Introduction. Austen on the cheap -- Vignette I. Marianne & Gertrude -- Paperback fighter: Austen for the people -- Vignette II. Emma at the Seaside -- Sense, sensibility, and soap: Lever promotions in the 1890s -- Vignette III. The old sea captain & William Price -- Looking divine: wrapping Austen in the religious -- Vignette IV. Charlotte & a real castle -- Selling with paintings: a curious history of the cheap prestige reprint -- Vignette V. Young Heman's summer in Paris -- Pinking Jane Austen: the turn to "chick lit" -- Vignette VI. Lady Isabella's Mansfield Park -- Women's work: from school edition to scholarly Austen -- Vignette VII. Annie's prized gift.
Summary:
"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.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.