Permanence
An article about old paperbacks falling apart, as is their wont, contained the following gem:
In the late 1970s, I worked as a curatorial assistant at the Pierpont Morgan Library, and on the shelves behind my desk stood books that were hundreds of years old - their paper crisp and white, the ink still precise. Jane Austen’s autograph letters to her sister, Cassandra, were not quite as fresh as the day they were written, perhaps, but even they were fresh enough to last another few centuries. The point of publishing was more than simply to emit a book; it was to give a text a kind of permanence.
We like our Oxford Illustrated Editions of Jane Austen’s novels because they are quite solid. It’s always interesting to attend meetings of our Jane Austen book group (the Chawton Regulars) and seeing long-time Austen readers with Oxford editions much older than our own, still very much readable and in great shape. We also have an assortment of paperbacks for lending purposes and one that we bought because the cover made us laugh, as well as NA in italiano. Alas, we cannot bring ourselves to write in our books.
What edition of Jane Austen do you have? If more than one, what is your favorite?
March 13th, 2006 at 4:25 am
My first Jane Austen book was a Penguin paperback of Sense and Sensibility. I decided to buy a hardbound Bounty Books collected edition of all six JA books in two volumes precisely because they won’t fall apart at the seams in, say, ten years’ time.
March 13th, 2006 at 9:33 am
My first Jane Austen book was also a Penguin paperback but of P&P. It followed paperbacks of Emma,S&S, Mansfield Park, Persuasion and NA. My husband just gave me the Oxford Illustrated of all the novels, and the Minor Works, They are incredible books and will definetely last until my kids are old enough to read them.
March 13th, 2006 at 9:45 am
One of the things I probably should have mentioned in the original post is that the Oxford Editions are a really good size to carry around, even though they are hardbacks. I leave the dust jacket at home and I have crocheted a cover for it so it doesn’t get too banged up in my bag. One of these days I’ll type up the pattern and put it on my Web site. People always seem to be impressed by it for some reason!
Once in a while I have to take an eraser to the edges, though, when they get a little grubby.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:46 am
I have a one-volume collection (”Jane Austen: The Complete Novels” pub. Gramercy) which is not very high quality in binding, but has illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Unfortunately it’s too big to read comfortably. I also have cheap falling-apart paperbacks of S&S and Emma (the Emma I bought used and I think it was printed during the 70s… it has a kind of goofy illustration on the cover, showing a woman with a sort of heart-shaped hairdo). And I have a hardback of P&P, with a cover to match the P&P2 videos. It’s bound pretty well, actually. But now that you mention them, I have been ogling the Oxford versions on Amazon and I might just have to get them….
March 13th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
My first Austen came when I was still in grade school…and of course I bought the cheapest version. It is a copy of S&S…put out by Tor Fantasy publishers! Needless to say, it is horribly cheap, and the back cover is done up in traditional fantasy-publisher style. “Each sister believes she has made the perfect choice….Or has she?” The front features two girls decked out in bright, lacey pink gowns whispering to each other.
Oh, the things that we hold dear.
March 13th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
everyman’s library…
March 13th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
^me too. i like the look of them and the introductions are very good. i started with paperbacks (penguin) though. the annotations were/are very helpful for an austen beginner, i think.
and sometime i will buy the oxford edition as well, i’m sure…
March 13th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
I got a brad new Gramaercy, Library Classics version that has all seven for christmas, and i love it!!!!!!
March 13th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
I have an old warped Harvard Classics version of P+P that I got at a book sale (1917), Modern Library versions of S+S and P, a Wordsworth edition of Emma, an Oxford Classics version of NA, incl. the unfinished works (Sanditon, Lady Susan, The Watsons), a Laurel version of MP (circa 1970 that I got free from my library sale table). Plus I got a big Collector’s Library Edition with illustrations for this past Santa Claus!
Unlike Mags, I write in my individual copies, tho I’m not going to in my large book. I like to make comments and underline the funny and romantic parts. Somehow it makes my reading more enjoyable. But, since I’ll probably read my big book from now on, the underlines and comments won’t be very useful any longer.
March 14th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I like the Norton Critical Editions.
My new favorite is a Broadview Literary Texts edition of Northanger Abbey (ed. Claire Grogan). The appendices are a treat, featuring appropriate excerpts from Radcliffe and sentimental heroine novels; a map of Bath with the day trips indicated; pictures/prices of carriages; and best of all, Elvis!Henry.
March 15th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Whew! And I was beginning to think I was a trifle obsessive for keeping different editions of the same books! My Oxford set is the “good one”. I also have paperbacks that I’ve filled with notes and underlines - and those are the ones I refer to the most. And then I have a big clunky hardback that weighs several pounds, that contains all the novels (not at my fingertips now so I can’t give publisher info). It’s at least 60 years old and I got it at a used book sale - I love that it feels so substantial, and that it’s had several previous owners who surely shared a love of JA. Gives me a feeling of some mystical connection to them when I settle down for serious reading with a cuppa. Weird, huh?
March 16th, 2006 at 7:05 am
To be honest, I have lost track of how many editions I own. I have a single-volume set of “the big 6″ plus Lady Susan, the entire Oxford set, a single volume of the juvenilia (the one with the forward by GK Chesterton), and a slew of Penguin, Norton and Oxford World Classics paperbacks. I even have one mass market paperback of Persuasion. I collect them for their introductions and notes. Each new edition has something to say.
March 20th, 2006 at 9:37 am
I’ve got all Jane’s books more than once either singly or in a collection, but without a doubt my favourites are those from the exquisite Collector’s Library series. They are wonderfully compact and convenient – actually the same size in which novels were published in Jane’s day (remember the books Jennifer Ehle was reading as Lizzie Bennett in the P&P miniseries – that format) so you can tuck them right into your purse, even if it’s a small one. And they’re so pretty and of such high quality, with cloth-bound hard covers, lovely (and restrained) dust jackets, gilt-edged pages and an integrated satin ribbon bookmarker. Each has a specially commissioned afterword and most of them feature the delightful drawings of Hugh Thomson. And mine have got an extra edge of sentimental value for me as well – I bought the set in the gift shop at Chawton Cottage.
March 21st, 2006 at 6:27 pm
My very first Austen book was a Dover edition (worth like 2$) of S&S. When I got more into her writing, I invested in the Everymans Library set (they’re so pretty and fairly reasonably priced) mostly, though admittedly my MP and P don’t match the rest… MP was a gift from my mother- a New York Public Library Edition with the Hugh Thomson drawings, and P is a Barnes and Nobles hardback. (these are some of the VERY few really nice things I own, being a student).