As explained in the Introduction (p. xxxii above), Austen clearly took no part in preparing the second and third editions of the novel, since she had disposed of the entire rights in the work to the bookseller Thomas Egerton. The first edition came out in January 1813. It was followed later in the same year by a second edition, also in three volumes, which probably appeared shortly before Sense and Sensibility was published in October. The third edition in two volumes was published in the year of Austen's death, 1817. As noted in the Note on the text (p. lxxix), both the second and third editions left errors uncorrected and introduced intrusive ‘improvements’.For this reason the present text adopts few readings from the second and third edition, and where such readings are not adopted the textual notes (pp. 432–4 above) list only those cases where a serious case can be made for considering the variant.

For Egerton and the printers involved in the first edition, see Appendix 1. In the case of the second edition (E2), the printers were the same as in the first (E1), that is Charles Roworth for volume 1, and George Sidney for volumes 2 and 3. In the case of the third edition (E3) Roworth was responsible for both volumes.

As noted, E2 is reset throughout, even though it is virtually identical with E1 in terms of make-up, pagination and signatures. In the copies I have examined there are only small divergences in the pressmarks used to indicate the order in which sheets were to be bound. The catchwords at the foot of the page may differ, especially where small adjustments to the text result in alterations in the lineation. It is quite rare to find such a close simulacrum of the original printing where a large number of changes have been introduced into the text. In my view, this seems to indicate that Egerton for some reason wished the new printing to appear as nearly indistinguishable as possible from its predecessor.