Cecilia,: or Memoirs of an Heiress.

SOURCE OF THE TITLE PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
BURNEY, FRANCES. Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. By the Author of Evelina. 12mo. Bound in full speckled calf with gilt-lettered spine labels; page edges dyed yellow. London: Printed for T. Payne and Son. 1782. First Edition. 5 volumes. With the misspelled catchword on page 235 of vol. II and the mispaginated page 159 in vol. V.

The first edition of Fanny Burney's second novel, recounting the trials and tribulations of a wealthy young orphan who, launched into society, must guard her fortune and virtue from the depredations of assorted suitors. A follow-up to her hugely successful Evelina, Cecilia is "less unstudied" than the earlier work, "with greater polish, and a 'literary quality' that gave rise to the report that Dr. Johnson had corrected it." (Kunitz & Haycraft)

An interesting incidental note is the appearance near the end of the book of a phrase that would gain immortality in the hands of a slightly later author:

"'The whole of this unfortunate business,' said Dr. Lyster, 'has been the result of PRIDE and PREJUDICE […] Remember; if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, so wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you will also owe their termination" [emphasis Burney's].

Jane Austen read and admired Burney's novels, and she "took the title of her first novel from the last pages of Cecilia and speaks with admiration of Miss Burney in a remarkable passage in Northanger Abbey." (DNB)

Bindings slightly rubbed at edges and joints; spines a bit rubbed, some chipping to the spine heads; front joints of vols. I and V cracked, with the front board of vol. I detached; spine of vol. I with a small chip to the leather; contents with generally mild toning, occasional scattered light browning and foxing, most noticeable on the first and last few leaves of each vol.; o/w quite clean and sound.