In the twentieth century, thanks to its multiple editions, Orgullo y prejuicio became the most widely known Jane Austen novel in the Spanish-speaking countries.1  It was never out of print.  Its readers, however, remained limited in number, and Austen was not a familiar name among the public (as the few Spanish-speaking Janeites well knew).  In the last five years of the century, things changed—as in the rest of the world—when two important circumstances converged:  the arrival of the Internet and the Golden Age of Austen screen adaptations.  The World Wide Web allowed Janeites to discover that we were not alone and that we could communicate with kindred spirits in other countries.  Then, the 1995 motion-picture adaptation of Sense and Sensibility put Austen in the spotlight for the larger public.  For those Spanish speakers whose curiosity had been awakened, the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries became the most important Austen adaptation of the period.

The 1995 Pride and Prejudice was seen on TV in Spain and Latin America, but by a limited audience.  Cultural public channels broadcasted it, although such channels do not usually draw a massive audience.  It was also telecasted on cable channels, and its fame spread by word of mouth, to the point that it was even released on DVD, something that rarely happens in Latin America with a British TV production.  Of course, publishing houses wished to capitalize.  Those that already had Orgullo y prejuicio in their catalogues launched reprintings; new translations were also issued.  Because the World Wide Web also made it possible to gain access to more reliable information on Austen and her world, translators could offer improved translations of her work. 

Translations for the new millennium 

The first among the publishing houses issuing a new Pride and Prejudice translation in this period, at the end of 1996, was Alianza Editorial—its first Austen novel and number 290 of its Alianza Tres collection.  At the time, Alianza was celebrating its thirtieth anniversary.  Since its very beginning, it has offered high-quality Spanish editions of world literature.  José Luis López Muñoz, an experienced and award-winning translator with a long collaboration history with Alianza, was commissioned to undertake the translation.  In 1972 he translated Emma; in 2013 he would translate Sense and Sensibility.  María Nieves Jiménez Carra considers López Muñoz’s translation a vast improvement over older translations, with fewer semantic errors, yet some of his choices tend to make more explicit elements that Austen left implicit.  López Muñoz sometimes overexplains or adds elements, and he naturalizes the language to make it closer to how Spaniards speak (316–22), decisions that do not sit well for those who want a translation closer to what Austen wrote.  Another quibble about this first Alianza edition was the cover image, a detail from John Singer Sargent’s An Interior in Venice (1899), almost a century off the mark in terms of representing the world of the novel.  Alianza does not include introductions for its editions, relying only on the quality of the text. 

Covers of Alianza editions
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Orgullo y prejuicio has been a publishing success for Alianza.  It has printed and reprinted the novel for more than twenty years, both in softcover and hardbound.  Covers have been constantly changed, and, fortunately, lately no longer feature Victorian paintings.  Since 2013, for Pride and Prejudice’s bicentenary, Alianza has added Hugh Thomson’s 1894 illustrations to its deluxe editions. 

In 2002 Editorial Edaf released the novel in translation by Alejandro Pareja Rodríguez, a professional translator whose career started in 1989.  Edaf was established in the second half of the twentieth century with a very eclectic catalogue, ranging from psychology and self-help to cooking and crafts, but also including humanities (history and literature).  It has branches and distribution in Latin America, and thus its editions reach both sides of the Atlantic.  Pareja has a long history of collaboration with Edaf, for whom he has translated a few of the most popular classic authors in English, like Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and the Brontës.  The only Austen novel Pareja has translated is Orgullo y prejuicio, number 27 in its Biblioteca Edaf collection.  For this edition Pareja also wrote a prologue on Austen and the novel, which he updated for the e-book version in 2011; the edition also contains a chronology and seven footnotes on cultural matters.  Pareja’s note on the special license is half accurate.  As the first translation of the novel for the twenty-first century, it is not badly done. 

