The State Library of Victoria (SLV) has acquired a first edition of Jane Austen's Emma, published in 1816, and is now displaying it in the World of the Book exhibition. The three leather-bound volumes, purchased from antiquarian booksellers Maggs Bros at Melbourne's Rare Book Fair, are part of an initiative to address the gender imbalance in the library's rare books collection.
Provenance and Significance
Philanthropist Helen Sykes, a founding donor of the library's Women Writers Fund, expressed excitement about the acquisition. 'As soon as it came up, we were so excited, because its provenance is so extraordinary,' she said. The copy once belonged to Austen's great-nephew, Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen. The volumes retain their original tree-calf leather binding, with the title discreetly on the spine and no author name visible, as Austen published anonymously during her lifetime.
Dr Anna Welch, principal collection curator of historical books at SLV, noted that Austen's identity was only revealed after her death in 1817, in the preface to Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. 'Her brother, Henry, and sister, Cassandra, organised the publication of those last two novels. That's when Austen's name appears in print as the author for the first time,' Welch said.
Acquisition and Conservation
The Women Writers Fund, established in 2021, raised $100,000 to purchase the 210-year-old book. The fund has secured 250 books with $750,000 raised. Each volume of Emma is housed in a specially made box by the library's conservation team and stored in a high-security, climate-controlled environment. 'They're small format volumes, about 15cm tall at the most. The pages are delicate, you have to turn them carefully,' Welch said. While rare books can be read by any library visitor, access requires a request to use a special room, where staff guide handling, including using cushions and weights but no gloves, as clean dry hands are best for dexterity.
Addressing Gender Imbalance
The fund aims to redress the gender imbalance in the library's collection, particularly in old and rare books. 'An author like Austen was really not on the radar of the library at that time,' Welch said, explaining that the library's founder Sir Redmond Barry prioritised classic English male authors like Chaucer and Shakespeare. Sykes added that the fund allows the library 'to acquire works by enormously capable, competent, trailblazing women'.
Exhibition Details
The World of the Book exhibition also displays 126 books from the fund, including a first edition of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, acquired for about £8,000 (A$15,414) five years ago. Also featured are a 'Peacock edition' of Austen's Pride and Prejudice with black-and-white illustrations and a 1897 travelling library set with full-colour illustrations. The fund's next targets are first editions of Brontë novels. 'Any sibling will do,' Sykes said. 'It's already a wonderful library, but now this very rich repository of women's work gives it a whole other strand to its bow.'
This is not the only first edition of Emma in Australia; the State Library of South Australia holds one donated in 2008, and the State Library of New South Wales acquired one for an undisclosed amount in 2017. Welch emphasised the importance of first editions: 'It matters because it's the first expression of that work of literature, but also because there are changes between editions. There is an aura about a first edition.' The exhibition reopens on 4 July.
