(AUSTEN, Jane). Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of "Sense and Sensibility. London: Printed for T. Egerton, Military Library, Whitehall 1813. First edition of Austen's masterpiece, with all half-titles present. Gilson A3. The first draft of the novel was written under the working title of First Impressions in 1796. In 1797, Jane Austen's father wrote to the publisher Cadell to ask if he would publish the novel. The offer was rejected by return of post. In 1800 The Minerva Press published a novel by Margaret Holford entitled First Impressions, which probably led to Austen changing the title of the work. In the following years, Pride and Prejudice was heavily rewritten and the copyright eventually sold to Egerton in 1812. There is no record of the number of copies of the first edition, but Keynes suggests 1500 as the probable print run. The book was well received and the first edition sold out within the year. As a rule Regency binders were apt to remove the half titles, consequently complete copies with the half-titles are rare; the copies of such distinguished collectors as Michael Sadleir, Sir Geoffrey Keynes, and R.W. Chapman lacked the half-titles, as do the copies in the Bodleian and Cambridge University Libraries. Gilson A3; Keynes 8; Sadleir 62b. 3 volumes, small 8vo, full contemporary calf with "Charleton" stamped in gilt on each cover, green morocco spine labels. Minor restoration to outer hinges of the first two volumes, occasional foxing, bookplates on verso of front free endpapers, extremities of covers lightly worn, but still an attractive set of the most justifiably popular novel in the English language, with all of the half-titles. In a full red morocco folding box