930s through 1960s, and she got bargains like a first edition of NA for a few pounds. I’ve blogged about the Burke Collection before–check it out, it is fascinating reading. The point is, in those days Jane Austen’s first editions were not considered to be worth money. Now they are.
January 15th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
I read that in the interview (I am a huge hp fan) and I thought it was very cool. I’m also guessing that it’s Emma. Its fun that one of my favorite authors is a fan of another of my favorite authors
I guess there is a little bit of JA in some of JKR’s writing… mainly with the really goofy characters.
January 16th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
JA first editions are rare because they didn’t print that many and because for many years she was not considered an important writer, so the books would not have been saved and treasured and passed on.
All true, which makes it all the more surprising that so many copies of the first editions have survived!
Sense & Sensibility for instance is thought to have had a first ed. of only 750 copies. Gilson, in his Bibliography of JA published in 1982, lists 46 known copies of this edition.. thirty-four were in libraries and museums, and twelve in private hands. Harvard University alone has (or had in 1982) four copies of the first edition!
Gilson lists details of the condition and provenance of each of these copies. For instance, one of Harvard’s copies was bequeathed by Amy Lowell in 1925, while volume one of another Harvard copy is inscribed ‘Mrs Charles Austen, given by her Sister in Law Jane Austen.’
Isn’t it amazing that such a large proportion have survived two hundred years? How many copies have perished in house fires.. the London blitz.. German libraries destroyed by allied bombing in the second world war?
As for the high price of the first editions, part of the reason must be that an ever-increasing proportion are in libraries & museums, so there are fewer available in the market place. A good source of prices paid for books is American Book Prices Current, an annual publication which can be found in academic libraries and larger public libraries. The 2004 edition lists five JA first editions sold in the 2003-2004 season, they are
MP - 4,800 pounds
NA & P - 2,200 pounds
P&P - 8,500 pounds
P&P - 40,000 US dollars
S&S - 2,500 pounds
Why such a disparity in prices? Some are in much better condition than others. for instance, the cheap P&P is described as being rubbed, worn, defaced, torn, “holed affecting text” etc. The pricier one has fewer physical defects, and is described as “Sarah Harriet Burney’s copy, signed on title page of each volume.”
And, as alluded to in the discussion so far, there are many interesting and pricey editions published subsequent to the first editions. Just one example; the first American editions are, in general, much rarer than the first editions. Gilson lists only thirteen known copies of the first American ed. of Sense & Sensibility, for instance.
January 16th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Wow, I would have thought the non-P&Ps would have gone for more than that. I swear I’ve seen NA and P (meaning the four-volume set of both novels) for $10-25K.
But, as they say on the Roadshow, they’re only worth what someone is willing to pay, after all.
That’s great info, Robin, thanks for taking the time to research and post it. (Flaunting your Gilson, sir, it’s outrageous! ;-))
And here’s a question for discussion: would Mr. Darcy have purchased a (handsomely-bound, no doubt) set of Jane Austen’s novels for the library at Pemberley?
January 16th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
True, I just looked in ABEbooks (as referred to by shmarollynn in the discussion above,) and they currently have five copies listed, priced between $10K and $15K. But the descriptions indicate they are all in really good condition, while the one sold for 2,200 pounds in Crewkerne, Somerset, on May 27 2004 is described with “extremities worn, joints weak, upper portion of spine of Vol III almost detached. Vols II-IV lacking half-titles; spotting throughout.”
This is interesting.. it seems to me that a book conservator could spend a little time on the two thousand pound copy of NA & P, and make it into a six thousand pound copy.
Anybody looking to retire and take up a lucrative new career??
January 16th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Crewkerne?
You mean near Uppercross?
P.S. I wouldn’t want to let it go once I fixed it up, would be my problem.