Reading Austen in America

Austenites and bibliophiles will enjoy this survey from Wells (Everybody’s Jane) of the early American response to Jane Austen. Wells begins by describing the publication of the 1816 Philadelphia edition of Emma, Austen’s first novel to be published in the U.S. and the only one published here during her lifetime. Mathew Carey, a prominent Philadelphia printer and bookseller, left no record of his reasoning behind putting out the book, but Wells suggests that Carey’s voracious appetite as a reader and habit of importing English books were responsible for putting Austen on his radar. Details about early American publishing make up a great deal of the book’s early sections and provide fascinating insight into the reading habits of the country. Particularly striking is the choice made, in later editions of Emma, to strike out moments where God’s name is taken in vain. Later on, Wells profiles various contemporary North American readers of Austen known to us today, including Lady Dalhousie, a well-regarded botanist married to Canada’s governor general, and the Quincy sisters of Boston, who corresponded with Austen’s surviving family after her death. While Wells’s argument about the influence of American readers on Austen’s international success could be stronger, there’s still much to delight in throughout this book. (Oct.)