Austen's "Northanger Abbey" And "Persuasion" Thomson-Illustrated, 1900.

AUSTEN, Jane, [DOBSON, Austin, introduction], [THOMSON, Hugh, illustrator]. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. London: Macmillan and Co., 1900.

First Thomson-illustrated edition. Second issue (reprint of the 1899 First Edition.) Octavo (8vo). Original red cloth decoratively stamped in dark acanthus-scroll designs to upper board and spine. All edges gilt. Illustrated endpapers; engraving illustrations and frontispiece by Hugh Thomson. Four pages of publisher’s advertisements at rear; [xvi], pp. 444, 6 pp. adverts.

Contents clean with well-preserved text block and sound structure throughout; gentle toning to pages as expected; foxing to endpapers and tissue guard. Binding firm with slight lean to spine; light to moderate shelf wear on edges, consistent with age.

This finely produced late Victorian gift book brings together two of Austen’s most contrasting works. Northanger Abbey, first published posthumously in 1818, playfully parodies the Gothic novels fashionable at the close of the eighteenth century. Persuasion, Austen’s final completed novel, reflects the greater emotional maturity and restraint characteristic of her later writing. Centered upon characters Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth’s renewed attachment after years of separation, the novel has long been admired for its themes of memory, regret, and second chances.

A well preserved and beautiful edition of Jane Austen's final novels.