Happy Friday readers! Who is happy that the weekend is almost here? I know I am! 😉 I’m really excited to participate in this blog tour for Sophie Turner’s latest project – a Pride and Prejudice ebook that is restored to the original 1813 Thomas Egerton edition. Fans of Ms. Turner’s Constant Love series know how 
thorough she is with her research, historical accuracy, and meticulous details. I think it is so wonderful that Ms. Turner utilized her talents to present readers with this wonderfully restored version of Pride and Prejudice! Today Sophie shares a little about how this project began. We hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much for inviting me back to Austenesque Reviews, Meredith! I’m really excited to be here again, particularly to share this project with readers, and particularly this excerpt, as it’s what initiated the entire thing.
Last year, during Just Jane 1813’s group read of Pride and Prejudice, I was thrown off in chapter 2 by a reference to Mrs. Long’s daughters, by Mr. Bennet. I was pretty sure Mrs. Long had nieces, not daughters! The blog was using a Project Gutenberg digital version of the novel, and I’d never noticed this before. I wondered whether Mr. Bennet was just indicating a total lack of care over whether Mrs. Long had nieces or daughters, or trying to vex his wife. Or was it an error?
As I started looking into this, I started noticing so many other discrepancies, particularly with digital copies of the novel. Ultimately, this led me to a digital “restoration” of Pride and Prejudice, working to produce a digital version with all of the punctuation and words back in the place they’d been in, from 1813, save errors. The differences really tell, I think, and you can see them clearly in these excerpts. Look particularly at the placement of the commas, which was what much of the cleanup involved—we lost some of Austen’s voice, in this erosion of punctuation, and that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to do this restored digital edition for the 200th anniversary of her death.
For an added challenge, see how many discrepancies you can find between the two, as you read along…
A Mrs. Long’s daughters version:
“We are not in a way to know WHAT Mr. Bingley likes,” said her mother resentfully, “since we are not to visit.”
“But you forget, mamma,” said Elizabeth, “that we shall meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long promised to introduce him.”
“I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two nieces of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her.”
“No more have I,” said Mr. Bennet; “and I am glad to find that you do not depend on her serving you.”
Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply, but, unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters.
“Don’t keep coughing so, Kitty, for Heaven’s sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.”
“Kitty has no discretion in her coughs,” said her father; “she times them ill.”
“I do not cough for my own amusement,” replied Kitty fretfully. “When is your next ball to be, Lizzy?”
“To-morrow fortnight.”
“Aye, so it is,” cried her mother, “and Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him, for she will not know him herself.”
“Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce Mr. Bingley to HER.”
“Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him myself; how can you be so teasing?”
“I honour your circumspection. A fortnight’s acquaintance is certainly very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight. But if WE do not venture somebody else will; and after all, Mrs. Long and her daughters must stand their chance; and, therefore, as she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will take it on myself.”
The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only, “Nonsense, nonsense!”
“What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?” cried he. “Do you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you THERE. What say you, Mary? For you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read great books and make extracts.”
Mary wished to say something sensible, but knew not how.
“While Mary is adjusting her ideas,” he continued, “let us return to Mr. Bingley.”
“I am sick of Mr. Bingley,” cried his wife.
“I am sorry to hear THAT; but why did not you tell me that before? If I had known as much this morning I certainly would not have called on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now.”
The restored 1813 digital edition:
“We are not in a way to know what Mr. Bingley likes,” said her mother resentfully, “since we are not to visit.”
“But you forget, mama,” said Elizabeth, “that we shall meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long has promised to introduce him.”
“I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two neices of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her.”
“No more have I,” said Mr. Bennet; “and I am glad to find that you do not depend on her serving you.”
Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply; but unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters.
“Don’t keep coughing so, Kitty, for heaven’s sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.”
“Kitty has no discretion in her coughs,” said her father; “she times them ill.”
“I do not cough for my own amusement,” replied Kitty fretfully. “When is your next ball to be, Lizzy?”
