Two hundred years ago today, Pride and Prejudice by “a Lady, the author of Sense and Sensibility” was published in London. Three volumes, its cost was 18 shillings.

No one had any idea then that this work would echo down two centuries and be hailed as a masterpiece of English literature. Her popularity ebbs and flows, but she has always had a devoted circle of followers, including Rudyard Kipling, who wrote:

Jane lies in Winchester, blessed be her shade!
Praise the Lord for making her, and her for all she made.
And, while the stones of Winchester – or Milsom Street – remain,
Glory, Love, and Honour unto England’s Jane!