Preview · Page 1 of 3
Meet the Book
JANE AUSTEN
It opens with the most famous first sentence in English fiction — and with Mrs. Bennet in a fever to marry off her five daughters, for the family estate can pass only to a male heir. When the wealthy Mr. Bingley rents Netherfield Park, and brings his prouder, wealthier friend Mr. Darcy with him, everything is set in motion.
Press Next to step into the middle of the book — the ball at Netherfield itself.
DISCLAIMER & SOURCE — This book speaks in the words of Jane Austen. It presents Volume One of “Pride and Prejudice” — chapters 1 to 23, exactly the first volume as the novel was first published in London in 1813 — complete and unaltered, every word as she wrote it. Jane Austen (1775–1817) has been dead more than two hundred years, and her novel is public domain everywhere: free to all. The pictures are the illustrations drawn by Hugh Thomson for the celebrated “Peacock Edition” of 1894 (George Allen, London), likewise public domain, gathered from the open collections named in the colophon. The words and the pictures are public domain; what is new, and ours, is the hologram: this holographic talking edition is © ai10forever 2026, Editor: Franklin Langston. The narration is a synthesized woman's voice created for this edition — Jane Austen herself, in spirit, performs the reading of her own public-domain text. This is an independent production of ai10forever, not affiliated with or endorsed by any Austen estate, society, or publisher.
Preview · Page 2 of 3
From the Middle — The Ball at Netherfield
JANE AUSTEN
By now the lines are drawn: Elizabeth has heard Mr. Wickham's tale of Darcy's cruelty and believed every word; Darcy has heard the Bennets' vulgarity and drawn back in disgust. At the Netherfield ball they are thrown together for two dances — and neither gives an inch. The proposal, the letter, and the truth are still to come.
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Preview · Page 3 of 3
What's Inside
- Volume One, complete and unaltered — chapters 1 to 23 of Pride and Prejudice, exactly the first volume as Jane Austen first published it in London in 1813: 41,043 words, every word as she wrote it. (Volumes Two and Three follow in this line.)
- 3 hours and 59 minutes of narration — Jane Austen herself stands at the corner of the stage and tells her own love story, chapter by chapter, across 24 listening chapters.
- The pictures of the famous Peacock Edition — all 42 of Volume One's drawings by Hugh Thomson (1894), woven through the reading room and gathered in a gallery, with Jane's own portraits: the 1870 engraving, and her sister Cassandra's watercolor of 1810, the only portrait of her face painted in her lifetime.
- Music of her own world under the voice — Muzio Clementi's Sonatina Op. 36 No. 1 (1797), the piano music of Austen's drawing rooms, played softly beneath the narration.
- The barcode on every frame of the stage — scan at any moment to come back to this bookstore.
- One single HTML file — opens in any modern browser; no app, no account, no internet needed after downloading.
The text of this book is public domain everywhere: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (London, 1813), Volume One, reproduced exactly as published. Hugh Thomson's illustrations (Peacock Edition, George Allen, 1894) and both portraits are likewise public domain. The Clementi composition (1797) is public domain and the recording used was released into the public domain. The narration is a synthesized woman's voice created for this edition. The hologram edition — the talking stage, the narration, the assembly — is © ai10forever 2026 · Editor: Franklin Langston. An independent production, not affiliated with or endorsed by any Austen estate, society, or publisher.
$29
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Point a camera at this barcode to come straight back to this bookstore — and pass it on.