“To-morrow fortnight.”
“Aye, so it is,” cried her mother, “and Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before; so, it will be impossible for her to introduce him, for she will not know him herself.”
“Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce Mr. Bingley to her.”
“Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him myself; how can you be so teazing?”
“I honour your circumspection. A fortnight’s acquaintance is certainly very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight. But if we do not venture, somebody else will; and after all, Mrs. Long and her neices must stand their chance; and therefore, as she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will take it on myself.”
The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only, “Nonsense, nonsense!”
“What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?” cried he. “Do you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you there. What say you, Mary? for you are a young lady of deep reflection I know, and read great books, and make extracts.”
Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.
“While Mary is adjusting her ideas,” he continued, “let us return to Mr. Bingley.”
“I am sick of Mr. Bingley,” cried his wife.
“I am sorry to hear that; but why did not you tell me so before? If I had known as much this morning, I certainly would not have called on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now.”
So how many discrepancies did you find?
Aside from the difference in formatting of using ALL CAPS vs. italics, by my count, there were three discrepancies in spelling, one in capitalisation, one semicolon added, three commas removed, and three commas added. And all that just in one little excerpt! This is why it took me a total of three passes, line-by-line, through the 1813 Egerton first edition, to put everything back where it was supposed to be. And now I’m so excited to finally have this restored edition be available to readers!
Haha! That was a fun exercise! I’m afraid I only noticed the ALL CAPS vs. italics and two of the misspelled words! You got to have vigilant eagle eyes to catch everything! 😉 Well done, Sophie! What a great service you have provided the reading community! I wonder if my hard copy editions of Pride and Prejudice also have these discrepancies?!? Thank you so much for sharing, Sophie!!
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GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Today Sophie brings 1 copy of her newly released, Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. In Three Volumes. (Annotated and Restored to 1813 Egerton First Edition) for me to give away to one lucky winner in conjunction with her visit today.
To enter this giveaway, leave a question, a comment, or some love for Sophie below!
- This giveaway is open worldwide. Thank you, Sophie!
- This giveaway ends August 4th!
My sincere thanks to Claudine Pepe and Sophie Turner for making this blog tour possible!
July 27 ~ My Vices and Weaknesses ~ Guest Post & Giveaway
July 28 ~ Austenesque Reviews ~ Book Excerpt & Giveaway
July 29 ~ My Love for Jane Austen ~ Guest Post & Giveaway
August 3 ~ Just Jane 1813 ~ Book Review & Giveaway
August 4 ~ My Jane Austen Book Club ~ Guest Post & Giveaway
September 4 ~ Diary of an Eccentric ~ Guest Post & Giveaway
September 5 ~ Laughing with Lizzie ~ Book Excerpt
September 6 ~ Savvy Verse & Wit ~ Book Review & Giveaway
September 12 ~ Margie’s Must Reads ~ Book Review & Giveaway
September 14 ~ More Agreeably Engaged ~ Guest Post & Giveaway
September 15 ~ Babblings of a Bookworm ~ Book Excerpt & Giveaway
Just found the book on Amazon Canada and reported the free price available at Barnes and Noble
Thank you so much, Vesper! I’m really hoping that if we report it enough Amazon will adjust the price.
I would love to re-read this version; I read Pride & Prejudice years ago and always loved the story. All you hard work, is appreciated 🙂
jslbrown2009 at aol dot com
Thanks, Lisa! That was definitely what I wanted to do, was to give everyone an option that was really true to Austen’s voice for their next reread. 🙂
Goodness me Sophie! However did you notice those? Even with both versions there I struggled to see the differences. Saying that I would so love to have your original version.
I’m amazed by your dedication to the period (did you wear your recency outfit again and study by candlelight?)
Thank you so much for going to all this trouble and for giving a copy away.
