Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, Illustrated by Hugh Thomson, First Peacock Edition, 1894

Austen, Jane. Pride & Prejudice. London: George Allen, 1894. First Peacock Edition. Illustrated by Hugh Thomson. Octavo. Original green cloth pictorial gilt-stamped front board and spine, rebacked in green cloth. All edges gilt. Numerous text illustrations, frontispiece and title page illustrations. Presented with a new archival slipcase with inlay.

Presented is a beautiful first “Peacock” edition of Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. Published in London by George Allen, this 1894 edition is seen here in the original green cloth front board and spine, both ornately stamped in gilt with a stunning peacock motif. The book is further embellished with 160 in-text illustrations, frontispiece, and title page illustrated by renowned artist Hugh Thompson. A jewel of a book, and one of the most collectible editions, this 1894 “Peacock” edition was issued at the height of Austen’s popularity and celebration as part of 19th century literary canon. 

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favorable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Austen’s use of biting irony, along with astute social commentary, have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars. 

With the publications of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), Austen achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818. Her six full-length novels were published anonymously and brought her only minimal success during her lifetime. 

After 1818, Austen’s novels remained out of print for 14 years until the publisher Richard Bentley purchased the rights to all six novels from Austen’s publisher T. Egerton and family members Henry and Cassandra Austen. In 1833, Bentley reissued the books as part of his “Standard Novels” series. At the time of the Bentley reissues, Jane Austen was still regarded as a niche writer. Only a few hundred copies of her books were published and reprinted over the years. When Bentley’s copyrights expired, other printers began to publish her works, yet book sales remained modest. It was not until the publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869, written by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, that interest in Jane Austen was renewed. 

It was serious literary analysis that placed Austen firmly within the literary canon, elevating her status to a writer worthy of study and analysis. In an 1870 North British Review, Richard Simpson wrote that Austen, “began by being an ironical critic; she manifested her judgment ... not by direct censure, but by the indirect method of imitating and exaggerating the faults of her models. ... Criticism, humour, irony, the judgment not of one that gives sentence but of the mimic who quizzes while he mocks, are her characteristics.” Twenty years later, Godwin Smith published the Life of Jane Austen, the first formal analysis of Jane Austen’s writing in 1890. In 1892, London publisher J. M. Dent issued the first collected edition of her works to include critical commentary, which resulted in very strong sales.

Just before the turn of the century, Austen’s popularity soared, with book sales to match. This 1894 edition of Pride & Prejudice was issued at the peak of Austen’s popularity and appreciation. Known as the “Peacock” edition, the boards of this book feature a stunning gilt peacock with fully fanned-out tail feathers on the front with a matching gilt design on the spine. This beautiful edition is probably the most famous and collectable later edition of Pride and Prejudice. It features illustrations by Hugh Thomson, an Irish artist whose popularity rose in the 1880s after illustrating Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford and several titles by Charles Dickens. 

Earlier editions of Pride and Prejudice usually included only one or two illustrations, usually as a frontispiece, yet this “Peacock” edition was the first to include illustrations throughout, fully integrating them into the story. The edition contains 160 in-text illustrations showing all significant parts of the story, as well as a frontispiece illustration and illustrated title page. Thomson’s ability to capture the spirit of the novel’s scenes in his lively, often humorous drawings provides readers with a visual link to the story and characters and helped make this edition a collector favorite.

After the success of this edition of Pride and Prejudice, Thomson went on to illustrate all six of Austen’s completed novels. His editions of Emma and Sense and Sensibility were published in 1896 by Macmillan and Co. with Mansfield Park and a combined edition of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion both published in 1897. However, his 1894 edition of Pride and Prejudice remains his most popular.

CONDITION: 

Very good condition. Octavo. Original green cloth front board and spine, pictorial gilt-stamped with Peacock and feathers. Rebacked in green cloth. All edges gilt. Interior pages are very healthy. Frontispiece and title-page with light marginal toning from tissue guard. Numerous text illustrations, frontispiece and title page illustrations. Presented with a new archival cloth slipcase with inlay. 

Book Dimensions: 7 3/8" H x 5 1/4" W x 1 3/8" D. Slipcase Dimensions: 7 3/4" H x 5 5/16" W x 1 7/8" D.

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.