Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

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Introduced by Deirdre Le Faye.

Quarter-bound in cloth. Set in Bell.

Frontispiece and 7 full-page colour illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat.

9" x 6¼", 384 pages.

Pride and Prejudice is the most popular of Jane Austen's novels, combining an eventful plot, sparkling dialogue and the companionship of characters like Mr Collins and Miss Bingley, who delight us even in the exhibition of their absurdity.

Few readers can resist Elizabeth Bennet. Whether we rejoice as she answers Lady Catherine de Bourgh's impertinence or mourn when Wickham's perfidy is revealed, she captures our affection with the 'mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner' that first attracts Mr Darcy. In Darcy, Austen created one of the great heroes of English literature, whose enduring appeal as a figure is born out by the number of popular books and films that still refer to him today.

Above all, the sharpness of Austen's pen delineates a character or scene with superb subtlety and discrimination of style. A style achieved, as Lord Macaulay put it, 'by touches so delicate that they elude analysis, that they defy the powers of description'.

'Read again, and for the third time at least, Miss Austen's very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice ... [she has an] exquisite touch'
Sir Walter Scott, writing in his private journal.

Niroot Puttapipat is a recent graduate in Illustration, but his talent is clear and distinctive. His exquisitely detailed illustrations commissioned by The Folio Society for this edition of Pride and Prejudice perfectly capture the spirit of the characters and scenes, reflecting both the meticulous research the artist undertook into costume and 18th-century style and his own passion for the novel. Indeed, Jane Austen's comment on her writing, as 'the little bit [two Inches wide] of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush' is both inspiration and guide to Niroot's paintings, where a curl escaping from Lizzy's bonnet or the hussar-style braid on Lady Catherine de Bourgh's pelisse are both exactly and delightfully rendered.