Glynis, it’s much easier when you have them side by side next to each other — I’m going to go more into my process in future posts on the blog tour. But yeah, it took me a while to make three passes studying it carefully enough to catch these things! I can’t say I wore my Regency outfit, though…perhaps I should have for full authenticity!
Sophie,
Isn’t it amazing the errors our eyes can gloss over!!
Taking out a comma here and capital letters there.certainly changes the subtle meaning Jane wished to convey.
Thank you for completing such a mammoth undertaking,Sophie.
Mary, yes, many of these are things it’s so easy to gloss over. I think there’s a cumulative effect, though, that it’s just all not quite in Austen’s voice. I started to really get a feel for her comma placement by the time I was done with the project, haha!
What an amazing project, Sophie!!! I am so impressed!!! 😀
Crossing my fingers to win this e-copy!!!
Warmly,
Susanne 🙂
Sophie, you are one of my very favorite JAFF authors and I love becoming lost in your words.
Thank you so much, jacquie! I’ll be back to working on book three of the series now that this project is done, but I think it was a worthwhile diversion. 🙂
The differences are truly astounding, and I had no idea that they existed. Thank you for undertaking this project! I think it is important that digital versions are accurate.
Thank you, Paige! I don’t think I would have realized it either if not for the big discrepancy of Mrs. Long’s daughters, so I guess we have her to thank, haha. 🙂
Thank you for hosting this post, Meredith. The more I read about this edition, the more I see how these changes also allow for readers to enjoy “Pride & Prejudice” the way Austen did with her family and friends; as a book that was read aloud amongst readers. I’d love to take the opportunity to read it around one day to enjoy it in the same manner.
I hope your readers enjoy this post and feel inspired to reread the book that has led so many people to love Jane Austen’s stories!
That would be so fun, to read it around as the Austen family would have done! We need to find a way to get a bunch of Austen fans around a nice cozy fireplace and do so! 🙂
Thanks so much for putting the tour together, Claudine! I’m so happy to spotlight Sophie’s amazing project!
What a wonderful (and time-consuming) thing to do! Well done, Sophie! I’m sure Miss Austen herself would be so pleased by your efforts.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Thank you, Pam! It was definitely time consuming, but it was also really rewarding as a writer to get that deep into the detail of Austen’s prose. I learned so much doing this. 🙂
The thing that jumped out to me (which was not a discrepancy between the two versions) was that Mrs. Bennet used the word “don’t.” I’ve read countless comments from people on fan sites criticising an author whenever a contraction is used, claiming that a person writing about Regency speech should never use them. Even though I’ve read the actual book more times than I can count (my go-to print version is The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen), I’d never really noticed that they appear in Jane Austen’s actual words. I certainly appreciate you taking on this task — it really must have been a labor of love. I hope your book is very successful — I know I’m looking forward to owning an accurate digital version.
Oh, I can tell you so much about contractions now, hahaha. There are definitely instances of contractions throughout the book. They do tend to be used a bit more by the Mrs. Bennets and Lydias of the world, but not exclusively. There was also an instance each of “dont” and “wont” (I put the apostrophe in, as there were several other instances of “don’t”) and also things like your’s and her’s. Rules for contractions clearly weren’t established or weren’t the same as they are now.
As for success, my biggest success would be if we can get this to free on Amazon! I really want this in the hands of as many readers as possible without them having to pay. Fingers crossed they will change the price if enough people report it. Thanks for your comment, Jan!
That must have been a work of love to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.
denise
Thanks, Denise — it definitely was a labor of love. I wouldn’t do this with just any book, but I felt that Pride and Prejudice really deserved some love.
I would love to own this so I can have a good version of “Pride and Prejudice” with me at all times!
Susan, that’s definitely one of the reasons why I wanted to do it — one should never be without a good copy of Pride and Prejudice! 🙂
I bet you had fun getting so intimate with JA’s words! That was a lot of the fun of writing Austenesque fiction, for me— the time I get to spend with her mind. What a lovely service to provide. How did you get access to a 1813 P&P? I got to hold one once, in my twenties, but only for a few minutes.