Covers of editions using Pareja’s translation
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Edaf gave permission to use Pareja’s translation to RBA Coleccionables, which specializes in publishing collectable items, books included, to be sold weekly on newsstands.  RBA used Orgullo y prejuicio for three collections:  Novelas Románticas in 2004 (released in 2007 in Latin America), Grandes Escritoras in 2008, and, most recently, Novelas Eternas a.k.a. the Cranford Collection (since 2020, with many reissued in Spanish on both sides of the Atlantic).  The 2004 RBA edition has an appealing late nineteenth-century chocolate-box design and was highly sought after by Spanish-speaking Janeites on both sides of the Atlantic; the Novelas Eternas edition, with a cover inspired by the famous 1894 Peacock edition illustrated by Hugh Thomson, has also been very popular. In August 2024, a controversy over this edition arose in Argentina. Some people mistakenly believed that an AI-generated translation had been used, not knowing that Pareja had done his job before AI technology appeared in the publishing world.

Since 2018, Pareja’s translation has also been used by Editorial Alma for its editions of the novel in its Clásicos Ilustrados and Pocket Ilustrados collections, in hardcover and softcover respectively.  They have twenty three-color (pink, black, and white) illustrations by Dàlia Adillon, which were the main attraction.  These illustrations are a bit disappointing since they are not entirely inspired by the Regency period but are a mixed representation, with many Victorian details of attire, hairstyles, and furniture.  Alma has distribution in Latin America, so its editions are available on this side of the Atlantic.  In addition, Pareja translated the graphic novel adaptation of Orgullo y prejuicio y zombis, published in 2010. 

Covers of Alma editions and one illustration by Adillon
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In addition to the translation by Alejandro Pareja Rodríguez in 2002, another translation of Orgullo y prejuicio, by Patricia Franco Lommers, appeared.  Taking advantage of Austen’s recent popularity, Edimat Libros issued a double edition of Sentido y sensibilidad and Orgullo y prejuicio as well as single editions of both novels.  Established in 1991, Edimat’s mission is to publish popular collections, including classics from world literature, thematic encyclopedias, cookbooks, and didactic children’s books.  Orgullo y prejuicio is one of Franco Lommers’s few literature translations; she has focused more on audiovisual translation.  The edition does not include any footnotes, but it offers an anonymous general introduction on Austen, her work, her style, and her legacy; an introduction to Orgullo y prejuicio written by Ivana Mollo; a chronology; and a brief bibliography.  Since Edimat has distributors in the Americas (yes, in the U.S. too), its editions can be found easily in bookstores on both sides of the Atlantic.  Austen has been one of its bestselling authors, and it has reprinted both Sentido y sensibilidad and Orgullo y prejuicio these past twenty years, in paperback and hardcover, with new covers each time.  In 2021 it also published, for the first time in Spanish by a single publishing house, a collection of the complete works of Jane Austen in four volumes; Orgullo y prejuicio and the Juvenilia comprise the first volume. 

Covers of Edimat editions
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From the 2005 movie adaptation to the bicentenary of Pride and Prejudice 

As we have seen, since it was first translated, almost a hundred years ago, Orgullo y prejuicio has never been out of print in Spanish.  For decades it was the Austen novel most known by Spanish-speaking readers.  The boom of the mid-1990 adaptations certainly solidified that position, but fans were not abundant until the 2005 movie adaptation hit cinemas around the world.  Since it received several movie award nominations, it became known to a wider audience.  In addition, Pride and Prejudice’s bicentenary in 2013 provided an opportunity for commemorative editions.  Thus, in the span of eight years, publishing houses jumped at the chance to profit, either reprinting previous translations of the novel or issuing new ones.  Covers of these editions offered more accurate representations of Austen’s period. 

Destino edition

First among the new translations was a 2007 Destino edition, for its emblematic Colección Áncora y Delfín [Anchor and Dolphin].  Established in 1940, Destino is a long-standing publishing house in Spain, and it awards two of the most important literary prizes in that country for new works in Spanish and Catalonian, the Premio Nadal and the Josep Plá Award respectively.  Destino specializes in Spanish contemporary authors but, since the beginning of Áncora y Delfín in 1942, also includes world literature in its catalogue.  It is no small feat that an Austen novel was finally included in the collection.  Eduardo Chamorro Túrrez (1946–2009), a renowned Spanish writer, journalist, and critic, translated Pride and Prejudice.  (His other translations include Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener, Joyce’s Dubliners, Conrad’s The Rover, and Bob Dylan’s Songbook.)  A detail of Deux femmes lissant dans un intérieur by Jean Georges Ferry (1851–1926) was chosen for the cover, a painting that attempts to depict the Regency (or the First French Empire).  I once hoped that, with such a pedigree, this edition would reach Latin America—more so since in 1996 Destino became an imprint of Grupo Planeta, which has branches and distribution on this side of the pond—but it never did; to the contrary, now this edition is out of print. 

