Four of Jane Austen’s six novels were published in her lifetime: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815). They each appeared in the three-volume format standard at the time, and following common practice Austen published them anonymously (although the title pages made clear that they were all by the same author). It was not until the posthumous publication in 1818 of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion that her name was revealed to the reading public. The copy of Sense and Sensibility shown here was once the property of the Diss Book Society. It was not a revered object: one unimpressed early reader wrote on the flyleaf of the first volume: ‘More absolute Trash was never written than in the present work.’

Dunston B 119, 120, 121, 124; Arch. AA e.23