Pride And Prejudice has kept its universal appeal
It has one of the most famous opening lines in literature and turned Colin Firth into a heartthrob.
Yes, it is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice is a national treasure.
And, more than two centuries later, Austen’s classic continues to be a global hit with more than 20 million copies sold worldwide.
The iconic text, which Austen described as her “own darling child”, was first published on January 28, 1813.
Her love story between headstrong Elizabeth Bennet and proud Mr Darcy was an instant hit and has never been out of print since.
But ironically, an early version of the story was dismissed by a potential publisher.
Austen was 37 when her second novel was published but actually wrote the original version, then called First Impressions, from October 1796 to August 1797 when she was in her 20s.
And the manuscript made a poor impression on Thomas Cadell, the London publisher who Austen first approached – by way of a letter from her father – in November, 1797.
He didn’t even bother to read it and Austen’s letter was quickly returned with “Declined by Return of Post” stamped on it.
But later, after the success of Sense And Sensibility, Austen reworked the story and it was published 16 years later under a new title.
Egerton, who also published Sense And Sensibility, offered her £110 for the novel’s copyright, which would be around £6727 today.
Early print editions omitted Austen’s name and credited her as “by the author of Sense And Sensibility”.
Initially, it cost 18 shillings and the first edition quickly sold out after receiving rave reviews.
Playwright Richard Sheridan said it was one of the cleverest things he’d ever read and Anne Isabella Milbanke, future wife of Lord Byron, dubbed it “the fashionable novel”.
Austen’s classic has also spawned endless modern interpretations, including a Bollywood movie, a Broadway musical and even a zombie parody.
Despite being “wellsatisfied enough” with the novel, Austen actually had concerns it was too frivolous.
She wrote: “The work is rather too light, and bright, and sparkling. It wants shade; it wants to be stretched out here and there with a long chapter of sense.”
But she always championed her confident and witty heroine Elizabeth Bennet, adding: “I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.”
No doubt millions of readers have since agreed.