Pride and Prejudice Restored to 1813...Sophie Turner

Available on Amazon

We are honored to have Sophie Turner visit today with some explanations about her project, Pride and Prejudice Restored to 1813. I believe you will enjoy reading what she is sharing with us. I certainly did! :) Thank you, Sophie, welcome back to More Agreeably Engaged.

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Thank you so much for having me back here at More Agreeably Engaged to share this special project of mine! I’m so glad readers have been enthusiastic about this project, in returning the novel to Jane Austen’s voice. I thought I would share some more before-and-after excerpts, showing the adjustments I had to make as I went through the novel:

This first example shows how language has evolved, and spelling was not standardized in Austen’s time. Anybody and everybody were usually separated out as two words in her work. You can also see the difference between taking the time to do the punctuation, such as the mdashes, correctly, versus using the old two hyphen (--) cheat.

Before:

"You are a very strange creature by way of a friend! -- always wanting me to play and sing before anybody and everybody! If my vanity had taken a musical turn, you would have been invaluable; but as it is, I would really rather not sit down before those who must be in the habit of hearing the very best performers."

After:

“You are a very strange creature by way of a friend!—always wanting me to play and sing before any body and every body!—If my vanity had taken a musical turn, you would have been invaluable, but as it is, I would really rather not sit down before those who must be in the habit of hearing the very best performers.”

Even some of the most famous lines of the novel were not immune to this lack of standardization. Gentlemanlike/gentleman-like was treated inconsistently within the original novel, but it was more often spelled with the hyphen. And I think it really does affect the way that you read the line, to have it in vs. out:

Before:
"You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner."

After:

“You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner.”

Sometimes, I found entire words had been lost in the online versions, such as this line of dialogue:

Before:
"You used us abominably ill," answered Mrs. Hurst, "running away without telling us that you were coming out."

After:

“You used us abominably ill,” answered Mrs. Hurst, “in running away without telling us that you were coming out.”

The words were adjusted in the below excerpt, as well—”away” has been substituted in for the less-modern “such a way,” as well as differences in comma placement, and in the formatting of ———shire (this, alas, was also inconsistent in the 1813 edition, I believe due for typesetting reasons, and I did make it consistent throughout the ebook):

Before:
"It is a delightful thing, to be sure, to have a daughter well married," continued her mother; "but, at the same time, Mr. Bingley, it is very hard to have her taken away from me. They are gone down to Newcastle, a place quite northward, it seems, and there they are to stay I do not know how long. His regiment is there; for I suppose you have heard of his leaving the -- -- shire, and of his being gone into the regulars. Thank Heaven! he has some friends, though, perhaps, not so many as he deserves."

After:

“It is a delightful thing, to be sure, to have a daughter well married,” continued her mother; “but at the same time, Mr. Bingley, it is very hard to have her taken such a way from me. They are gone down to Newcastle, a place quite northward, it seems, and there they are to stay, I do not know how long. His regiment is there; for I suppose you have heard of his leaving the ———shire, and of his being gone into the regulars. Thank Heaven! he has some friends, though perhaps not so many as he deserves.”

Sometimes mixups in punctuation seemed innocent, but they still impact the feel of a line. When Elizabeth cries the below dialogue, it has a different emphasis and meaning when she does so with an exclamation point versus a question mark:

Before:
"Are they indeed!" cried Elizabeth, with the greatest satisfaction.

After:

“Are they indeed?” cried Elizabeth, with the greatest satisfaction.

Grammar, spelling, and punctuation can even impact characterisation. Mrs. Bennet, I found, had garnered additional exclamation points over the years in the online versions, and the woman already uses enough as it is! You can also see more examples of differences in comma placement, in this excerpt.

Before:
"What an excellent father you have, girls!" said she, when the door was shut. "I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter. At our time of life it is not so pleasant, I can tell you, to be making new acquaintance every day; but for your sakes, we would do any thing. Lydia, my love, though you are the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball."

After:
“What an excellent father you have, girls,“ said she, when the door was shut. “I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter. At our time of life, it is not so pleasant I can tell you, to be making new acquaintance every day; but for your sakes, we would do any thing. Lydia, my love, though you are the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball.”

You can really see what a difference these subtle things can make for a character in Lady Catherine’s (in)famous house-crashing scene. There’s a precision to the characterisation in what Austen intended which has become more of a caricature in online versions, simply with some adjustments in punctuation.  In the original, Lady Catherine doesn’t ask if Mrs. Bennet is Elizabeth’s mother—she states it.

