The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

I am posting this early as I will be travelling over the next few weeks.

May 21-27: Volume 1, Chapters 1-8
May 28-June 3: Volume 1, Chapters 9-18
June 4-10: Volume 2, Chapters 1-6
June 11-17: Volume 2, Chapters 7-13
June 18-24: Volume 3, Chapters 1-8
June 25-July 1: Volume 3, Chapters 9-17.

Is everyone's version in volumes with reset Chatper numbers? Let me know if there is any confusion for different editions.

The excellent Oxford World’s Classics edition, which currently is rather inexpensive in Kindle, has the three-volume structure and the separate chapter numbers. It has a well-edited text and excellent notes.

The very cheap Delphi Complete Works does this for some of the novels, but not Mansfield Park. I suspect they assembled it from out of copyright editions without regard for uniformity.

I don’t know the situation in the current Penguin Classics edition: mine dates from the 1970s, and has been replaced at least once in the intervening decades.

I have checked with the Kindle edition of the current Penguin Classics edition of Mansfield Park, and it is divided into books and separate sequences of chapter numbers, although it lacks the hyperlinks in a table of contents to find them easily. By the way, here too the Kindle price was less than I anticipated.

The text used is based squarely on the first edition, with an appendix giving variants in the second edition, which is the usual base text. This Penguin edition was first published in 1996, with expansions in 2003 and 2014, mostly updates.

A word of warning: as usual, Amazon review pages for any edition of this book appear to be useless, as reviews from many, maybe all, different editions are mixed together.

Thanks for checking, Ian, good to hear!

Frances wrote: "I am posting this early as I will be travelling over the next few weeks.
...
June 4-10: Volume 2, Chapters 1-6
June 11-17: Volume 2, Chapters 11-17
..."

By "reset chapter numbers," do you mean that in some editions, the chapters in Volume 2 are listed as 1-6; 11-17, rather than 1-13, as mine is? Sorry: genuine question; I'm not trying to be snarky. :)

JP wrote: "Frances wrote: "I am posting this early as I will be travelling over the next few weeks.
...
June 4-10: Volume 2, Chapters 1-6
June 11-17: Volume 2, Chapters 11-17
..."

By "reset chapter numbers,"..."

Oh, well spotted and not snarky at all. That was a transcribing error-I wrote the dates rather than the chapters on that section! I have gone back to edit the original post so those are corrected. Thanks for pointing out to prevent future confusion.

That seems to be a typo (which I didn’t notice before) for chapters VII - XIII (7-13).

While I am at it, the Penguin Kindle edition says in its introduction that it includes as an appendix the introduction by Tony Tanner tons previous Penguin edition. It may be in print copies, but the Kindle doesn’t have it. A pity, as it was a good introduction.

Beware of introductions if you don't want spoilers, for classics they almost always assume you know the whole plot already.

Frances wrote: "That was a transcribing error"

Thanks! I'm looking forward to the read. I'm a latecomer to Austen, and now I can't get enough!

JP wrote: "Frances wrote: "That was a transcribing error"

Thanks! I'm looking forward to the read. I'm a latecomer to Austen, and now I can't get enough!"

Love it! I am not at all late. I discovered her very early in life and as I approach 50 I have been reading and enjoying and discovering more to love ever since. I started at 11 with a thesaurus beside me to help me with all the unfamiliar words.

Marlee wrote: "Love it! I am not at all late. I discovered her very early in life and as I approach 50 I have been reading and enjoying and discovering more to love ever since."

50 is well in my rear-view mirror, but it's great to have so many great authors to discover in retirement!

I probably first read Pride and Prejudice at about 12. Now 50 is long in the rear view mirror. MP is my least favorite but it is still Austen!

I am opening the first week's discussion thread a few days early as I am hoping to be away for the upcoming long weekend. The holiday Monday used to be Victoria Day here in Canada, although I'm not sure that is still its official title. Have a good weekend and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on our first section.

JP wrote: "Marlee wrote: "Love it! I am not at all late. I discovered her very early in life and as I approach 50 I have been reading and enjoying and discovering more to love ever since."

50 is well in my r..."

Well she is an addictive drug at any age I imagine :) How fun to discover and devour and long for more and so you re-read and re-discover and find nuance you missed. She must be re-read because there just aren't enough books to feed the addiction.

Frances wrote: "
May 21-27: Volume 1, Chapters 1-8
May 28-June 3: Volume 1, Chapters 9-18
.... ."

sorry, late to the party. The Project Gutenberg text has continuous chapter numbers, so here's the conversion table - for my own use, mainly, as it seems you all have the volumes structure:

May 21-27: Volume 1, Chapters 1-8 = PG
May 28-June 3: Volume 1, Chapters 9-18 = PG
June 4-10: Volume 2, Chapters 1-6 = PG Chapters 19-24
June 11-17: Volume 2, Chapters 7-13 = PG Chapters 25-31
June 18-24: Volume 3, Chapters 1-8 = PG Chapters 32-39
June 25-July 1: Volume 3, Chapters 9-17 = PG Chapters 40-48

... hope I got it right ;-)

I don’t have the volume structure, so this helps very much. Now I don’t have to count on my fingers and toes! Thanks, Sabagrey.

Nancy wrote: "I don’t have the volume structure, so this helps very much. Now I don’t have to count on my fingers and toes! Thanks, Sabagrey."

I DID get it wrong despite fingers and toes - Attention: I've just edited the post to correct the error.

Thanks, Sabine, that's very helpful.