Leather-bound set of Jane Austen works, Morocco over marbled boards, USA, 1892. 6 Volumes. Each volume measures 5″ x 7.5″ x 1.5″. Manhattan Rare Books Co.
This week, the Bank of England honors a writer who never wasted word by choosing celebrated author Jane Austen to grace the £10 note, likely in circulation in 2017. The banknote features a portrait of Austen, scenes of the two country houses where she wrote several of her masterpieces, and a truism any bibliophile can attest to: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading.” In honor of the occasion, we showcase this gorgeous leather-bound set of Austen’s oeuvre from Manhattan Rare Books; a literary collection few Austen aficionados with several £10 notes could resist.
Jane Austen 10-pound note unveiled. Source: news.com.au
In a twist of gentle irony Austen would have appreciated, the quote the Bank chose for the note is actually a disingenuous statement made by the mercenary Caroline Bingley in the author’s most popular novel, Pride and Prejudice. While Ms. Bingley is only pretending to love books to woo the very wealthy Mr. Darcy, Austen herself was far from devaluing the importance of currency to contentment. In Sense and Sensibility, when the romantic Marianne Dashwood indignantly cries “What have wealth or grandeur to do with happiness?” her pragmatic sister (and Austen’s literary surrogate), Elinor replies, “Grandeur has but little…but wealth has much to do with it.”
“Pride and Prejudice” (1813). Manhattan Rare Books Co.
Like many of her memorable heroines, Jane Austen (1775 -1817) existed on the far end of the sliding scale of English landed gentry, where lack of money often meant fewer social opportunities. As she once wrote in a personal letter, “Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor…which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony.” While Austen was being characteristically wry, she probably would have agreed that while money can’t buy happiness, it certainly doesn’t hurt. (Especially if your taste runs to beautiful collectible editions of your favorite world-class satirist.)
