Dallying with Darcy

Published 200 years ago today, Pride and Prejudice has sold more than 20m copies. Jonathan deBurca Butler examines its popularity

TO mark the tenth anniversary of World Book Day back in 2007, a survey was carried out in Britain which asked 2,000 readers what book they couldn’t live without.

Unsurprisingly, The Lord of the Rings featured, as did George Orwell’s classic 1984 and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. But sitting pretty at the top of the tree, replete with a bonnet and apron, was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.