It was definitely fun, Abigail! And I felt like I got a chance to understand her prose in a deeper way than I ever had before. As for getting access, I was able to find scans online, and Goucher College also let me have access to their first edition for a few hours, which was AMAZING.
Wow! I am seriously impressed. Only someone who loved Jane Austen would attempt to do this. Thank you. And thanks to Meredith for hosting this part of the blog tour. Blessings on the success of this endeavor.
It was definitely a labor of love, J. W.! I really felt that all the effort and care I put into writing and publishing my own work ought to be put back into Pride and Prejudice as well.
This is really a great project so happy you are doing this.
Thank you, darcybennett!
This must have been a HUGE undertaking for you, thank you so much for all the hard work!!! I am curious to reread this and see the differences compared to my version. 🙂
It was, Danielle, but it was a labor of love. And I definitely learned a lot as a writer from studying her prose so closely!
This is incredible. I knew there was many tossed up, edit nightmare e-books out there, but I had not considered Austen’s work being among them. Your hard work is appreciated.
Becky, unfortunately I don’t think anything has been spared that treatment. It’s so easy to acquire public domain text these days, and publish it, that unfortunately it can be hard to find a good, well-formatted copy of just about anything. But at least Pride and Prejudice will now have a copy that’s been given some attention. 🙂
What an act of love you have undertaken for restoring P&P! I must confess that I did not pick up all of the punctuation changes. Thank you for your dedicated work and for the giveaway. Kudos to you.
Thank you, evamedmonds! It definitely took me a couple passes before I picked up on (hopefully) everything. And it was indeed an act of love. 🙂
You have my respect and admiration for such a painstaking job! I often wonder about the use of commas vs. what I was taught in school as well as the lack of hypotheses with double noun possessives. I even checked in with an elementary school principal to determine if the rules have changed since I was in school so long ago. Well done. I am sure Jane in looking down and saying some to the effect of “Finally, someone noticed and made corrections.” Thanks for sharing and for caring enough to do that.
Sheila, I think one huge thing I learned in doing this is that Jane Austen broke quite a few of the grammar “rules,” but then the rules weren’t really totally solidified when she was writing. I have a section on grammar in the back matter of the book that does into this in more detail, but I think the biggest thing was that she timed her commas differently than we would today. And this is a big contributor to her voice as a writer.
I hope she is looking down somewhere, too, and able to see how loved her work is. 🙂
All I can say is Thank you! I’ve been trying to figure out which publishing company had the closest version to the original and now you are giving me basically the original.
Aww, thanks, Amanda! In paperback I think Norton Critical is closest, but as I found there are definitely some judgement calls you have to make in deciding what was an error and what was not and I think we probably made different calls in certain instances. I’ve detailed all of those at the end in annotations, though, so if you want to see what was adjusted, you can!
Fascinating comparison of such a short passage, Sophie. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I’ve checked all of the copies of P&P that I have (4 in hard copy and 4 ebooks) and they’re split 50:50 as to whether Mrs. Long has daughters or nieces when it comes to the second mention of them. None of mine have the capitalisations but there again, some of them don’t even have the italics either! I haven’t had a chance to check out the three audio versions I own yet, but I’ll let you know what I find out later on in the tour.
You’re welcome, Anji! That’s really interesting that your books were split 50/50 — I wouldn’t have thought it was that high. That daughters thing was like a virus that must have got into some copy at some point and just spread and spread.
Wow! I suppose it makes sense that republishing a book throughout the years would cause a lot of the original bits to disintegrate or be lost! What a marvelous project, to restore the book to it’s original 1813 glory! Thanks Sophia!
Leah, I think it’s a combination of publishing over the years and also that ebooks have accelerated it. It’s easier for a copy to get distributed more widely and continue to erode more and more. So hopefully the buck stops here, so to speak. 🙂
What an amazing amount of work went into this to the original version. Thank you so much Sophie.