It was on this day, happy day indeed! ~  in 1813, that Pride & Prejudice “by the author of Sense & Sensibility” was published by T. Egerton, London. 

Austen received her own copy on January 27, as she states in her letter of January 29,  “I have got my own darling Child from London.”   [LeFaye, Letter 79; Chapman Letter 76].  It was advertised in The Morning Chronicle on Thursday January 28 under “Books Published This Day” in a run of an unknown number of copies, assumed to be around 1500 [see Keynes Bibliography].  The first edition sold out rapidly, a second edition was also printed in 1813 and a third edition came out four years later.  The first edition, published in three volumes, was bound in blue paper-covered boards with a white paper label on the spine.  Austen sold the copyright to Egerton for £110; the book sold for 18s.  Today this first edition is for sale starting at £65,000.  [see Abebooks.com for a listing of a few available first editions]… but as we all know the true value of this book is not to be calculated in numbers….  thank you Jane Austen for enlarging so many lives with your brilliance!

First Edition Title Page