# Is "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Thomas Egerton, London, 1814) is identified by: Three volumes, 12mo (c. Egerton's London 1814 three-decker is the true first and the census claim is confirmed; Austen published on commission and retained the copyright.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Three volumes, 12mo (c
- 174 x 100 mm), published May 1814 in a run of about 1,250 copies and sold out by November 1814
- Published anonymously: the title reads "Mansfield Park: A Novel
- In Three Volumes
- By the Author of 'Sense and Sensibility,' and 'Pride and Prejudice.'", with the imprint "Printed for T. Egerton, Military Library, Whitehall
- 1814." Austen's name appears nowhere in the book and there is no printed edition statement
- Publisher imprint reads Thomas Egerton, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jane Austen |
| Publisher | Thomas Egerton, London |
| Year | 1814 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Three volumes, 12mo (c |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Three volumes, 12mo (c. 174 x 100 mm), published May 1814 in a run of about 1,250 copies and sold out by November 1814. Published anonymously: the title reads "Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of 'Sense and Sensibility,' and 'Pride and Prejudice.'", with the imprint "Printed for T. Egerton, Military Library, Whitehall. 1814." Austen's name appears nowhere in the book and there is no printed edition statement. Half-titles are called for in each of the three volumes, along with terminal blanks; both are commonly missing from rebound sets and their absence is the usual defect rather than an edition point. Originally issued in drab grey boards with paper spine labels — nearly all surviving copies have been rebound, so binding is not a point. Gilson A6; Keynes p. 11; Sadleir I, 62c.

## Is this the true first?
Egerton's London 1814 three-decker is the true first and the census claim is confirmed; Austen published on commission and retained the copyright. John Murray's 1816 second edition (Gilson A7, three volumes, about 750 copies) carries Austen's own revisions and is collected in its own right, but it is not the first — its title reads "By the Author of Pride and Prejudice", and copies commonly lack half-titles. It sold poorly (only 252 copies by January 1820, then remaindered). The first American edition is Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1832, two volumes in drab boards with cloth spines and paper labels — notable because it precedes any British reprint of the novel, but it is a reprint, not the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Not applicable — the book predates book-club publishing. The "first thus" traps are Murray's 1816 second edition (Gilson A7) and Bentley's Standard Novels issue of 1833; both carry their own imprints and dates. Any Mansfield Park in fewer than three volumes, or naming Jane Austen on the title page, is not the 1814 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Mansfield Park* by Jane Austen a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/mansfield-park
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.