Before:
Mrs. Bennet, all amazement, though flattered by having a guest of such high importance, received her with the utmost politeness. After sitting for a moment in silence, she said, very stiffly, to Elizabeth -- "I hope you are well, Miss Bennet. That lady, I suppose, is your mother?" Elizabeth replied very concisely that she was. "And that, I suppose, is one of your sisters?" "Yes, madam," said Mrs. Bennet, delighted to speak to a Lady Catherine. "She is my youngest girl but one, my youngest of all is lately married; and my eldest is somewhere about the grounds, walking with a young man, who, I believe, will soon become a part of the family."

After:

Mrs. Bennet all amazement, though flattered by having a guest of such high importance, received her with the utmost politeness. After sitting for a moment in silence, she said very stiffly to Elizabeth,

“I hope you are well, Miss Bennet. That lady I suppose is your mother.”

Elizabeth replied very concisely that she was.

“And that I suppose is one of your sisters.”

“Yes, madam,” said Mrs. Bennet, delighted to speak to a lady Catherine. “She is my youngest girl but one. My youngest of all, is lately married, and my eldest is some-where about the grounds, walking with a young man, who I believe will soon become a part of the family.”

It’s certainly possible to look at all of these and way, well, none of them are particularly drastic. Which is true. The story is so good that it can stand and still be a highly enjoyable read even with all of these little errors. But it’s not quite Austen’s voice. And I, for one, believe it’s even better when it is in her voice, restored to 1813. That was the purpose of doing this project, and I again want to thank readers for their interest in it!

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Book Title: Mistress: Pride & Prejudice

Author: Jane Austen; Annotated by Sophie Turner

Tour Dates: July 27 – September 15

Genre: Classics, Historical Romance, Romance

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Feedbooks to come

Book Description

The novel needs no introduction. But readers may not have realised that we have been losing “Pride and Prejudice” over the years, particularly digitally. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation have eroded significantly from the 1813 Egerton first edition, and many digital copies suffer from poor formatting.

In 2017, the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, her “darling Child” has been painstakingly restored to the three-volume 1813 first edition. Adjustments have only been made where there were errors in the 1813 text, and are noted in detailed annotations at the end of the novel.

Please enjoy this beloved story, restored to Jane Austen’s original 
voice.

Contact Sophie Turner

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Author Biography

Sophie Turner worked as an online editor before delving even more fully into the tech world. Writing, researching the Regency era, and occasionally dreaming about living in Britain are her escapes from her day job.

She was afraid of long series until she ventured upon Patrick O’Brian’s 20-book Aubrey-Maturin masterpiece, something she might have repeated five times through.

Alas, her Constant Love series is only planned to be seven books right now, and consists of A Constant Love, A Change of Legacies, and the in-progress A Season Lost.

She blogs about her writing endeavours at sophie-turner-acl.blogspot.com, where readers can find direction for the various social drawing-rooms across the Internet where she may be called upon.

Blog Tour Schedule

July 27 / My Vices and Weaknesses/ Guest Post & Giveaway

July 28 / Austenesque Reviews/Book Excerpt & Giveaway

July 29 / My Love for Jane Austen/ Guest Post & Giveaway

August 3 /Just Jane 1813 / Book Review & Giveaway

August 4 / My Jane Austen Book Club/ Guest Post & Giveaway

September 4 / Diary of an Eccentric/ Guest Post & Giveaway

September 5 / Laughing with Lizzie / Book Excerpt & Giveaway

September 6 / Savvy Verse & Wit / Book Review & Giveaway

September 12 / Margie’s Must Reads /Book Review & Giveaway

September 14 / More Agreeably Engaged /Guest Post & Giveaway

September 15 / Babblings of a Bookworm/ Book Excerpt & Giveaway

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Sophie Turner is giving away one eBook of Pride and Prejudice Restored to 1813 and the giveaway is international. To be entered please leave us a comment and tell us what you think of these word changes, punctuation differences, etc. I am excited to see the differences and can't wait to read the novel again , in Jane Austen's true voice. Thank you, Sophie, for such an enlightening and interesting post. I'm thrilled to have you stop by on your tour. Best wishes with this project! I cannot imagine the time and research that went into it.


For a chance to win this lovely book, have your share in the conversation. The giveaway will end at 11:59 P.M. on the 18th of September. Good luck to all.