In 2009 Alba Editorial produced what has become the most appreciated translation of Pride and Prejudice in Spanish to date.  Although Alba had previously used an old (and defective) translation of the novel, it commissioned a new one from Marta Salís Canosa, to add the novel to its luxurious Clásica Maior collection.  This hardbound edition includes Hugh Thomson’s famous illustrations from the 1894 Peacock edition; the cover and dustcover also feature a peacock, a detail of a fresco in the Palazzo Spada in Rome painted by Agostino Mitelli (1609–1660) and Angelo Michele Colonna (1604–1687).  In addition to the appealing illustrations and cover, Salís’s translation is creditable.  Although there can never be a perfect translation of any work in any language, Salís managed to achieve some balance in remaining as close as possible to Austen’s original text while sounding natural in Spanish, and it is perhaps the translation of the novel with the fewest semantic and pragmatic mistakes.  Salís also prepared fifty-seven footnotes on cultural matters.  Although Alba does not usually include introductions for its editions, it has adopted a policy to offer good translations and pay fairly for them—which means its editions are not precisely affordable, but their quality is usually guaranteed—and the publishing house has distribution in many, if not all, Latin American countries.  For a while Spanish-speaking Janeites agonized to get their copies of this Orgullo y prejuicio edition.  As consolation, Alba issued it as an e-book in 2011, and in 2013, for the bicentenary, a paperback edition was released as part of the Clásica Minor collection, with Thomson’s illustrations but with a simpler cover, featuring Regency silhouettes and no peacock. 

Alba Editorial editions

In 2010 Editorial Bambú, a newly minted imprint of Editorial Casals, one of the oldest publishing houses in Spain, issued a hardback edition of Orgullo y prejuicio for its collection Letras Mayúsculas Clásicos Universales [Capital Letters, World Classics].  Bambú focuses on children and young readers, and the collection Letras Mayúsculas offers attractive, unabridged editions for high-school students.  With its contemporary vocabulary, Roser Villagrassa’s translation may not suit the taste of Janeites who desire a text closer to Austen’s.  But the edition also includes ten color illustrations by Jordi Vila i Delclòs, who seems to have been inspired by the 1995 BBC miniseries; an “Epilogue” by David Owen, a professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, to help students understand the novel more deeply; and a documentary note on Austen with color images, making it a good option to introduce Austen to young readers.  Fernando Vicente’s cover image depicts a couple in Regency attire on a lemon-green background.  In contrast to Vila, Vicente seems to have been inspired by the 2005 motion picture.  The edition has been distributed on both sides of the Atlantic and has been reprinted quite a few times, both in hardback and paperback.  Remei Barberà Gomis prepared a sixteen-page companion reading guide for this edition, which is available to teachers who have registered for Casals online project Bambú Lector. 

Bambú edition and one illustration by Vila y Delclós

In 2012 Austral—now not merely a Espasa-Calpe collection but a Planeta imprint—issued a “commemorative bicentennial edition” of the novel.  Although it was not the only special edition of Orgullo y prejuicio launched to commemorate the 2013 bicentenary of Pride and Prejudice, it was the only one with a new translation, by José C[alles] Vales, novelist and translator.  The bicentenary was a good excuse.  Call me a cynic, but Planeta needed a new translation because in 2012 its 1924 translation entered the public domain, as eighty years had passed since Jordán de Urríes’s death.  Vales also prepared an introduction on Austen and Pride and Prejudice and thirty-one footnotes.  The cover is elegant, a still-life photograph by Paul Knight of a flower in a vase on an old book; perhaps only the pack of old letters with postage stamps is anachronistic.  Later Austral editions of the novel, both in paperback and hardbound, depict a peacock motif in black on a green background.  The latest, for the Austral Ilustrados collection, sports the face of a young lady surrounded by flowers on a yellow background; the illustrations are by Luis Mazón. 

