Collection: Pride and Prejudice (Part One)

Pride and Prejudice

Seen here are the spines of my 10 copies of P&P.

I collect copies of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Why? Because I love everything about it: the story, the characters, the language, the message, and the sheer number of different covers. Pride and Prejudice is timeless.

Pictured:

• Dover Publications Inc., 1995.
• Cover harkens back to famous "Peacock Cover" of 1894 which was illustrated by Hugh Thomson.
• Personally, I like this colorful version better than Thomson's (but I wouldn't say no to owning his)!
• Penguin Group, 2005. (Notes by Viven Jones)
• Published to celebrate the movie starring Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen. 
• This was the copy I first read. My best friend forced me to go see the movie and I fell in love with it, so I read the book and fell even deeper. 

Pictured:

• Signet Classic, 1996. (Introduction by Margaret Drabble)
• This cover features Jane Elizabeth, Countess of Oxford painted in 1797 by John Hoppner. This information did not come the back cover or copyright page as it should have, however. All the back cover says is that it is from the Tate Gallery in London. So I went to their online catalog and searched through hundred of painting until I found her. 
• I bought this at a thrift store because a) it was a different cover, and b) someone annotated it. Maybe for school, maybe for fun, I'll never know but it excited me. I have yet to read the notes though. 
• Bantam Dell, 2003. 
• This cover features Miss Rosamond Croker (detail) by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1827). This information was found on the copyright page along with thanks to the Albright-Knox Gallery for the use of it. The Albright-Knox is in my hometown!
• I bought this copy to annotate myself. I also found a post-it on the last page that says "-men want beauty, money, status, connections, materialistic objects. -women didn't have career. men were to work and make money."
• Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003. (Introduction and notes by Carol Howard)
• This cover features a close up of Berthe Morisot from Edouard Manet's The Balcony (1868).

Pictured:

• Pocket Books, Inc., 1941. 
• Cover shows vibrantly colored Elizabeth and Darcy, illustrator not known. The edges of the book are also red like the endpapers. 
• This is the oldest copy I own at this moment for sure.
• Books, Inc., Year Unknown 
• Year Unknown, but not for lack of trying. From the little information I could get about the "Art Type Editions, The World's Popular Classics" series is that there are a lot of books in it and not a single one has a copyright date. I can't find a single bit of information on the publisher or when they printed this series of books. Some say 1900 or during the 40s, when another says 1964. This book's age will remain a mystery for now.
• My Aunt gave me this book along with a bunch of other books she found of my grandmother's and it is my only hard cover edition of P&P.  
• Scholastic Book Sources, 1968. (Introduction by EM Halliday)
• The green and blue seemingly watercolor painting on the cover is not given an illustrator anywhere in the book.I like how calm this cover is. 

Pictured:

• Pemberly Digital in association with DFTBA Records, 2013. (Forward by Hank Green)
• This is my favorite copy of P&P because it is the Lizzie Bennet Diaries Edition along with my LBD DVD set which I purchased through the Kickstarter.
• The artwork on the cover is by Valeria Bogado who was discovered on DeviantArt by Hank after she drew some fanart for The Fault in Our Stars by Hank's brother John. 
• It has an awesome forward by Hank Green, vlogbrother and co-founder of the series, that is prefaced with a photo of him, and the actresses who play Lizzie, Jane, Lydia and Charlotte in the webseries. It also has a four page spread of the best LBD stills.
• Evensen Creative, 2014. (Introduction, Annotations, and Artwork by Erika Svanoe)
• This is the companion edition to Marrying Mr. Darcy: the Pride and Prejudice Card Game. It was made to explain the inspirations behind the game that Erika created. 
• I have yet to read this edition, but since playing the amazing card game, that I helped fund with it's Kickstarter campaign, I am really excited about it.

This is the first part of what will probably become an ongoing series of posts showcasing my collection. Seen above are ten different editions of Pride and Prejudice, I think with every 5 new editions I collect I will post another blog showcasing those copies. 

~Laura!