"The author traces the significant yet underappreciated historical role that mass-market paperbacks of Jane Austen's books have played in making her the celebrated author she is today. This is a work of bibliography and of literary history. The author has amassed a large collection of rare and forgotten Austen volumes with rich, colorful, and sometimes gaudy covers that are featured, selectively, as figures in the book"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-273) and index.
Contents
Vignette I. Marianne & Gertrude -- Introduction. Austen on the cheap -- Vignette II. Emma at the Seaside -- Paperback fighter: Austen for the people -- Vignette III. The old sea captain & William Price -- Sense, sensibility, and soap: Lever promotions in the 1890s -- Vignette IV. Charlotte & a real castle -- Looking divine: wrapping Austen in the religious -- Vignette V. Young Heman's summer in Paris -- Selling with paintings: a curious history of the cheap prestige reprint -- Vignette VI. Lady Isabella's Mansfield Park -- Pinking Jane Austen: the turn to "chick lit" -- Vignette VII. Annie's prized gift.
