4 volumes, 12mo (172 x104 mm). Half-titles in vol. I; paper watermarked "AP 1816." (Lacking half-titles in vols. II-IV, a few leaves with tiny paper flaws just touching letters, a few spots, some leaves slightly toned.) 20th-century red straight-grained morocco gilt, turn-ins with gilt thistle roll-tooling, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, stamp-signed by C. J. Sawyer (a few tiny scuffs).

FIRST EDITION. Northanger Abbey, with its lighthearted imitation of the Gothic novel, was written 1798 and 1799. In 1803, Austenshe sold the novel, then entitled Susan, to Crosby and Company, a London publisher, for £10. When it failed to appear after six years, she asked Mr. Crosby for information and was told he was under no obligation to publish it but would return the manuscript to her in exchange for the amount he had originally paid her. Austen waited until 1816 to accept the offer, but despite preparing the manuscript for publication, she still held it back. As a result, it only appeared posthumously with Persuasion in December 1817, prefaced by Henry Austen's “Biographical Notice'' of his sister. The final version of Persuasion, her last novel, was completed on 6 August 1816. Gilson A9; Keynes 9; Sadleir I, 62e.