I recently ran a poll to discover people’s ‘Most romantics’, and in the book category, Pride and Prejudice was the hands-down winner, with 57% of the vote (the runner up, The Notebook, received 24%). It is of course one of the most loved books in English literature of all time, and according to calculations in 7 September’s Bookseller, it’s sold somewhere in the region of 3.5 million copies in the past 199 years, placing it at number 11 of the chart of the top bestselling books of all time.

But how well do you know the book and its history? Take this quiz, and if you can answer all the questions correctly, leave a comment and I’ll post you a tube of Smarties! I will put up the answers tomorrow.

1. From first draft to publication spanned how many years?
2. Which novel did Jane Austen write before Pride and Prejudice?
3. What is Darcy’s first name?
4. In which county is Darcy’s estate, Pemberley?
5. What was the original title of the book?
6. For how much did Jane Austen sell the book to her publisher?
7. Which famous female English novelist wrote the following criticism of the book post-publication: “a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but … no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck”?
8. Which of the following actors has not appeared in an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice: Laurence Olivier, Kate Winslet, Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Keira Knightley.
9. Which ‘chicklit’ character was obsessed with Colin Firth as Darcy?

Which British crime writer released a book last year bringing murder to Pemberley?