“Cheap books make good authors canonical.” – Janine Barchas
The Lost Books of Jane Austen by Janine Barchas is a beautiful book – a bound hardcopy with almost one hundred color photographs of affordable, mass-produced novels that, outside of expensive hand pressed editions, contributed to Jane Austen’s ever-increasing fame. The detective work and scholarship that Dr. Barchas embarked on for a decade to find hundreds of inexpensive, disposable Jane Austen books to study their role in Austen’s rapidly growing popularity is awe inspiring.
Some readers may fear that such a well-researched, seemingly dry topic would be hard to follow. It is not. In fact, Barchas’s tales about searching for unvalued books, many of which were tossed in a rubbish bin or shredded, and her forays in consulting census materials and birth and marriage records to pursuit information about the books’ owners had me turning the pages.
After Jane Austen’s death in 1817, her popularity with the public lay fallow. In 1833, publisher Richard Bentley purchased the rights to her novels and introduced them at a lower price than the finer three-volume editions that were published during her time, when books cost as much as a week’s wages for ordinary people. The timing of these cheap publications coincided with the advent of train travel and innovations in the publishing business. Changes in printing, binding, paper making, and distribution led to inexpensive versions of Jane’s (and others’) novels.
During Austen’s life, print runs were large and costly, and not guaranteed to sell out. The new technology resulted in flat plates or stereotype plates that allowed for printing new orders as they were needed. Instead of publishing three volume novels, Bentley offered one book, which saved paper. By the 1840s, cheap paperback editions with advertisements printed inside targeted train travelers, bringing Austen’s work to the masses. (These days one can find paperback vending machines in public spaces abroad.)
In 1866, Bentley sold his plates at auction for all his standard novels. Stereotype plates were used by different publishers, since plates lasted 50 years or more. Interestingly, although the stereotype plates used in new publications remained the same, publishers like Routlidge proudly boasted that these were new editions, when only the book cover and papers changed. The interior print with layouts and page numbers remained the same, as chronicled by Barchas in her book. (Click to view slide show of page samples.)
Image 1.5, p. 18 – Opening page of central text of Sense and Sensibility in copies from figure 1.2 printed decades apart from the same stereotype plate.
Not all the economical books were tossed aside. Miss Sybil Daniell kept her copy of Sense and Sensibility, given to her by her father. Barchas traced details of the Daniell family through census and birth and death records. She also traced the lives of Miss Emma Morris, who owned a copy of Emma, and Charlotte M. Mills, the proud possessor of a copy of Northanger Abbey-Persuasion. Virginia Woolf was inspired by Austen’s words. She returned frequently to her heavily stained, cheap Austen novel copies for rereading. These are some of the books that lasted in private collections for Barchas to study.
The Lost Books of Jane Austen is so rich in history and detail that I could write a book reviewing it. I’ll end this critique using my own cheap paper back copies, which I have preserved through eight moves since my purchase. My thoughts are inspired by the last chapter, “Pinking Jane Austen.”
Emma, 1964 Washington Square Press Book. Pride and Prejudice, 1962, Airmont Book Classic. Persuasion, 1966, An Airmont Classic. Vic’s personal paperbacks.
After graduating from college, I was surprised to learn that there were male Austen fans, for during my youth and up to this day, aggressive niche marketing of Jane Austen novels targeted female students and women in general. Gender signaling used pink to subtly attract the female sex to Austen’s books, which were often found in the romance sections at bookstores. I had no idea I was being manipulated, since I thought I was reading the works of a masterful author. I kept these three so-called disposable paperback novels for the hours of pleasure they gave me in my youth. As you can see, the covers reflect the 1960’s – the era in which they were published. One might say they are tasteless. Elizabeth Bennet, looking like a glammed up Brontë heroine, wears heavy eye makeup, dark pink lipstick, and pink bows. A Victorian Emma sports painted pink cheeks and bright pink lips. Anne Elliot is a vision in Edwardian pink. Our mousy heroine has been given a dramatic make over, with heavy eye liner and luscious pink lips that would make a Kardashian drool. Her body is too enviable for words.
Inside all three books, the paper has yellowed and I’m afraid to open them for fear of breaking their spines. Nevertheless, these books will stay with me forever, which I think is one reason why Janine Barchas was able to find enough cheap books to trace over time – like me, many individuals who possessed them cherished them, regardless of their tawdriness.
I’ll keep Barchas’s lovely, informative book on my shelves for years to come. It’s the season for gift giving. I can think of no more appropriate gift for the bibliophile in your life than The Lost Books of Jane Austen.
Purchase Information
The Lost Books of Jane Austen, Janine Barchas, Johns Hopkins University Press
304 Pages
978-1-4214-3159-8 $35.00
Also available as an e-book
Purchase Links: Johns Hopkins University Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Author Bio:
Janine Barchas is the Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor of English Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Matters of Fact in Jane Austen: History, Location, and Celebrity and Graphic Design, Print Culture, and the Eighteenth-Century Novel. She is also the creator behind What Jane Saw (www.whatjanesaw.org).
Author articles:
- Marie Kondo’s Contributions to the Reception History of Jane Austen, Janine Barchas, 04/09/2019, http://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/marie-kondos-contributions-reception-history-jane-austen
- The Lost Copies of Northanger Abbey, Janine Barchas, Persuasions, Volume 40, #1, 2019, http://jasna.org/publications/persuasions-online/volume-40-no-1/barchas/
Other reviews:
- The Lost Books of Jane Austen by Janine Barchas review – how Austen’s reputation has been warped, The Guardian, John Mullan, Wed 11, Dec 2019. Downloaded 12/17/2019: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/11/lost-books-of-jane-austen-janine-barchas
Monday, December 9th: Lit and Life
Tuesday, December 10th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, December 10th: Broken Teepee
Wednesday, December 11th: The Sketchy Reader
Thursday, December 12th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Thursday, December 12th: Laura’s Reviews
Friday, December 13th: View from the Birdhouse
Monday, December 16th: Savvy Verse & Wit
Monday, December 16th: Austenprose – A Jane Austen Blog
Tuesday, December 17th: Blunt Scissors Book Reviews
Thursday, December 19th: Jane Austen’s World
Friday, December 20th: My Jane Austen Book Club
Friday, December 20th: Diary of an Eccentric
Jane Austen's World 