With five unmarried daughters to dispose of, Mrs Bennet, always a martyr to her nerves, is becoming increasingly concerned. Beautiful Jane at twenty-two shows little sign of doing anything about it in time. Pretty, feisty Lizzy, not yet one-and-twenty, is determined to marry for love. Kitty and the coltish Lydia are content to flirt with any man who will look their way. Mary would infinitely prefer a book. The arrival of Mr Bingley and his family, the saturnine Mr Darcy and a whole regiment of militia brings changes for them all; and pride, prejudice and sheer animal spirits have much to answer for along the way. The sparkling comedy of manners that results is the vehicle for Jane Austen’s most acute social observation and dry humour.

If you have ever expected Jane Austen’s novels to be difficult to read, the Line Clear Edition is the one for you. Here is Jane Austen’s classic novel in Jane Austen’s words, made approachable by clear type and a clear layout, modern spelling and modern typography. The innovative chapter titles and contents list, derived from the text, will guide the familiar reader back to favourite passages without revealing the plot to a new reader.

The cover image is taken from a Cassini Old Series map, using mapping first published by the Ordnance Survey between 1805 and 1834 (Jane Austen died in 1817), and is reproduced by kind permission of Cassini Publishing Ltd. The front cover is centred on Hertford and Ware in Hertfordshire, which are thought to have been Austen’s models for Meryton and the unnamed small town where Mr Bennet’s carriage meets Elizabeth and Maria on their return from Kent. Although Hertford is the county town, it was Ware, not Hertford, that was on the main road from the south.