Austral editions with Vales’ translation
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100 years of Orgullo y prejuicio 

After almost a century since Pride and Prejudice was first released in Spanish, there is no doubt of its popularity and prestige as publishing houses keep issuing new editions and translations. 

In 2022 Ediciones Invisibles launched its Club Victòria collection with a new translation of the novel.  Ediciones Invisibles is an imprint of Viena Edicions in Barcelona, established in 2014 to create books as objects, focusing on the materiality of the book (covers, fonts, paper, and translations); thus, the Club Victòria collection features editions of great English novels.  Unfortunately, Ediciones Invisibles does not have distribution in the Americas, which means its editions can only be acquired through online bookstores in Spain shipping to the Americas.  It seems that the collection relies on titles now well known by connoisseur readers since this hardback edition includes neither introduction nor footnotes, merely the text of the novel with a single page on Austen and Orgullo y prejucio at the very end.  The cover presents Victorian-style wallpaper with a (repeated) bouquet on an aquamarine background.  The translation is by Ana Mata Buil, who has over twenty translations credited, mainly for Lumen; this was her first for Ediciones Invisibles, and in 2023 it was followed by her new translation of Persuasion.  In Mari Carmen Romero’s opinion, the translation has “an accessible contemporary taste.”  This accessibility might suit some readers, but judging by the famous first line on the sample pages offered by Ediciones Invisibles, more exacting readers might be dissatisfied with its syntactic reorganization:  “Todo el mundo reconoce esta verdad:  un hombre soltero con una gran fortuna sin duda debe desear esposa” (7) [All the world recognizes this truth:  a single man with a great fortune without doubt must wish (a) wife].  It is not the worst translation of the novel’s first line, but neither is it the best.2  It certainly confirms Gillian Dow’s assertion that “it is impossible to predict what will happen to the ‘truth universally acknowledged’ next” (136).  The jury is still out on this new take. 

In 2023 Panamericana Ediciones in Bogotá, Colombia, issued its own Orgullo y prejuicio edition in hardcover, with a translation credited to María Mercedes Correa Ortiz, a professor at the Universidad del Rosario.  It is hardbound edition, printed on ecological, yellowed paper; it has a glossy peacock cover designed by Rafael Garcin; and, for the first time in a Spanish edition, it includes eleven of the forty Brock ink illustrations from the 1895 Macmillan edition, though it has no footnotes.  Most important, this is the first direct translation of the novel by a Latin American.  It is not based on a previous translation as other editions published on this side of the Atlantic have been.  Almost all translators have come from Spain, even though some editions were first published in other Spanish-speaking countries; other editions crediting Latin American translations have been based on translations from Spain.  Avoiding this overwhelmingly colonialist situation, Correa decided to stay away from previous editions and, once she had the first draft, consulted a French translation as a guide for putting some nuances into context (Ríos).  Since January 2024, Correa’s edition is also available as an e-book. 

One of the latest additions to the ever-growing list of editions and translations arrived in November 2023 from Alma Editorial.  For the previous five years, Alma had been publishing Pareja’s twenty-year-old translation of the novel.  For its new Jardín Secreto [Secret Garden] collection featuring Marjolein Bastin’s illustrations, it commissioned a new translation of Orgullo y prejuicio by Concha Cardeñoso Sáenz de Miera, who in 2005 translated Karen Joy Fowler’s El club de lectura de Jane Austen (The Jane Austen Book Club).  For this edition, Alma kept the division of chapters in three volumes and allowed Cardeñoso to prepare fourteen footnotes.  (Bastin’s illustrated edition of Pride and Prejudice in English, published by Andrews McMeel, does not observe that volume division and does not include footnotes.)  Unlike Mata Buil, Cardeñoso did not feel compelled to modify the syntax of the novel’s famous first line, and, unlike Salís, she kept the imperial units rather than converting measures to the metric system.  Overall, Cardeñoso’s translation seems to be a good one; the edition’s main flaw is the anachronistic reproduction of Darcy’s letter inside an envelope fully addressed and directed to Hunsford Parsonage, but the translator should not be blamed for that editorial choice.  The Cardeñoso/Bastin edition has also become coveted by fans. 

