Rare English Literature

Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are the last two out of six of Jane Austen’s published works. They were published after her death in 1817. There are a few rare copies of these books available, which carry a high price despite less interest than her earlier works. Jane Austen perished on July 18th 1817 at the […]

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What do Christmas and rare vintage books have in common?  The answer is …the famous first edition of the Charles Dickens book – A Christmas Carol.  This immortal novel written by Charles Dickens is easily one of the most loved Christmas stories ever written, while the scarcity of its first edition has given some fortunate book collectors a […]

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Mansfield Park was Jane Austen’s third published book.  It was published in May 1814 in three volumes and had a total of 1250 copies printed. Within six months, the copies sold, leaving editors and fans at the time, including the second edition publisher John Murray,  wondering why this ‘’First edition’’ was such a small edition given […]

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Pride and Prejudice was Jane Austen’s second book, following her debut publication, Sense and Sensibility by “A Lady” . Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813 and it proved to be such a great success that a second edition was immediately published in November of the same year. According to Sir Geoffrey Keynes, 1500 […]

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A mere four years after Sense and Sensibility by “A Lady” was published, Jane Austen’s fourth and final book to be printed during her lifetime (1775-1817) was released.  Jane Austen began writing her book, Emma on the 21st of January 1814 and finished it in March 29th 1815. The book was published by John Murray […]

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On October 30th 2011 we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s first contribution to the world of rare books, Sense and Sensibility. This is the first book that she published but was not the first that she wrote. Sense and Sensibility was published on October 30th 1811 by Thomas Egerton, having Jane’s […]

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The remarkable English writer Jane Austen is one of the few women of the 19th century who dared to make a living using her pen.  Austen was well known for her  realism and vision, as well as her caustic social criticism about the morals of the era. She remains one of the most widely read writers of all time, and one […]

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Recently Sotheby’s has auctioned a rare manuscript of an unfinished novel written by the well known and famous writer/novelist, Jane Austen. This rare manuscript was sold for the astronomical amount of 993.250 Sterling Pounds (1623K USD) to the Bodleian Oxford library and one can say that it stayed ‘’home’’ in the UK. Rare manuscripts have […]

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