classic editions | Thornfield Hall

Illustration of Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in *Pride & Prejudice,* by c. E. Brock (1895)

I am delighted by my summer rereading of Jane Austen, admiring the details in books I had previously considered slight. The advantage to reading them back-to-back is noticing the deepening of her characterization as she hones her style over the years. And I realize that not all of the books are comedies, though all have comic elements.

But for the moment, as a preamble to observations on Jane, let’s chat on a shallow note about the pros and cons of different editions. I am not exactly a collector, no rare 19th-century editions here, but I have at least two different copies of each of my favorite Austen novels. It is a treat I allow myself as a “by-God-yes-I’m-a-bibliophile!”

Austen Sets & Partial Sets

I always begin with Penguin, my favorite publisher of classics. I love the charming designs of the seven-volume Penguin Clothbound Classics set of Austen. The paper is creamy and thick and the books are durable. The pages do not tan as they often do in paperbacks. I do not have a complete set, but certainly appreciate those I have.

The Premier Penguin Clothbound Classics set

I am also a Penguin paperback fan. You can acquire the black-spined Penguin paperbacks of Austen separately and build your own set more cheaply than with hardbacks.

THE PENGUIN ADVANTAGE: attractive book, with scholarly notes, introductions, and appendices in hardcover and paperback.

A Penguin paperback edition of *Persuasion*

THE WORLD CLOUD CLASSICS SET. I am drawn to the bright covers of these “paperbacks” with vinyl-plastic flexible covers. The prices are reasonable, about $16 each, and you can buy them as a set (the cheapest price I’ve seen is $45). N.B. They look gorgeous, but I have not handled them personally, only seen them in photos. Caveat, emptor!

WORLD CLOUD CLASSICS ADVANTAGE. Design and cheapness.

THE HARPER MUSE JANE AUSTEN SET. This is my favorite Jane Austen set. I love the covers, which feature lacy laser-cut art, and the books are the perfect size, with just the right amount of heft. There are no illustrations but notable quotes are highlighted on pages of their own. What I’m saying is that I like the utilitarian design of the books. Nothing fancy on the pages, just the interaction between the text and the reader.

! THE HARPER MUSE ADVANTAGE: Lovely, unusual covers, no-frill pages, perfect print size.

THE MARJOLIN BASTIN EDITIONS. This series of three of Austen’s novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, features bright floral covers and illustrations of flowers by Marjolin Bastin. She is much admired by vloggers. The drawback: I had expected illustrations of the scenes and characters.

THE MARJOLIN BASTIN ADVANTAGE. Lovely design and illustrations, and these books lie open flat, like an oversized Moleskine notebook.

THE FOLIO SOCIETY COLLECTION. The beautiful Folio Society Austen set can be bought one book at a time, or one can splurge on the complete set. They are expensive, but unwieldy if you read in “the horizontal position. They are expensive, $75 per book, but it is a treat to have such a well-made edition.

The illustrations are gorgeous, often with a modern Gothic look, and I have enjoyed the introductions by novelists. Sebastian Faulkes explains his unique take on Darcy in his introduction to Pride and Prejudice: he comes right out and says how cruel Darcy is to Elizabeth. Fans don’t necessarily want to hear this, but Darcy is indeed more than aloof in the beginning.

THE FOLIO ADVANTAGE. The beautiful design and illustrations.

Do you have any favorite editions of Austen? There are so many.

Jane Austen is the most popular writer in the world. We base this on intuition, not stats: the Janeites are rather like Star Trek fans. They go to conventions and dress up in costumes. They go to balls. One hundred Janeites think nothing of squeezing into folding chairs in a smallish room to participate in a discussion of Pride and Prejudice. Alas, in such a crowd, only the loudest and fastest prevail. “Next time I’ll try pantomime,” one woman commented.

Janeites are also glued to the British film adaptations of Austen’s books: a TV series of Sanditon, one of her unfinished novels, was spun out to last three seasons. And of course they read and reread the books (as do I). Some read nothing but Jane. And they love Karen Joy Fowler’s The Jane Austen Book Club. And they love the film of The Jane Austen Book Club.

I adore Austen, but I prefer the Brontes. And I have noted that Bronte fans differ from Janeites in that they tend to be one-book fans: they may love Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, but are lukewarm about Emily’s lyrical Gothic, Wuthering Heights, or vice versa. Charlotte’s Villette, my own favorite, is often dismissed as too bleak, and though Anne Bronte is rising in popularity, her masterpiece, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, does not compare to her sisters’ work. Many will disagree!

But perhaps the greatest difference is the publishers’ approach to the two authors. Take the Penguin Clothbound Classics: the Austen collection has seven volumes: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Love and Friendship. The Penguin Clothbound Classics Bronte collection is less inclusive. It has only four novels out of the seven: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Villette, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Penguin Clothbound Classics Bronte Collection

I wonder: Where is Agnes Grey, my favorite of Anne’s? And what about Charlotte’s Shirley? Shirley, which Charlotte finished after the deaths of her brother and two sisters, while still mourning, may be uneven, but it is a solid 19th-century factory novel. Charlotte worried because one of Elizabeth Gaskell’s factory novels, Mary Barton, was published before Shirley. She thought that it might affect sales and reviews.

Shirley begins as an industrial novel, set in Yorkshire, centered on the clash between workers and manufacturers in 1811. But it is also a romance, and a study of women’s depression. The heroine, Caroline Helstone, is raised by her uncle, a bossy, opinionated clergyman. She falls in love with her Belgian cousin, Robert Moore, a mill owner, and it is the highlight of her day when, during her French lessons with her cousin Hortense, Robert appears. For very inadequate reasons, her uncle forbids her to visit the Helstones, and lonely Caroline becomes depressed and anorexic. Then Shirley, an energetic heiress, arrives in the neighborhood, and becomes Caroline’s best friend. The two are present when the mill workers strike: the men become violent when Robert Moore awaits a delivery of new machines, they fear (rightly) that some will be replaced. And if you like Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and Mary Barton, you will enjoy Shirley.

If you want a complete hardcover set, I recommend the Everyman’s Library editions. They are not sold as a set, but they make a set. Three volumes are devoted to Charlotte: one to Jane Eyre, another to Villette, and another to Shirley and The Professor; one to Emily’s Wuthering Heights; and one to Anne Bronte’s two novels. These attractive books, have enjoyable, smart introductions by critics and novelist, but in general they are less scholarly than the Penguins.

You can also make your own set with Penguin and Oxford World Classics paperbacks. If you’re a Bronte girl, there are plenty of copies – even of Shirley. There is also a boxed complete Wordsworth paperback Bronte set, which one blogger raved about. I am not a fan of the Wordsworth covers, but there is nothing wrong with the books.