Folio Archives 442: The Folio Jane Austen set 1989

The Folio Jane Austen set 1989

Jane Austen was born in Hampshire on 16 December 1775 to a rural rector. Pride and Prejudice, written in 1797, was her first novel but was not published until 1813 after being rejected by several publishers. The second novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility, was actually published before Pride and Prejudice. Her novels were published anonymously in her lifetime. She wrote six novels and numerous shorter works, but initially they were not highly regarded. Jane died in Winchester on 18 July 1817 aged just 41, probably from Addison’s disease, a rare disorder where the adrenal glands don't produce enough cortisol and aldosterone. She never married.

The works of Jane Austen have been published many times by the Folio Society. The editions are:-

1957 Pride and Prejudice. Introduction by Richard Church. Ten wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter bound in grey cloth, yellow paper boards with a repeat pattern in pink by Hassall. Grey slipcase.

1958 Sense and Sensibility. Introduced by Richard Church. Twelve wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter bound in grey cloth with blue-green paper boards patterned in green. Grey slipcase.

1959 Mansfield Park. Introduction by Richard Church. Eleven wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter bound in grey cloth with orange paper boards patterned in lilac. Grey slipcase.

1960 Northanger Abbey. Introduction by Richard Church. 15 wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Printed in green and black. Quarter-bound in grey cloth with pattern printed yellow paper boards. Grey slipcase.

1961 Persuasion. Introduction by Richard Church. 14 wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter bound in grey cloth with paper covers blocked with a pink pattern. Grey slipcase.

1962 Emma. Introduction by Richard Church. 13 wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter-bound in grey cloth with orange paper covers. Grey slipcase.

1963 Shorter Works. Introduction by Richard Church. 10 wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter bound in grey cloth, pink paper boards patterned in red. Endleaves printed in purple. Grey slipcase.



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1975 Emma. Introduction by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards. Endleaves with a design by Hassall.

1975 Mansfield Park. Introduction by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards. Endleaves with a design by Hassall.

1975 Northanger Abbey. Introduction by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards. Endleaves with a design by Hassall.

1975 Persuasion. Introduction by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards. Endleaves with a design by Hassall.

1975 Pride and Prejudice. Introduction by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards. Endleaves with a design by Hassall.

1975 Sense and Sensibility. Introduction by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards. Endleaves with a design by Hassall.

1975 Shorter Works. Introduction by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards. Endleaves with a design by Hassall.

1975 The Works of Jane Austen. (7v.). Introductions by Richard Church. Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter grey cloth series binding, patterned paper boards (a different colour for each volume). Endleaves with a design by Hassall (in a different colour for each volume). Grey seven-volume slipcase. Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Emma, Shorter Works. These books could also be bought separately as listed above.



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1984 The Folio Jane Austen. Reissue of the seven volume set above. (7v.). Engravings by Joan Hassall. Quarter bound in grey cloth with pattern printed paper sides.



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1984 The Folio Jane Austen Limited Edition. The above set was also issued as a limited edition of 1000 copies bound in dark red morocco with gilt edging and dark red slipcase.



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1989 The Folio Jane Austen. The standard 1984 set above in a new red binding and in a single seven volume slipcase. This edition is reviewed below.

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1993 The History of England. Facsimile of her manuscript with illustrations by her sister Cassandra, with transcript. Introduction by Deirdre Le Faye. Quarter bound in cream vegetable parchment with Ann Muir hand-marbled paper boards. Pale yellow endleaves. Cream vegetable parchment slipcase with the title repeated in gold.



This book is reviewed HERE.

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1996 Novels and Shorter Works of Jane Austen. (4v.). Reissued from the seven-volume set of 1975. Red four-volume slipcase. Mansfield Park/Northanger Abbey/Persuasion/Shorter Works.

1996 Three Classic Novels by Jane Austen. Reissued from the seven-volume set of 1975. (3v.). Red three-volume slipcase titled in gold. Pride and Prejudice/Sense and Sensibility/Emma.



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1996 The Folio Jane Austen Limited Edition The 1996 seven volume set above was also published as a limited edition. Full blue-green leather binding and seven volume slipcase. 1000 copies.



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2003 Jane Austen’s Letters. Collected and edited by Diedre le Faye. 18 colour plates. Bound in silk printed with a wallpaper design. Dark red slipcase.



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2006 Pride and Prejudice. Introduced by Deirdre Le Faye. Frontispiece and 7 colour illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat. Quarter bound in brown cloth with pattern and image printed paper covers.

2007 Emma. Frontispiece and 6 full-page colour illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat. Quarter bound in brown buckram, cream paper boards with a ‘Regency’ stripe pattern in blue and a colour vignette by Puttapipat. Dark blue endleaves. Blue slip case.

2007 Persuasion. Introduced by Siri Hustvedt. Frontispiece and 6 colour illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat. Quarter bound in brown cloth with design printed and pictorial cream paper sides. Dark green endleaves. Blue slipcase.



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2013 Pride and Prejudice. Introduced by Sebastian Faulk. Frontispiece and 7 colour illustrations by Anna and Elena Balbusso. Bound in metallic gold cloth, cover blocked with a black and whitedesign by Anna and Elena Balbusso. Cream endpapers. Red slipcase with front gilt inscription. This edition is reviewed HERE.

