Despite its reputation, somehow Pride and Prejudice remained unread for the first fifty years of my reading life. I’ve read some of her contemporaneous authors and classics but this one escaped my widely-cast net for one reason or the other. Or at least I consider my net wide. When I researched it maybe I haven’t read that many novels from 19th-century English authors. I’ve read Emily and Charlotte Brontë, a fair amount of Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Joseph Conrad. So maybe it’s those so-called “romantic” novels that I’ve missed, sometimes intentionally. I’m not necessarily a reader of romances as a publishing genre but I like them more now. Especially when I read them for the glimpses of how the class, culture, and social mores of the times reflect through the 
story line and affect the characters and plot lines. I have to say that in Austen’s time those factors seem to make for many unlikable characters, especially when it came to their behavior in the romantic relationship category. Wuthering Heights left me cold. Jane Eyre was likeable enough as a character but I don’t remember if the story line held me that much. It’s been a while but I think I might have enjoyed the edition I was reading more than the actual novel itself. It was the 1943 Random House edition with illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg but I can’t go back to see what I liked so much because I think it left with my ex- to be imprisoned on her book purgatory shelves. I do want to revisit Jane after reading Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea to see how it strikes me now and if that reading fleshes it out even more. Is there a better edition than the Random House? I’ll have to do some homework there but I may have to search out another copy.
In light of what is going on politically in the U.S., I have a lot more empathy for the women in Pride and Prejudice than I might have in the past. The men not so much. Life and a lot of reading outside the male-dominated canon has opened my eyes to the fact that women haven’t been allowed to come as far as I had thought and seem to be losing ground a bit even as they become more vocal. All the same, it took me a long time to warm up to Elizabeth or any of the Bennet women. And I never warmed up to Mrs. Bennet.
It took me a long time to get into this book, given Elizabeth’s immaturity, lack of experience with the world, and the ease with which she could judge the 
men from their actions without the balance of knowing them better. I guess that is judging a book by its cover but similarly to my experience with Jane Eyre, it is the book (object) itself that kept me going early on, as manifested in the Thornwillow edition. I’ve never been a quitter on books; I stubbornly read to the end regardless but here I had the added incentive of doing a TWBE review. And while I didn’t love the novel, at least Elizabeth and Darcy slowly redeemed themselves and I might even read another Austen, since my daughter likes some of her other novels better.
I’ve already written about how pleased I am with Thornwillow Press’ policy of publishing their editions in multiple states and price points. Right now, a private press paper-wrapped letterpress edition of a novel is about all that fits into my book budget. While this is my second book from Thornwillow, it’s my first novel, and I was very curious what the experience of reading a paper-wrapped book would be over the length of time it takes to read a substantial 
text like this one. I did take the precaution of protecting the paper wrapper with a book jacket cover so I wouldn’t be too paranoid about soiling or otherwise harming the cover. I’m pleased to say that it held up very well over the six days of reading. In some ways it was maybe even more comfortable to hold because of its flexibility. I do wonder about long term effects to the text block over repeated readings and handling and part of me wishes a slipcase option was available to protect it on the shelf. But that would maybe just drive the cost up towards the half-cloth edition and cause a book buying conundrum. On the strength of my experience with this book, I also backed Thornwillow’s upcoming editions of The Great Gatsby and Portrait of a Free Man in paper wrappers. And it makes me more interested in some of the other paper-wrapped editions from other presses I’ve been coveting for a long time.
For illustrations, artist and architect John Claflin has created “sketchbook” pages of Elizabeth’s journal writings and sketches of houses of the time and place of the novel. “Her” handwriting is almost illegible, or I have almost lost my ability to read cursive handwriting. But it can be sleuthed out much like one might need to do with anyone’s journal. While maybe not illustrations in the classical sense, I found them a nice touch, and the book better off with them than without any illustrations. I don’t really like the fact that Claflin’s contribution is not acknowledged on the title page. It was a while before I noticed his acknowledgement at the end of the book on the recto page ahead of the colophon.
I found the Garamond type to be quite readable and the page nicely balanced with plenty of margin. The bite of the type was very firm giving it a nice depth and feel. I have to admit that I actually like when I can see the bite of the type on the backside of the page, which was only noticeable in the white spaces. It just makes me love letterpress even more. I’m not sure what paper was used. The Kickstarter mentioned a “high end laid paper” similar to that used in Austen’s time. OK. But this book nerd would like to know exactly what paper I’m turning and have it called out in the colophon.
Overall, I’m quite happy with this edition of the book. I’m happy to have a private press edition but also quite satisfied with a paper-wrapped copy. While I’d love to check out the other states, and especially see if reading them made for a different experience, the paper-wrapped state and the cost thereof seems about right for me. For others, for whom perhaps this is a beloved novel, the more elegant states might be more appropriate.
I leave you with the words of Mary, a person after my own heart:
“Far be it from me, my dear sister, to depreciate such pleasures! They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me–I should infinitely prefer a book.”
AVAILABILITY: By my math the total edition run is 727 in 6 states: (1) paper wrappers; (2) half-cloth; (3) half-leather; (4) half-calf; (5) full-calf; and (6) full Morocco specials. All but the full-calf and full Morocco specials appear to be available on the Thornwillow website as of this writing.
