THE NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN. [SENSE AND SENSIBILITY; PRIDE AND PREJUDICE; MANSFIELD PARK; EMMA; NORTHANGER ABBEY and PERSUASION; MINOR WORKS] The Text Based on Collation of the Early Editions by R.W. Chapman. With Notes Indexes and Illustrations from Contemporary Sources

London: Oxford University Press, 1960. 6 volumes. Third Edition, reprinted. With numerous illustrations in each volume, frontispieces and over 40 plates drawn from late-eighteenth and early nineteenth century sources. The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen which is cited as the only complete edition. 8vo, publisher’s original green cloth, lettered in gilt on the spines, in the original dustjackets. xiv, [2], 429; xiv, 415, [1]; xii, [2], 567; xii, 521, (1); xiii, [1], 252, 311, [1] ; viii, [1], 476 pp. An unusually bright and fine set, the cloth in very fresh condition, the internal leaves bright and clean, the dustjackets in and excellent state of preservation. AN UNUSUALLY NICE SET AND QUITE SCARCE. A charming and delicately illustrated set of Austen’s classic novels. Originally, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY appeared in 1811, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE in 1813, MANSFIELD PARK in 1814, EMMA in 1815, and NORTHANGER ABBEY and PERSUASION posthumously in 1818 and the MINOR WORKS issued over time. Here we find them all perfectly united in this attractive cloth set.
“Recognition came to Miss Austen slowly. But she is now firmly established as an English classic...Miss Austen had always her panegyrists among the best intellects-such as Coleridge, Tennyson,Macaulay, Scott, Sydney Smith, Disraeli and Archbishop Whitely, the last of whom may be said to have been her discoverer. Macaulay, whose adoration of Miss Austen’s genius was almost idolatrous, considered MANSFIELD PARK her greatest feat; but many critics give the palm to EMMA. Disraeli read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE seventeen times. Scott’s testimony is often quoted: ‘That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement, feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I have ever met with. The big bow-wow I can do myself like any one going; but the exquisite touch which renders commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me.’” - EB