2015 Emma. Introduced by Fay Weldon. Frontispiece and 9 colour illustrations by Sam Wolfe Connelly. Bound in gold metallic cloth, blocked with a black and cream design by Sam Wolfe Connelly. Phrase blocked slipcase.

2015 Sense and Sensibility. Introduced by Elena Ferrante. Frontispiece and 7 colour illustrations by Philip Bannister. Bound in metallic gold cloth, blocked with a design by Philip Bannister. Slipcase blocked on front.

2016 Persuasion. Introduced by Siri Hustvedt. Frontispiece and 7 illustrations by Deanna Staffo. Bound in metallic gold buckram, cover blocked with a design in cream and black by the artist. Purple slipcase cover blocked in gilt with a phrase.

2017 Mansfield Park. Introduced by Lucy Worsley. Frontispiece and 7 colour illustrations by Darya Shnykina. Bound in metallic gold buckram, cover blocked with a design in cream and black by the artist. Dark green slipcase cover blocked in gilt with a phrase.

2017 Northanger Abbey. Frontispiece and 5 colour illustrations. Bound in metallic gold buckram, cover blocked with a design in cream and black by the artist. Dark green slipcase cover blocked in gilt with a phrase.



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2025 Limited Edition A new limited edition of Jane Austen’s complete works will be released in September this year.



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Review of 1989 set
This seven volume Folio Jane Austen contains Pride & Prejudice (308 pages), Sense & Sensibility (299 pages), Mansfield Park (378 pages), Northanger Abbey (222 pages), Persuasion (235 pages), Emma (382 pages) and her Shorter Works (313 pages).

Each book is introduced by Richard Church and each has a full page frontispieces and integrated wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. The endleaves are cream and the books are quarter bound in red buckram with gold stampings on the spine and cream paper covers printed in maroon with a fern pattern. They are all housed in a red/brown seven-volume slipcase (H 23.9, D 15.7, W 19.5cm.) with the FS logo gilt stamped on the sides.

Pride and Prejudice has been chosen for detailed examination as an example of all seven volumes, and to allow direct comparison with the review of the 2013 Pride and Prejudice which can be seen HERE.































































An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.

Nice! I guess this was the last time Folio published the Shorter Works volume, which seems like an odd omission from the Gold and upcoming LE sets (especially with Lady Susan being a complete and entertaining novella).

This set is very nostalgic for me as the grey 1975 edition was my first Folio purchase as membership offer in 1979. It was the second impression - what today would be called the second printing. Although much read, the paper boards are still pristine, but the cloth has faded and the gold blocking did not last well at all. I think it was the loose weave of the cloth that gradually shed the gold powder. If issued today, there would be long grumpy threads about it . In the next edition I see that buckram was substituted.

As I was not long out of art school, and exactly at a time when there was an explosion in illustration and graphic design in the UK, I'm sad to say I was not that impressed by Folio's illustrators, thinking them mostly mediocre and old fashioned, and many of them were - it was not a golden period for Folio, but with more experienced eyes I have come to love Joan and some of the other wonderful post war black and white illustrators, most of whom did some work for Folio.

Look at the quiet way she is able to convey emotion without a hint of caricature; in the examples above you have a very good idea of what each person is thinking - and this in the comparatively unforgiving medium of wood engraving. This is a very useful quality in an illustrator - Quentin Blake has it in spades, and he can even be compared to Japanese masters like Kyosai (of the grumpy frogs and fart battles). Sarah Young, the illustrator of the new LE, uses lino - so difficult to work with she must be demented, can't approach Joan in this way and so her illustrations look more pretty than subtle.

I definitely think we are truly in a golden age at the moment for Folio illustration, mostly because Folio is now able to pay good money for the best, but also because there are so many brilliant illustrators working at the moment, who can make a decent living taking jobs from across the world, making their own separations and delivering their work print-ready.

But now that anything is possible, it would be good to rediscover some of the benefits of restraint. More black and white, more two or three colour, books with smaller illustrations but in greater number (remember the first Gormenghast set), especially with the Folio Prize, there looks to be so much talent around.

Some photos from an old eBay listing of the 7-volume FS 1975-reset and 1978 (2nd imp.) multi-coloured covers...

>3 red_guy: Just wanted to say: lovely thoughts - I enjoyed reading them.

I have the 1989 printing of this set. It’s great fun to read. In the listing of the different sets, you list “1966 The Folio Jane Austen” when it should be 1996.

>6 Bibliophile-I:
Oops! Thanks. Corrected.

A bit perplexed. My red 7-book set, which is shown as 1996 above, is dated 1989, which was the year I joined the FS - it was my freebie.

>8 Willoyd:
The publication date on the title page is not necessarily the date that the book, particularly sets, was released. The FS dose not change the title page date for subsequent printings or even editions in a different format.
Check the publication history in the colophon to get the actual date of printing.

>8 Willoyd:
The publication date on the title page is not necessarily the date that the book, particularly sets, was released. The FS dose not change the title page date for subsequent printings or even editions in a different format.
Check the publication history in the colophon to get the actual date of printing.