A precious literary item that was previously in the possession of esteemed English novelist Jane Austen, author of classics like "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma," is currently headlining Sotheby's "Fine Books and Manuscripts" auction in New York. The item, Isaac D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature," will be opened for bidding last Nov. 22 and will only run until Dec. 8.
Austen's almost pristine copy of the book, with slight marks of aging and water damage, is projected to sell between $100,000 to $150,000. As it is the personal belonging of the beloved author, it is riddled with markings over crucial passages and themes that would later be the foundation of Austen's own set of novels.
The memento is from a privately owned collection which means this sale is its foray into the public perception since the 1940s.
Isaac D'Israeli's Influence on Jane Austen as a Writer
In a statement, Kalika Sands, a books and manuscripts specialist at Sotheby's, shared that the copy of "Curiosities of Literature" is an outstanding historical collectible that outlines Austen's fascinations as a "reader," while also providing insights on the author's "writing process."
the book itself, first published in 1791, is a well-liked collection of short essays that includes tales about historically significant individuals and the habits that book collectors have. It is also the main inspiration that Austen had as a young writer, effectively molding her literary inclinations.
Austen, who lived from 1775 to 1817, was the daughter of a minister and she was not able to undergo formal education. As a child, she would routinely frequent her father's house library in Steventon, England, where she became a "bookworm."
While reading her copy of "Curiosities," she would jot down striking passages about England's society, eventually building the initial "scaffoldings" for her own books off of those ideas. Her own novels like "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice."
Surviving manuscripts in Austen's possession are incredibly rare, as the common consensus is there are only about 20 titles she was known to have had. According to the auction, this particular text was "especially important for Austen's scholarship," as it peeled back the curtain on the author's processes.
Jane Austen's Own Books Fetching a Premium Price
Austen herself has copies of her books currently selling for tens of thousands of dollars, specifically a set of five first-edition Austen novels that could fetch over $100,000 in an auction in Gloucestershire, England, to be held on Dec. 15. The set is part of a UK private collection that acquired the books for only $5,000 back in the 1970s and 1980s.
The rarest text in the set is the copy of "Sense and Sensibility" which is believed to be a 1 in 1,000, as the book was scarcely printed when it was first published anonymously in 1811. In addition, the 1813 copy of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" within the auctioned set is considered to be a 1 in 1,500.
Chris Albury, Auctioneer at Dominic Winter Auctions, told BBC that the copies of the latter were highly sought-after collectibles due to it being the first initial prints, while the former's value was connected to its sheer rarity.
