Rediscovered! A Jane Austen Rarity: Strictly Limited to 250 Copies

 

CHARADES

BY JANE AUSTEN

AND HER FAMILY

 

Originally published in 1895, compiled from the Austen family papers, and largely forgotten since, now available in a facsimile edition, strictly limited to 250 copies.

 

Presented with a hand-numbered print, also limited to 250 copies, of the famous silhouette portrait of ‘L’aimiable Jane’, reproduced at the same size as the original, held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

 

“You may lie on my first by the side of a stream,

And my second compose to the nymph that you adore…”

From one of the charades, or riddles, composed by Jane Austen

 

From the introduction:

“It is hoped that these old-fashioned charades and conundrums possess a degree of merit sufficient to afford entertainment to any persons inclined to take pleasure in this kind of amusement, and, more especially, that they may interest that inner circle of readers who love the name of Jane Austen.

It is not as a celebrated writer that she appears in these pages, but as one of a family group gathered round the fireside at Steventon Rectory, Chawton Manor House, or Godmersham Park, to enliven long evenings… by merry verses and happy, careless inventions of the moment, such as flowed without difficulty from the lively minds and ready pens of those amongst whom she lived.”

 

Includes contributions from Jane’s father, mother, brothers James, Henry and Francis, sister Cassandra and of course Jane herself.

 

Includes illustrations, a family tree, and the all-important solutions — though will you be able to deduce the answer to the riddle by Jane Austen’s father, which was not included in the family papers, and stumped the compiler?

 

A chapbook in A5 format, 40pp, printed on silk paper stock, with a cover printed on heavyweight Tintoresso Gesso paper.

Presented with a hand-numbered print, also limited to 250 copies, and printed on heavy card stock, of the silhouette portrait of ‘L’aimiable Jane’, reproduced at the same size as the original which is held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

 

This chapbook and print set is strictly limited to 250 copies, and will not be reprinted.

 

Ordering details below: keep scrolling!

 

 

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Martin Stiff at Amazing15 for his mastery, bringing this forgotten publication back to life in a facsimile edition, and taking the crudely snipped-out ‘L’aimable Jane’ original and turning it into an elegant print. ‘Possibly Jane Austen’ (aka ‘L’amiable Jane’) by Unknown Artist. NPG 3181. Used under licence. 

 

 

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PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT POSTAGE RATE: UK, OR REST OF THE WORLD. 

 

If you are in the UK, choose the

£11.99 option for the postage inclusive price

 

If you are in the Rest of the World, choose the 

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Austen Ltd edition: Choose Region From Drop Down Menu

Austen Ltd ed. inc UK P&P £11.99 GBP Austen ltd ed. inc International P&P £17.99 GBP

Is This The Most Beautiful Jane Austen Edition Ever?

There's a particular edition of Pride and Prejudice that has become highly collectable. It goes for a decent whack, but is somewhat more affordable than the fifty-odd thousand quid a first edition will set you back.

This edition was first published in 1894, and it's the interior illustrations and especially the spectacular binding design, both by Hugh Thomson, which are the draw. The peacock design, now conveniently out of copyright, has ended up on everything from t-shirts to bags and watches.

A copy of this edition has recently come (and gone) from the Little Shop...

... which prompted me to look for a bit of background to the original design.

There's an interesting piece on Thomson's binding designs by Simon Cooke here.

This is what Cooke has to say about the now iconic Pride and Prejudice design.

"Thomson’s bindings are further concerned with the visualization of tone. Representing key scenes and characters is a fundamental device, but Thomson tries to convey the texts’ ambience as well. The gilt extravagance establishes a cheerful note, yet at a deeper level the bindings crystallize the tenor of novels’ imaginative worlds. The image on the front board of Pride and Prejudice exemplifies this approach. Austen’s tale is primarily concerned with wealth and display, but Thomson suggests that its main focus is courtship and the working of vanity, symbolising the various love-stories in the emblem of a peacock with spreading tail-feathers. Thomson’s design is extravagant, excessive, self-indulgent, and, in a calculated sense of the term, pointless beyond its ornamentalism: the very qualities that characterize the lives of Austen’s personae and are summed up in his luxurious image."

 
So there you go.