the book of books

The book of books is the Baronetage, the genealogical register of titled families that Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall never takes up any other book but this one. For him it provides occupation for an idle hour, consolation in a distressed one, and the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion. It is the page at which his favourite volume always opens, and it is the only reading matter that can rouse his faculties into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents. The book of books is thus the material embodiment of Sir Walter's vanity of person and of situation, the twin pillars of his character.

The Baronetage as a Mirror of Vanity

Sir Walter's vanity is the beginning and the end of his character, and the Baronetage is its perfect instrument. He has improved the printed paragraph of his own family entry by adding, for the information of himself and his family, the date of his daughter Mary's marriage and by inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he lost his wife. The volume concludes with his own handwriting: "Heir presumptive, William Walter Elliot, Esq., great grandson of the second Sir Walter." He considers the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy, and the Sir Walter Elliot who unites these gifts is the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion. The book of books is therefore a mirror in which he reads his own history with an interest which never fails, and any unwelcome sensations arising from domestic affairs change naturally into pity and contempt as he turns over the almost endless creations of the last century.

The Book as a Source of Pain for Elizabeth

For Elizabeth Elliot, the Baronetage has become an evil rather than a comfort. Thirteen years have seen her mistress of Kellynch Hall, and she is now nine-and-twenty, feeling her approach to the years of danger. Always to be presented with the date of her own birth and see no marriage follow but that of a youngest sister makes the book an evil. More than once, when her father has left it open on the table near her, she has closed it with averted eyes and pushed it away. The volume also carries the remembrance of her disappointment in the heir presumptive, William Walter Elliot, who had been forced into the introduction when Elizabeth was in her first bloom, had been invited to Kellynch Hall, talked of and expected all the rest of the year, but never came, and the next tidings were that he had married a rich woman of inferior birth. The book of books thus records not only her fading prospects but also the humiliation of a rejected alliance.

The Book as a Refuge from Financial Distress

When Sir Walter grows distressed for money, he takes up the Baronetage to drive the heavy bills of his tradespeople and the unwelcome hints of Mr Shepherd, his agent, from his thoughts. The Kellynch property is good but not equal to his apprehension of the state required in its possessor, and since Lady Elliot's death he has been constantly exceeding his income. He has condescended to mortgage as far as he has the power, but he will never condescend to sell; the Kellynch estate should be transmitted whole and entire as he has received it. The book of books is thus his escape from the reality of debt, a retreat into the imagined permanence of his lineage.

The Book's Thematic Significance

The Baronetage is more than a prop for Sir Walter's vanity; it is a symbol of the values that the novel ultimately questions and revises. The book records only birth, rank, and marriage, taking no account of merit, character, or affection. It is the volume in which Anne Elliot, with her elegance of mind and sweetness of character, is nobody with either father or sister, her word having no weight, her convenience always giving way—she is only Anne. The book of books stands for a world in which a man like Captain Wentworth, who has earned his fortune and distinction through service and courage, is initially deemed a degrading alliance, while the cold and calculating Mr Elliot, merely because he is the heir presumptive, is considered a proper match. The novel's resolution, in which Anne marries Wentworth and Sir Walter at last prepares his pen for the insertion of the marriage in the volume of honour, suggests that the book of books must ultimately accommodate a broader, more generous definition of worth.