Covers of the editions by Editiones Invisibles, Editorial Panamericana, and Jardín Secreto by Alma Editorial
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For 2025, Libros de Seda is preparing a new translation by Ana Andreu Baquero, probably the first among many commemorative editions to be issued for Jane Austen's 250th anniversary.

Adaptations and abridgements 

If the never-ending stream of Orgullo y prejuicio unabridged editions was not proof enough of the popularity of the novel among Spanish-speaking readers, the translation of sequels, modernizations, and abridgements in the past twenty-five years might be.  The publication of Pride and Prejudice’s sequels, modernizations, and fanfiction in Spanish could be matter for another essay.  Here it is enough to say that El diario de Bridget Jones and the zombie mashup, among others, have been translated and printed in Spanish and can even be found in e-book format. 

Before the dawn of Austenmania, however, two comic book adaptations were produced in Mexico. 

Two Mexican historietas (1973 and 1986) 

By the second half of the twentieth century, Orgullo y prejuicio had become the most widely known of all Austen works (if not the only one) among Spanish-speaking readers, so it is not a surprise it was also adapted as a comic book in Mexico.  (Gilson seems to have missed these adaptations.) 

In a country where literacy levels only really rose by the last decades of the twentieth century and affording books is still a privilege (Atala García 34), reading comics, or historietas as we call them in Mexico, was one of the more popular first approaches to culture, literature, and history. 

According to Adriana Malvido (cited by Ramos Reyes), between the 1950s and 1980s in Mexico publishing comics was a booming business, producing around 500 million copies per year, consuming more than half of the paper for the publishing industry.  During 1984–85, a period when Mexico was suffering an economic crisis from the severe devaluation of its currency and a devastating earthquake, the comic industry earned up to 1.25 billion pesos (Ramos Reyes). 

In 1956 Editorial Novaro—one of the most important comic book publishing houses in Mexico, which owned the rights to publish in Spanish important comics franchises managed by Dell Comics (like Disney, Warner, etc.)—started Vidas ilustres [Distinguished lives], a colored biographical comic book collection on important figures of world history.  Initially it was issued monthly, but in 1967 it began to be issued every fortnight; beginning in July 1973, the series focused on works of literature instead of biographies and its title became Vidas Ilustres presenta Obras Inmortales [Distinguished Lives Featuring Immortal Works].  It would be the final stretch for the collection, which ended in March 1974 with number 338.  I cannot but wonder if those final twenty-five numbers were not as successful as the biographical issues.  What it matters to Janeites, however, is that issue 320, released on October 1, 1973, was an adaptation of Orgullo y prejuicio. 

The story is condensed into twenty-eight pages, plus four pages with advertisements, so it is a very slim comic book.  There are no credits for the adaptation, though, according to Antonio Avitia Hernández, Javier Peñalosa Calderón and Rubí Cardós y Mario Marín were members of the series literary adaptation team (68).  The last panel (on the last page of the comic) was signed by Santillán and Ruiz:  the first must be Antonio “Santi” Santillán Pimentel (1943–2021), but I cannot ascertain whether the other artist was Ricardo Ruiz or José Luis Ruiz, nor who designed the cover. 

Cover and panel from the Novaro comic book
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Both the art and the nature of the condensation in this edition are problematic.  Apparently Santillán and Ruiz were not very familiar with Austen’s historical period.  They’ve drawn the characters in mid-eighteenth-century attire and hairstyles, too early in Georgian England.  Plot and characters are reduced to the barest bones, perhaps even inspired more by the 1940 movie adaptation than the novel.  What mattered for the adaptors was the love (and hate) relationship of the main protagonists, but nothing else.  Pride and Prejudice’s irony and social criticism are entirely lost.  As was customary, the names of the characters are translated into Spanish, but many of Austen’s characters are deleted.  There are only three Bennet sisters—Juana, Isabel, and Lidia—and no Bingley sisters, no Gardiners, and no Lady Catherine, though a Lady Darcy is mentioned in passing.  There is no conflict about Collins inheriting Longbourn; his wife is named Carolina (not Charlotte or Carlota).  Bingley becomes a lord, and Netherfield is his castle.  Elizabeth’s initial dislike of Darcy is based on his haughty attitude, not on his denigrating description of her, on his interference in Bingley and Jane’s relationship, and on Wickham’s lies.  Darcy’s first proposal is not as disastrous as it is in the novel.  His explanatory letter still stands, and afterward he and Lizzy correspond!  Lydia’s elopement also remains, with Darcy’s intervention.  Overall, this 1973 version is not a satisfying retelling. 

