Reading Austen in America - Annotated by Juliette Wells (Paperback)

About the Book

"A vivid history of Jane Austen's American readers and fans, from her own day to the present"--

Book Synopsis

Reading Austen in America presents a colorful, compelling account of how an appreciative audience for Austen's novels originated and developed in America, and how American readers contributed to the rise of Austen's international fame. Drawing on a range of sources that have never before come to light, Juliette Wells solves the long-standing bibliographical mystery of how and why the first Austen novel printed in America-the 1816 Philadelphia Emma-came to be. She reveals the responses of this book's varied readers and creates an extended portrait of one: Christian, Countess of Dalhousie, a Scotswoman living in British North America. Through original archival research, Wells establishes the significance to reception history of two transatlantic friendships: the first between ardent Austen enthusiasts in Boston and members of Austen's family in the nineteenth century, and the second between an Austen collector in Baltimore and an aspiring bibliographer in England in the twentieth.

Review Quotes

"Juliette Wells creates living portraits of Austen's earliest American readers and admirers and of their devotion to a novelist who would gradually become known and beloved around the world." - Winterthur Portfolio

"In presenting facets of Wells' current scholarship, readers will welcome this 'collected' volume. Judging from the 'fandom' of the Quincys and library patrons, reader reception can provide fascinating insights. These entertaining personal histories will open more eyes to the possibilities behind unearthing copies of the 1816 Philadelphia Emma." - JASNA News

"Combining the narrative history of biography with the detail of the collector, Wells weaves a story that charms and interests even despite (and likely because of) its rather immediate, dare one say, nerdiness (and one says such a thing with both respect and appreciation) ... It is an intriguing mode of both history and historiography, and one that the young Jane Austen would likely have found rather compelling." - College Literature

"Austenites and bibliophiles will enjoy this survey from Wells (Everybody's Jane) of the early American response to Jane Austen ... 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 ... There's...much to delight in throughout this book." - Publishers Weekly

"With useful notes, appendixes, and fascinating photos, this book is sure to appeal to Jane Austen Society of North America members, students, academics, and anyone interested in a case study of early American publishing and readers." - Library Journal

About the Author

Juliette Wells is the Elizabeth Conolly Todd Distinguished Professor of English at Goucher College, USA. An acclaimed speaker and writer for popular audiences, she is the author of Everybody's Jane: Austen in the Popular Imagination (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011) and the editor of Penguin Classics' 200th-anniversary deluxe annotated editions of Austen's Persuasion (2017) and Emma (2015).