[AUSTEN, JANE]. Pride and Prejudice. London: George Allen, 1895.
SECOND 'PEACOCK EDITION'; leather-bound; hardcover; octavo (19 x 12.5 x 3.5 cm); pp. xxvii, 476. English text, with a preface by George Saintsbury and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Beautiful Arts & Crafts binding of full leather gilt by Truslove & Hanson (their gilt stamp to the front turn-in), all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, half-title. 160 line drawings including frontispiece, decorated title-page, part-page and full-page illustrations, decorative initials and chapter headings. There is a facsimile printed inscription: " To J. Comyns Carr, In acknowledgment of all I owe to his friendship and advice, these illustrations are gratefully inscribed. Hugh Thomson". Printed at the Chiswick Press:- Charles Whittingham and Co., Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight and secure with the hinges and joints intact. Slight fading and staining to covers. Interior very well-preserved. Inscription to front endpaper dated 1900.
Notes: This is a beautifully rebound copy by Truslove & Hanson of the renowned 'Peacock Edition' of Austen's classic, which is generally considered to be the finest illustrated interpretation of Jane Austen's popular novel. A very good copy in an Arts & Crafts binding, dated 1894 to the spine, although this is the 1895 second edition illustrated by Hugh Thomson, who was one of the most notable book illustrators of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His illustrations for Jane Austen's novels remain widely regarded as classics in the field. Known for his attention to detail, Hugh Thomson would often spend a great deal of time in museums researching the lifestyles and dress of the characters he was depicting, Thomson started working on his drawings for 'Pride and Prejudice' in 1893. They proved an immense success, selling over 10,000 copies in the few years after they were released. He would go on to illustrate many of Austen's other novels.
