Details

Title

Pride and Prejudice

Author

Austen, Jane

Publication Date

1906

Publisher

Dent

Place of Publication

New York

Collection

Scans provided by and used with permission of Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library. From the L.M. Montgomery Collection.

Note

Like any good reader of her time, Montgomery read Jane Austen. While Montgomery doesn’t talk much about the novels in her journals or fiction, she clearly engaged with the text. Note the two bracketed passages in her copy of Pride and Prejudice. First, she has marked Charlotte Lucas’ comment that, “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least.” Second, she marked Mr. Darcy’s assertion that “There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.” Readers of Montgomery’s life and novels will surely find various meanings in those two annotations. Finally, Montgomery’s copies of two of Jane Austen’s novels, both this “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma” reveal more than meets the eye. On the surface, the two volumes appear like a perfect matched set with gilt, ruby covers. But closer inspection shows that Montgomery acquired (or at least inscribed) her copy of Pride and Prejudice in 1904, and her Emma in 1912. Clearly, she sought out these matching editions to complete her library.

Genre

novel

Type of Item

association