Our listings this week will include antique and collectable items from the Estates and Attics of New England, including a beautiful little Late Victorian designed set of the Novels and Works of Jane Austen, typical of the extravagant productions of the Belle Epoque. As usual, we offer each week a selection of rare or collectible items from our stock which includes the fruits of nearly 50 years of searching and collecting! To see them all. Handy Library Set of The Novels of Jane Austen, complete in six volumes. Light blue cloth stamped in gilt, all edges gilded with gold leaf, tissue protected frontis portrait, additional black and white plates, 6.5 inches tall. Frontispiece protected by tissue guard, Title pages printed in red and black. No dates on the title page. Each volume has an engraved frontispiece at the beginning of each book. The designs on the cloth covers and title page border are pure stylized Art Nouveau, as popularized by such volumes as the Keynotes Series published by Elkin Matthews & John Lane with decorations by Aubrey Beardsley. Unlike some of the old sets which split the novels up into 2 volumes (probably to justify a higher price and to fill up a goodly space on the library bookshelf), these Handy Volume editions were printed on strong and thin “onion skin paper”, to make the volumes slim and easy to hold and carry. This type of paper is most seen on old prayer books and dictionaries, and like rag paper holds up well without browning or brittleness. The critical heritage was also swayed by forces in the book trade. The marketing of Jane Austen, in the 1880s and 1890s particularly, was both an intrusion and a stimulus. Purists might lament the taint of commerce; yet commerce paid for critical introductions and edited texts. The novels had been available at low prices since 1849, and were included in the Tauchnitz paperback series. However, the first really popular edition was not until 1883 Soon there was a distinct shift up-market to stylish, even luxurious presentation. Sets were designed for the bibliophile taste in ornamentation and fine detail–with decorated bindings and end-papers… Even for ordinary trade editions B. Southam, Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage. Arrange the great English novelists as one will, it does not seem possible to bring them out in any order where she is not the first, or second or third, whoever her companions may be. Condition: Very Good PLUS condition, came right out of a family estate in Belmont MA, that had a 3 generation library going back to the 1890s. The well made set has solid cloth covers and strong high grade paper pages. The minor faults are a small indent on the back cover of Emma, and a small spot of ink at the bottom of the Emma title page. There is a little rubbing to the edge of design stamping at the top of the spine of Pride and Prejudice, just for an inch or so. One or two of the frontispieces have a tiny turned bottom corner only at the very point, Otherwise Very Good PLUS all around. This is a VERY SCARCE set to find complete and in such GOOD condition. This is, in fact, the ONLY full set of this edition to be found for sale anywhere on the Internet. The item “Jane Austen Novels Works Vintage First Edition Set 1892 Art Nouveau Gilt Edge” is in sale since Friday, May 21, 2021. This item is in the category “Books & Magazines\Antiquarian & Collectible”. The seller is “bookster7″ and is located in Marlborough, Massachusetts. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Sweden, Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine, Croatia, Bermuda, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Iceland, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco.
- Year Printed: 1892
- Topic: Novels
- Binding: Hardcover
- Region: North America
- Illustrator: Edmund H Garrett
- Author: Jane Austen
- Subject: Literature & Fiction
- Original/Facsimile: Original
- Language: English
- Publisher: Little Brown
- Place of Publication: Boston
- Special Attributes: Gilt Edged