Thirteen years later, Novedades Editores released Orgullo y prejuicio for its Novelas inmortales comic book series.  Novedades was a publishing house that issued the newspaper of the same name; several comic book series extremely popular among Mexican readers, like El libro vaquero, Condorito, and Chanoc; and translations of famous American comics franchises, like Marvel (1980–1994) and Hanna-Barbera. 

In 1977 Novedades Editores’ Novelas inmortales started its run of comics issued every week in monochromatic ink.  Each number had 200 pages.  It comprised out-of-copyright world literature, mainly novels and short stories from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  In addition to an adaptation of a main work of literature, the magazine included brief information on the author, an adaptation of a short story usually unrelated to the main title, a few pages on an important episode of Mexico’s history, a page with a poem, a biographical page on a figure of world history, a page of notable quotations on a theme, and, on the back cover, an important artwork.  The series reached 863 volumes, the last one issued in August 1994, the year that Novedades closed its comic book line. 

Orgullo y prejuicio appeared in issue No. 449 in the Novelas inmortales series, on June 25, 1986.  The adaptation is credited to Rémy Bastien van der Meer, a legend in the Mexican comic book history (Fernández); the script to Herwidg Comte; pencils and inks by Moisés Céspedes; and cover by Rodolfo Pérez García.  The first two pages and panels of the comic offer brief information on Austen and her novel.  The adaptation of Austen’s novel comprises 168 pages, followed by a few translated lines from Byron’s The Corsair, a comic adaptation of José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi’s fable “El palacio de naipes,” the history of the Pastry War (the first Franco-Mexican war), quotations for reflection on “Prejudice,” and a brief biography on Johann Sebastian Bach; on the back cover is a reproduction of Delacroix’s The Massacre at Chios (1824). 

Cover and panel of the Novedades comic book
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Since the Novelas inmortales adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is longer than that of Obras inmortales, one would have expected it to be more faithful to the original novel, but not so.  Céspedes drew the characters in Victorian attire and hairstyles, including bowler hats.  Bastien altered parts of the plot that we Janeites consider fundamental to the story:  some characters are completely erased, and the first names of those retained are not only translated but changed.  There are only two Bennet sisters, Juana and Isabel; their mother is called Mabel; their uncle is only briefly mentioned and named Harry, without a surname; and Lady Catalina de Burgh is merely mentioned in passing.  The first names of the main male characters are changed:  Darcy becomes Carlos; Bingley is Jorge; Wickham, Alex; and Collins, Enrique.  At least, Carolina Bingley, Carlota Lucas, and Georgina Darcy appear.  In terms of plot, the shifts are more surprising.  Without Lydia, there is no elopement; and although Wickham still spreads lies about Darcy, he is introduced to the Bennets as a friend of Collins, and his last villainy is an attempt to assault Elizabeth, which Darcy prevents, and they come to blows.  At least, Elizabeth’s dislike starts from Darcy’s dismissive remark about her.  We see his disastrous first proposal and his explanatory letter.  Without the Gardiners, however, there is no visit to Pemberley; without Lady Catherine, her sudden arrival at Longbourn to confront Lizzy is nowhere to be found; and Georgiana first meets Lizzy after the later becomes engaged to Darcy.  Perhaps more than half the original story remains.  Once again, I suspect the comic might be based on the old MGM adaptation.  Surely it could have been better executed. 

