Persuasion by Miss Austen, an American First Edition

A recent purchase by the Washington College Archives now means we have a complete Jane Austen American First Edition.

In 1832, Cary & Lea Publishers of Philadelphia were the first to publish all of Jane Austen’s works in America. The firm published Emma in 1816 before Matthew Carey’s son Charles partnered with his brother-in-law Isaac Lea. Persuasion was Austen’s last completed novel and was published, along with Northanger Abbey, six months after her death in 1818. When it was published, the included biographical note finally revealed Jane Austen as the author. It is a tale that follows Anne Elliot after she reunites with Naval Officer Frederick Wentworth seven years after their engagement was broken off.

It took over a decade for an American firm to publish her works, but these bore her name as the author. For decades, the library only had volume one of the book; many of Austen’s stories were printed as multiple volumes, in England as three, but Cary & Lea implemented cost-saving techniques, turning three volumes into two. Only having this half of the book could be due to the inscription on its front piece/title page showing that it belonged to Sarah Y. Goldsborough (1815-1888), the great-granddaughter of Dr. William Smith, founder of Washington College. It is a very appropriate book for a seventeen-year-old girl to be gifted. Her brother Nicholas (1810-1856) gave it to her.