1813 Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice" 2nd Edition
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GUEST:
This is a second-edition set of Pride and Prejudice printed in 1813. My dad bought it for me in London. I must have been 12, um...
APPRAISER:
That's a nice gift for a 12-year-old.
GUEST:
Yeah, I've always been a really voracious reader.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
And he went into a bookshop and apparently the woman in the bookshop showed him this second-edition set, and he said, "Oh, that's really nice, "but I'd like to get her something special. Do you have any first editions?" To which the woman in the bookshop replied, "No, there's around 100 of them in the world, and they're all in museums." And my dad said, "Oh, then I guess the second edition would be fine."
APPRAISER:
The author's name doesn't seem to appear on the title page. Do you know about that?
GUEST:
It actually says “Pride and Prejudice in three volumes by the author of Sense and Sensibility." When the books were published, it was not considered respectable for women to be writing, and certainly not publishing, and so frequently women, um, in the early 19th century did not have their names put into texts.
APPRAISER:
Right. Well, you're absolutely right. It's a second edition, 1813, London. The first edition, it came out in January. This came out a few months later. Because of the popularity that, the kind of smash hit that the book created, the demand was there, and they reprinted it right away. It's what we call a three-decker, meaning it's three-volume. A first edition of this book is rare. They're not all in museums, but the bookseller was at least being truthful. Normally a second edition, I would say, of any book, just like your dad, you know, it's, it's not likely going to be valuable, and it certainly isn't going to be what the first edition is. In this case, because the book was such an important book, and has such a key part in literature, that people like your dad have made that sacrifice of having to buy a second. Do you have any idea what he paid for it, or any...
GUEST:
He told me that he remembers paying maybe a couple of hundred dollars.
APPRAISER:
And, now, what year? Do you know when that was?
GUEST:
This would have been around 1995?
APPRAISER:
Second editions have come on the market, and the last copies have been bringing as high as in the $8,000 range.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
So I would put as an auction estimate on that $6,000 to $8,000 on it. And your insurance value would be higher, be around $9,000. It's probably one of the more valuable second editions you could find of any book. So it's, it's worth noting that.
GUEST:
Good to have.
APPRAISER:
Not always a first. You don't have to always be number one, you know?
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
You can be...
GUEST:
I don't think I could have afforded to insure the first. So it's okay.
APPRAISER:
(laughing): Yeah. Thank you for bringing it in.
GUEST:
Thank you so much.
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