The Owners of That First Edition of Persuasion Found

The Owners of That First Edition of Persuasion Found

A while ago the Jane Austen News reported on a first edition of Persuasion that had been found in a garage in the U.S. and then sent to Ayer Shirley Regional High School - as the inscription on the flyleaf said that the book's first owner was Lillian M. Flood, who had received it as a prize speaking award at Ayer High School in 1900.

Ayer Shirley Regional High School English Dept. head, Eleanor Capasso, was determined to find Lillian's descendants who the book would now belong to, and after the story was spread online Capasso received help from people she'd never met in the form of phone calls and e-mails. Using these and public records Capasso managed to trace the owners - Lillian's grandsons Peter and John Moses, to the Bronx where the book will now be sent. Peter and John said they are both "big Austen fans", so we are glad the book is going to a good home and that it's owners were found at last.

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