Divested of humor, irony, and sharp social comment, both comics reduced the plot to a soap opera, for which Mexico was then famous.  I cannot help wonder what readers would have thought if they had read the original work.  Some may have attempted to read it, since there were a few editions available in the country; those readers would have discovered how different Austen’s novel is. 

Pride and Prejudice’s pop force in the twenty-first century 

The popularity of the novel through its screen adaptations and the popularity of the genre of the graphic novel in the twenty-first century have prompted the translation and publication of further Orgullo y prejuicio printed adaptations and abridgements. 

In time for the 2013 bicentenary, in Spain Panini Comics published the Clásicos Ilustrados Marvel Orgullo y prejuicio, adapted by Nancy Butler, illustrations by Hugo Petrus, and translation by Santiago García.  The four Austen novels adapted by Marvel in comic book format were licensed to Panini Comics in Spain.  Although Panini has branches in Latin America, however, the Clásicos Ilustrados collection did not reach the region.  As proof of the popularity of the novel, this comic went entirely out of print very quickly. 

Clásicos Marvel and Clásicos Manga

A year later, in 2014, in Mexico Lectorum published the translation of Ian Edginton’s graphic adaptation, previously published in the U.S.:  Orgullo y prejuicio: La novela gráfica, with illustrations by Robert Deas and translation by Leidy Guerrero Villalobos.  Five years later, in 2019, Bruguera published a version for Spain, translated by Sheila Espinosa.  It is an extremely rare case that proves that comic books are more likely to be adapted in the same language for readers in different countries than an unabridged edition of the original work.  The Mexican edition is larger in size than the Spanish one.  As Angélica Trejo noticed, however, the Mexican edition includes translation mistakes, seeming to indicate that Austen’s novel and its screen adaptations might be unknown to Guerrero Villalobos.  For example, Wickham is described as “oficial de policía” [police officer], when Edginton only placed the character as an officer. 

The Clásicos Manga Orgullo y prejuicio, adapted by Stacy King and illustrated by Po Tse, was published in 2016 by Norma Editorial in Spain; the translation is by Anabel Espada.  Norma has also published in Spanish the other two Austen novels that Manga Classics has adapted. 

In 2020 Enlace Editorial in Colombia issued the Orgullo y prejuicio: la novela gráfica adapted by Laurence Sach and illustrated by Rajesh Nagulakonda; the translation is by Camila Castañeda, revised by Nathalia Castañeda. 

The Mexican and Spanish editions of Edginton’s comic book and Colombian edition of Sach’s comic book
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The novel has also permeated pastimes.  In 2017 Bruño (a Grupo Anaya imprint) published the coloring book Clásicos para colorear: Orgullo y prejuicio, with illustrations by Chellie Carroll and translation by Roberto Vivero Rodríguez.  More recently, some newspapers in Spain (such as Marca, El Comercio, El Diario Vasco, and El País) have issued Richard Galland’s Los enigmas de Orgullo y prejuicio (Pride & Prejudice & Puzzles), as one of the weekly installments of a collection sold on newsstands.  So far, it has only been available in Spain. 

Coloring book and puzzles book 
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Finally, there are children’s and young readers’ adaptations and abridgements, either translated or initially adapted in Spanish, which also signal the popularity of the novel among Spanish-speaking readers.  In the past five years there’s been something of a boom:  at least six different editions of this type have been issued in Spanish. 

The very first among them is an Argentinian abridged edition prepared by Evelia Romano and issued by Cántaro in 2007 for its Colección del Mirador [Lookout].  Romano abridged the story in twenty-one chapters with some footnotes.  She also prepared an introduction, a study guide with questions and themes for discussion, a short biography of Austen, information about her times, short excerpts from critical essays to contextualize the novel, and a bibliography.  Although those afterword pages include images, they are not illustrations of the novel created for the edition. 

Argentinian, Spanish, and Mexican abridged editions for students 
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Ten years later, in 2017, Anaya issued a twenty-two-chapter adaptation for readers aged fourteen years and above, as part of its collection Clásicos a la medida [Custom-made Classics].  Lourdes Íñiguez not only adapted it but also prepared the introduction on historical and literary context, footnotes, and an appendix on Austen’s life, the novel itself, and its screen adaptations.  Mónica Armiño created twenty-five color illustrations plus the cover, all inspired by the Regency.  It is available as an e-book. 

