Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Illustrated by Christina Hammond, [1899]

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice, A Novel.  London: The Gresham Publishing Co., [1899]. Illustrated by Christiana Hammond. With an Introduction by William Keith Leask. 8vo. In the publisher's decorative blue cloth boards, stamped in white, green, and gilt, after a design by Talwin Morris. New joints and linings. Presented with a new archival slipcase with inlay.

Presented is a beautifully bound edition of Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. Published in London by The Gresham Publishing Co., this 1899 edition is seen here in the original blue cloth boards, ornately stamped in white and green with a stunning peacock motif, and titled in gilt. The book is further embellished with illustrations by celebrated artist Christiana Hammond. A jewel of a book, this 1899 edition was issued at the height of Austen’s popularity and celebration as part of 19th century literary canon. 

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favorable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Austen’s use of biting irony, along with astute social commentary, have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars. 

With the publications of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), Austen achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818. Her six full-length novels were published anonymously and brought her only minimal success during her lifetime. 

After 1818, Austen’s novels remained out of print for 14 years until the publisher Richard Bentley purchased the rights to all six novels from Austen’s publisher T. Egerton and family members Henry and Cassandra Austen. In 1833, Bentley reissued the books as part of his “Standard Novels” series. At the time of the Bentley reissues, Jane Austen was still regarded as a niche writer. Only a few hundred copies of her books were published and reprinted over the years. When Bentley’s copyrights expired, other printers began to publish her works, yet book sales remained modest. It was not until the publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869, written by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, that interest in Jane Austen was renewed. 

It was serious literary analysis that placed Austen firmly within the literary canon, elevating her status to a writer worthy of study and analysis. In an 1870 North British Review, Richard Simpson wrote that Austen, “began by being an ironical critic; she manifested her judgment ... not by direct censure, but by the indirect method of imitating and exaggerating the faults of her models. ... Criticism, humour, irony, the judgment not of one that gives sentence but of the mimic who quizzes while he mocks, are her characteristics.” Twenty years later, Godwin Smith published the Life of Jane Austen, the first formal analysis of Jane Austen’s writing in 1890. In 1892, London publisher J. M. Dent issued the first collected edition of her works to include critical commentary, which resulted in very strong sales.

Just before the turn of the century, Austen’s popularity soared, with book sales to match. This 1899 edition of Pride & Prejudice was issued at the peak of Austen’s popularity and appreciation. 

The book’s binding was designed by Talwin Morris (1865-1911). Bound in blue cloth boards, the design is embossed mostly in white, in mirror image on front and back covers. It features diagonal arabesques as stylized feathers, dividing the covers into two outlined panels. Each panel contains several peacock crest motifs with green reniform centers and white dots in the corners. The title is stamped in gilt serifed capitals on the upper front cover. On the spine, within a white dotted frame, nine feather ribs branch from the center base; the three middle ones bear the peacock crest motif. Talwin Morris was an architect and designer. He started in graphic design in 1891, when he took a job as an art sub-editor for the magazine Black & White. From 1893 to 1909, he was the head of Blackie & Sons Art Department. Morris took a modern approach to his book cover designs; his designs extended the influence and reach of the Glasgow Style, a refreshing blend of Celtic and Japanese art. His book cover designs relied on more decorative and symbolic elements, rather than the typical pictorial style of the time. His designs were tailored to their markets, and it was his designs for The Gresham Publishing Company that were the most elaborate, and now most celebrated. 

This book is further decorated with illustrations by “Chris. Hammond.” Working under a male pseudonym, artist and illustrator Christiana Mary Demain Hammond (1860-1900) abbreviated her first name from "Christina" to "Chris." to help secure work. Very much like author Jane Austen, Hammond never married and lived with her sister, also an artist. Working in a predominantly male industry, she went on to become one of the most productive illustrators of the 1890s. She was the first identifiably female illustrator of Jane Austen's novels, illustrating three Austen titles for two different publishers. Critics note that “when compared with other members of the Cranford School, Hammond's Austen illustrations are on the whole more serious, less whimsical, and more visually surprising than Thomson's or the Brocks'” (Loosey, The Golden Age for Illustrated Austen, 2017). Hammond died unexpectedly in May of 1900, making this edition of Pride and Prejudice the last book she illustrated. 

CONDITION: 

Very good condition. Octavo. In the publisher's decorative blue cloth binding, after a design by Talwin Morris. With gilt title to the front, decorative border and peacock-inspired motif. Gilt titles to spine and white and green peacock border and motif continued on spine and back board. Rubbing and bumping to edges and spine. New joints & linings, head and tail caps stiffened. Overall clean interior, only scattered foxing, more prominent in rear pages, and light toning. Original grey endpaper, with past owner's inscription "L. Geomand" on front free endpaper. Biographical introduction by William Keith Leask. Six illustrations, including the frontispiece, by Christina Hammond. The book is presented with a new archival cloth slipcase with an inlaid portrait of Austen. 

Book Dimensions: 8 1/16"H x 5 13/16"W x 1 5/8"D. Slipcase Dimensions: 8 1/2"H x 6 1/8"W x 2 1/8"D. 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.