An Austen family copy, from the library of Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen (1829-1893), Jane Austen’s grand-nephew, in a beautiful Regency binding. It is uncommon to find Jane Austen titles in contemporary bindings and even more so with such intimate provenance.
Edward Knatchbull was likely gifted the present copy of Emma, along with Austen’s four other published novels, by his mother Fanny Knight (Frances Catherine Austen Knight, Lady Knatchbull 1793-1882). Four of the five novels were uniformly bound, and volume one of Mansfield Park bears the inscription “Edward Knatchbull 1838” which is likely in Fanny Knight’s hand. Fanny Knight often described as Austen’s favourite niece, was the daughter of Jane Austen’s third eldest brother Edward Knight (formerly Austen).
It is worth noting that Fanny Knight is known to have been one of twelve recipients of presentation copies of the first edition of Emma. (Gilson, pp. 68-69). Although, we have been unable to fully trace Fanny Knight’s own copies of Austen’s books, and therefore cannot say for certain, it is tempting to consider that Fanny Knight could have gifted her own copies to her first-born son Edward Knatchbull, making the present example of Emma one of the previously un-located presentation copies. What is for certain is that because of the ambiguity surrounding the fate of Austen presentation copies, any clearly identifiable family copies are extremely important and desirable.
In 1884, almost seventy years after Jane Austen’s death, Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, then Lord Brabourne, published a two-volume collection of Austen’s letters which he had inherited from his mother. These letters make up over half of the total surviving correspondence from Jane Austen and constitute a significant contribution to our understanding of her life and personality. Austen wrote no autobiographical notes or diaries, and her sister Cassandra destroyed or redacted many of her letters; which she may have felt were too personal in nature to be passed on. The manuscript material passed on to Edward Knatchbull from Fanny Knight included letters from Jane Austen to Fanny, as well as the bulk of the letters from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra, and the previously unpublished manuscript of Lady Susan, now at the Morgan Library. The letters which Jane Austen wrote to her niece Fanny Knight contain more on the subject of love, marriage and courtship than any other surviving Austen correspondence and so naturally are of special interest to Austen scholars and admirers alike.
An exceptional set, a little foxing to prelims and offsetting throughout, particularly affecting volume one and two, with considerable offsetting to quire E of volume two.
Provenance: Edward Huggesen Knatchbull-Huggesen, 1st Baron Brabourne, cr. 1880 (1829-1893), in the sale of his library at Puttick & Simpson on 26th–28th June, 1893, Lot 21 [with Northanger Abbey], £1/10s. to Quaritch.
Gilson, A8.
