Jane Austen

First Illustrated edition of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

• Jane Austen (English).
• London: Richard Bentley, 1833.
• Octavo.
• [4], 424, [4] pages.
• Illustrated with frontispiece scene of Mary Crawford and Fanny Price, publisher's ads at rear.
• Original plum cloth, black gilt-stamped spine labels, with series printed title, engraved title, and individual printed title.

First illustrated edition, and first single-volume edition, of Austen's third published novel — in the exceptionally scarce first issue cloth binding.

Mansfield Park centers on the comedic neighborhood drama caused by the amateur theater production: Morally upright Fanny gets pulled into a neighbor's scheming via an adaptation of Elizabeth Inchbald's well-known play, Lovers' Vows. Among Austen's works, Mansfield Park especially demonstrates how careful contrasts of characters and plot twists can bring out subtle ironies.

In 1832, publisher Richard Bentley acquired the rights to all of Austen's novels and set about a project that would define the Victorian reception of her work. First published in 1814 in three volumes, this first Bentley printing of Mansfield Park was the third edition overall, and issued as part of Bentley's Standard Novels — "one of the longest lasting and most influential series in the Victorian period" (Troy J. Bassett). The series republished books that had been first printed in the standard triple-decker (i.e. three volume) format into a new, single-volume format. Bentley's editions were also the first of Austen's novels to be illustrated in Britain, thus exerting an immense influence on the visual iconography of the classic romances. Copies of the Bentley edition are extremely rare in the original cloth binding as here and thus highly desirable.