In Search of Jane Austen by Ken Methold

Author:Ken Methold [Methold, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical biography
ISBN: 9780648417194
Publisher: AIA Publishing
Published: 2019-06-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter-14

When Sarah gave her card to the clerk in the front office of Murray’s premises and he had taken it into his employer, barely half a minute passed before Murray himself welcomed her and ushered her into his comfortable, book-lined room at the rear of the building.

John Murray, publisher, quickly reminded Sarah that he was well-acquainted with her father, Matthew Kedron. ‘This is an unexpected pleasure, Miss Kedron. I trust your father is in excellent health.’

‘He is, thank you.’

Murray indicated that she should sit in one of the two high-backed arm chairs, one each side of a small table, and said, ‘May I offer you refreshment?’

‘Thank you, but no. I have just left the Chapter Coffee House.’

Murray smiled. ‘I am hoping,’ he said, ‘that the purpose of your visit is to offer me the honour of publishing your plays. Let me say immediately that I shall be delighted to become your publisher.’

Sarah laughed. ‘Well, Mr Murray, I had no such intention until a few seconds ago, but that is certainly something we can discuss while I’m here, but for the present, I have another matter in mind.’ She explained her interest in his author, Jane Austen, concluding, ‘I am wondering, among other things, why she left Thomas Egerton and came to you.’

‘Oh, I think there were two reasons. Jane Austen was a most ambitious lady. She was determined to do what was best for her writing. I publish Lord Byron and I co-publish Sir Walter Scott. I am sure Miss Austen desired to be included in that company. My books are also more attractively produced than Egerton’s, a good publisher though he is. He does his best for his authors.’

‘Perhaps you also offered her better terms,’ Sarah said.

‘Negotiations were, shall we say, protracted? Mr Henry Austen came to me at first, but he was taken ill and Miss Austen herself took over. Finally, after the poor woman’s tragically early death, her sister, Miss Cassandra Austen completed the negotiations.’

‘A somewhat fraught situation.’

‘Initially I offered Jane Austen an outright sum for three of her copyrights. Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park and the unpublished novel, Emma—possibly her masterpiece. But it became clear that she was not interested in selling her copyrights for anything like a reasonable sum. She had learnt from bitter experience that if your work has commercial potential, the best arrangement for an author is for her books to be published on a commission basis.’

‘So she still owned the copyright in three books, but not in all. That means that she had sold the copyright on Pride and Prejudice.’

‘Yes. Unless Egerton is prepared to sell it, he can publish as many editions of it as he wishes, without further payment to Miss Austen’s estate, until his interest in the copyright expires. I think that is in about ten years’ time.’

‘You have not only published Emma but also two more titles, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. All on commission?’

‘Unfortunately, yes. I didn’t really want Northanger Abbey. It is by far her weakest book. But I wanted Mansfield Park, and Persuasion.

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