1895 First Edition - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Brock, Bayntun-Riviere
The first Charles E. Brock illustrated edition of Jane Austen’s enduring masterpiece, published by Macmillan in 1895 and presented in a superb full maroon morocco binding by Bayntun-Riviere of Bath.
Author: Jane Austen.
Title: Pride and Prejudice.
Publisher: London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895.
Edition: First Edition Thus. First edition of Pride and Prejudice illustrated by Charles E. Brock, with an introduction by Austin Dobson.
Language: English.
Pages: xxx, 351 pages.
Size: 7.5 x 5 inches.
Binding: Fine later binding by Bayntun-Riviere of Bath in full maroon morocco. Boards richly decorated in gilt with a single-line fillet and elaborate floral roll border. Spine divided into six compartments by raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second, third and fourth compartments, dated 1895 at the foot, and ornamented in the remaining compartments with decorative gilt centre and corner tools. Gilt-tooled board edges and turn-ins, beautiful hand-marbled endpapers, and all edges gilt. The Bayntun-Riviere, Bath binder’s stamp appears on the front turn-in. A handsome and exceptionally well-preserved binding. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Near fine content, clean, bright and firmly bound, with only minimal age toning and occasional faint signs of age as shown.
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout in black and white by Charles E. Brock, including the frontispiece and numerous full-page illustrations depicting the principal scenes and characters of the novel. Complete.
Estimate: USD 2,250-3,000.
The book:
First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice remains Jane Austen’s most celebrated novel, combining romantic comedy, social observation and psychological insight in the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. This important 1895 Macmillan edition was the first to present the novel with illustrations by Charles E. Brock, whose lively drawings capture both the elegance of Regency society and Austen’s understated humour.
This copy is particularly distinguished by its later Bayntun-Riviere binding. The richly gilt maroon morocco, raised bands, hand-marbled endleaves and gilt edges transform an already desirable illustrated edition into an especially attractive collector’s volume.
The author:
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was one of the most influential English novelists of the nineteenth century. Through works including Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, she combined wit, irony and acute observation of social convention with remarkably modern insight into character and relationships.
The illustrator:
Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938) was a British painter and book illustrator celebrated for his depictions of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century life. His detailed pen-and-ink illustrations were particularly well suited to Austen’s world of drawing rooms, assemblies, country houses and social encounters, and his interpretations of her characters have become among the most admired illustrations associated with her novels.