BB wrote:
5. although the suggestion to go with first editions _sounds_ good, i'd be careful. when i've examined the changes made from one edition to the next one, it certainly appears that a lot of errors are corrected. so i'm inclined to think later editions will be "better". for instance, in "pride and prejudice", see this change:
Mrs. Long and her daughters must stand their chance; Mrs. Long and her nieces must stand their chance; i'm guessing whichever one came _later_ was _correct_. first editions appeal to collectors, not text-obsessives.
I think that BB's point of exercising a certain amount of care about which edition to use before launching into a time-consuming project, is a good one, actually I suggested, like Peter Hatch, that Jon use the 1923 R. W. Chapman edition. Since Jane Austen died in 1818 or thereabouts this could hardly be considered a first edition. My understanding is that what Chapmann did is strip away layers of Victorian compositors 'improvements' particularly to punctuation and spelling, a process somewhat analogous to restoring an Old Master, or going back to the original score of a Mozart symphony. It's a scholarly edition rather than a first edition. (And yes Chapman's edition does have 'nieces' not 'daughters') Bob Gibbins