Life around the library

Born in 1775, Austen grew up in a family that was considered to be part of the local "gentry," or landed gentry, but of the poorer section. Her father, George, was an Oxford-educated minister. Her mother, Cassandra, had aristocratic connections. The center of the writer's family home was a well-stocked library. Manors in Great Britain at that time were centers of culture. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, without literary experience (and, of course, the appropriate wealth and family connections), one had no place in elegant society. "New trends in art created a very important fashion for the wealthier classes of society to have a library. Not only large manors, but also more modest landed gentry houses, as well as rectories staffed by clergy with intellectual ambitions, had it as a point of honor to have a library, the size of which depended on the wealth of the owner. […] in no other era were so many private libraries created […]" - noted Anna Przedpełska-Trzeciakowska in her book Jane Austen and her rational romances . Moreover, as the expert on the subject has stated, Mark Purcell , judging by the number of marginal notes, written in different hands at different times, these books were actually read.

Growing up in such a home and environment, the young girl always had access to books. "She roamed freely among the venerable and less venerable books, writing her comments on them with an ease that would have surprised a Victorian young lady of her age half a century later," writes Przedpełska-Trzaskowska. It should also come as no surprise that Jane reached for the pen very early, when she was only a teenager.

A writing debut

Austen began writing novels in the early 1790s. The first of these was Elinor and Marianne , or today's Sense and Sensibility . The first version of the novel, still in the epistolary style characteristic of the era, that is, written in the form of letters, sometimes interspersed with fragments of diary, was completed in 1795. In 1796, Austen began work on First impressions (today known as Pride and Prejudice ). Finally, in the first weeks of 1799, it was completed Northanger Abbey , originally titled Susan , and later Catherine . There is still one in the writer's vast drawer. Lady Susan , her first completed work, written in 1794 when she was only 19.

However, there is a long way from writing to publishing. As early as 1797 Pride and Prejudice was offered to the publisher Thomas Caldwell. He rejected it, however. The earliest to be sold (in 1803) Northanger Abbey . Except that the publisher, Richard Crosby & Son, did not publish the novel, although Austen received her first money earned from writing: £10 (worth about 5,000 today). Years later, it turned out to be a rather bad deal. Caldwell had the copyright to Northanger Abbey and demanded a round sum for reselling them. The negotiations proved so difficult that the book was not published during the writer's lifetime.

Austen, supported by her many siblings, did not intend to give up. She constantly revised her novels and searched for a publisher. Finally, one was found. Thomas Egerton decided to publish "Sense and Sensibility". However, in accordance with the customs of the era, Egerton did not intend to pay for anything. All the costs associated with the edition were covered by the Austen family. Jane herself was so afraid of financial failure that she even prepared an appropriate amount to compensate for the potential losses of the publisher. In October 1811, Sense and Sensibility It was published in a considerable edition, considering the circumstances: about 750 copies. The work, contained in three volumes, cost 15 shillings.

Interestingly, Austen did not sign it. The author was anonymously referred to as "Lady". However, the book was a success: a second edition appeared in October 1813. Austen earned £140 (equivalent to 49,000 today) from the book. The writer could not have known this, but it is clear from the surviving accounts that the first reader to buy her novel was the Prince Regent himself, the future George IV. Austen, sharing the sentiments of her circle, could not stand the Prince Regent because he was a womaniser, a bigamist, a gambler and a spendthrift. All these vices were at odds with the rather conservative norms of the English landed gentry.

The year 1813 was an important one for the writer. In January, the printing press Pride and Prejudice , a success. The second edition of this novel appeared in the same year, and the third in 1817. The print run was also larger: 1,500 copies. It was a real bestseller of its time. Austen was slowly losing her comfortable anonymity: this time the book was attributed to "The Author of Sense and Sensibility". Another earnings also appeared: £110 (which is about PLN 43,000 today). The measure of success was the publication by Engerton in May 1814. Mansfield Park , which sold out within six months.

The writer, wanting to earn more money, resigned from her previous publisher. She then began working with John Murray's publishing company. Founded in 1764 and run at the time by John Murray II, the publishing house was a place where the most important British writers, such as Lord Byron or Walter Scott. “I woke up one morning, and found myself famous,” wrote a sincerely astonished Byron on March 10, 1812, after his second book Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Murray sold it in just five days. And it was Murray who was responsible for reissuing it Mansfield Park and the last novel published during Austen's lifetime, Emma . In the case of this last book, Austen acted like a true entrepreneur, exploiting the popularity of a brand she already had.

Princely approval

Although her name was not given in the books, she did not long succeed in preserving her anonymity. "I learned that Miss Austen was my countrywoman (we were both born in Hampshire), and that Mother knew the whole family well; she (Jane) was a spinster (I beg your pardon, a young lady) whom Mother knew very well before she married. Mother says that (in her youth) she was the prettiest, silliest, husband-hunting butterfly; and my friend, with whom Miss Austen is now on terms, says that she had stiffened into a vulgar, pedantic, taciturn form of spinsterhood, and until 'Pride and Prejudice' proved what a priceless jewel there was in that stiff little thing, she was treated in society as one treats a poker or a screen before the fire, or any piece of wood or iron that stands silently and silently in the corner. Now the situation is entirely changed; she is still a poker player, but a poker player that everyone is afraid of" – recalls the testimony from the Przedpełska-Trzeciakowska era.

So when the news spread in London that the writer was preparing her next novel She was contacted by James Stanier Clarke , the Prince Regent's private librarian. He made her an offer she couldn't refuse: to dedicate Emma to the unpopular prince. And thus came "one of the worst sentences I ever addressed to the printer," Austen wrote. "To His Royal Highness the Prince Regent. This work, with His Majesty's permission, is most respectfully dedicated by his devoted and obedient humble servant, the Author." The dedication clearly states.

A courtly bow, but also an advertisement. Dedications, especially to the man who actually ruled Great Britain, were not made just like that; one had to have permission. And that was already an obvious distinction. Especially since London gossip had it that Clarke had suggested to Austen the subject of another novel: this time it was to concern the royal family. However, this project remained unfulfilled. It is also doubtful whether Austen herself would have taken on the subject. Nevertheless, thanks to him, the writer's rich correspondence with Clarke has survived. And that is already valuable material for historians.

With official royal blessing Emma was published in December 1815 (although the books already have the year 1816). Austen then began writing another work entitled Persuasion . The book (along with Northanger Abbey ) was published after the writer's death, in December 1817. At the same time, it was the first edition in which the author was no longer anonymous, because it also included her extensive biography. She had to wait even longer for publication Lady Susan . Austen's first novel did not hit bookstores until 1871, at a time when the milieu and its customs that Austen wrote about were already fading away.