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Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
by Jane Austen
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good/N
- Seller
-
Birsay, Orkney, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London and New York: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1897 A good copy of the first edition with Hugh Thomson illustrations in the original red decorative cloth binding with intricate gilt decoration to the front board and spine. Aeg. With decorative endpapers, and numerous black and white illustrations by Hugh Thomson. The front board is very bright and clean. The top corner is slightly turned and there is wear and scuffing to both. The spine is dulled and a little faded with pulling and some fraying to the spine ends. There is a small cloth split at the bottom spine end. The back board is clean and well coloured. There are 3 serious scuff lines which have penetrated the cloth surface but the cloth has not torn. Both corners are turned with some scuffing to edges. Internally there is a bookplate to the front pastedown endpaper and an ink inscription from 1898 to the half title page. The contents are in very good clean condition with light toning to paper. The tissue guard to the frontispiece is toned and both frontispiece and title page are toned where the guard has rested. There are small holes around the top stitch piercing in the introductory section, and a small repaired top page edge tear to p 352. There is an old top corner crease to p 319. The backing is showing in a couple of places but the book is sound.
Synopsis
Northanger Abbey was written in 1798, although it was not published until after her death when it was compiled with her final novel, Persuasion. It is notable for being a fierce parody of the late 18th century Gothic style's fainting heroines, 'terror' (giving hints of something fantastic but dreadful, only to quash it later with mundane truth) and haunted medieval buildings. Austen targets with particular venom Ann Radcliffe's extremely popular The Mysteries of Udolpho and has her characters reading and mimicking it whilst the author undermines it at every opportunity. Austen's comparatively thin novel as good as destroyed Radcliffe's reputation for almost two centuries and the exciting gothic writ large of Udolpho is only now being reassessed. Northanger Abbey itself concerns a typical Austen heroine, the young Catherine Morland who is taken to the fashionable resort of Bath with her friends the Allens. From there she travels to the eponymous medieval abbey, the seat of the Tilneys. As an impressionable girl, Catherine becomes obsessed with the possible atrocities going on at Northanger Abbey, inspired by Radcliffe's novel. As ever, Austen cannot resist injecting a little romance into proceedings and she puts Captain Tilney under the spell of the unpleasant, scheming Isabella Thorpe. The novel's central theme, common to Emma and Sense and Sensibility is the peril of confusing life and art: in this instance literature.
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Details
- Bookseller
- E C Books
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 033237
- Title
- Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
- Author
- Jane Austen
- Illustrator
- Hugh Thomson
- Format/Binding
- Decorative Cloth
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- N
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Macmillan and Co., Limited
- Place of Publication
- London and New York
- Date Published
- 1897
- Size
- 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- illustrated austen; early jane austen; hugh thomson; decorative cloth bindings
- Bookseller catalogs
- LITERATURE; Fiction;
Terms of Sale
E C Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
E C Books
Biblio member since 2011
Birsay, Orkney
About E C Books
E C Books is a small online bookselling business, specialising in pre 20th century works:natural history, science, history, and travel, aiming for rarer and more unusual books. Our largest stock area is Natural History, where we have a good range of books from the 1700-1800's, many finely illustrated. Other areas include children's books, particularly late 1800's-early 1900's - again illustrated; and literature pre 1900.When you order books from us we ensure that they are properly packed to protect condition, and we always use recorded or 'signed for' postal services for more secure delivery. Please note that we have recently moved to the beautiful Orkney Islands, where we intend to open a bookshop over the next year. Because of our location we cannot guarantee 'next day' delivery but we will get your purchase to you as quickly and safely as we can.Please note that the buyer is responsible for the payment of any tax or duty on import.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Half Title
- The blank front page which appears just prior to the title page, and typically contains only the title of the book, although, at...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- AEG
- All Edges Gilt. Describes a book in which the top, fore edge and bottom of the outside of the pages are decorated with gold...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
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