In 2018 in Spain, an easy-reading Orgullo y prejucio edition was issued by Lectura para Todos in its Grandes Clásicos series—a series for ELE (Español como Lengua Extranjera/Spanish as a Foreign Language) students in the A2-B1 level scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), or pre-intermediate level.  It does not include illustrations, and the adaptor is not credited. 

Since 2020 a print-on-demand reading guide of Orgullo y prejuicio, titled Guía de Lectura has been available, issued by Paideia Educación, a company registered in Germany.  It does not include any credit for its preparation.  It includes biographical information on the author, a one-paragraph summary of each chapter of the novel, and very brief information on the historical and literary context.  Overall, one can find more useful information in Spanish on Pride and Prejudice online than this booklet offers. 

An adaptation for students of Spanish as a Foreign Language and a reading guide 

Also in 2020 Destino published in Spanish a twenty-seven-chapter children’s adaptation of Italian origin:  Tea Stilton's Orgullo y prejuicio, the first work adapted for the series.  Barbara Pellizzari and Carolina Livio designed the illustrations; Christian Aliprandi colored them.  Livio and Aliprandi also illustrated the appendix.  The cover was designed by Carla Debernardi and Erika de Giglio.  Helena Aguilà Ruzola translated from the Italian.  In the appendix, Tea and her friends share their opinions of Pride and Prejudice, and there is also information on Austen and her times.  Tea, the character, is credited as author of the adaptation, rather than Dami.  It is available as an e-book. 

In 2021 Alma Editorial issued a twenty-eight-page pre-school adaptation for its collection Ya Leo A [I read . . .], a charming adaptation in rhymes for small children, by Carmen Gil, illustrated by Paty Aguilera. 

Alma and Disney adaptations for children
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Also in 2021 Harperkids, an imprint of Harper Collins Ibérica, issued Orgullo y prejucio as the first volume of its Increíble Austen series, a translation of Katherine Woodfine’s twenty-six-chapter adaptation from the Awesomely Austen collection, illustrated by Églantine Cuelemans.  The Spanish translation is by Jofre Homedes Beutnagel.  The edition is available on both sides of the Atlantic, and there is also an e-book version. 

An adaptation from Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Friends appeared in 2022 as part of the Clásicos para Leer y Escuchar [Classics to Read and Listen], a book with audio for children who are starting to read.  It was released by PI [Phoenix International] Kids, in translation by Ana Izquierdo and Arlette de Alba and narrated by Valeria Rosero. 

In 2022 in Mexico, beside its unabridged editions, Editores Mexicanos Unidos also published an abridgement in twenty-six chapters for its Biblioteca Escolar collection.  For the cover, oddly, a color version of Charles E. Brock’s 1895 illustration of Collins’s marriage proposal was chosen.  The abridgement is credited to Lorena Maythe Lojero Guevara, who also prepared a so-called “study guide” for this low-cost book, consisting of eight reading-comprehension questions, five true-or-false questions, and a word search page.  (Lojero is credited with the infamous “translation” in the latest unabridged editions of the novel that EMU has published, which might not be considered as an endorsement.)  In comparison to all other abridgements, this version is the least suitable. 

 Cover of the Dos Puntos adaptation
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In June 2023 Ediciones Dos Puntos added Orgullo y prejuicio to its Caramelos Literarios [Literature Candies] collection, offering easy-reading adaptations of classics of world literature for children.  They aim to promote good reading habits and improve vocabulary and writing skills.  Nancy Luna Hernández is credited for this more than eighty-page abridgment of Pride and Prejudice, which includes a color cover, nine manga-inspired black-and-white illustrations by Adriana López Pale, and a questionnaire and psycho-emotional reading material prepared by Gabriela Anguiano and Maricruz Barbosa.  Overall, it is not a bad option, especially for a low-cost edition. 

As mentioned before, in 2023 Molino published a new young readers' adaptation, based on Ana María Rodríguez’s “translation,” although she is not credited for the abridgement.  The novel was reduced to forty-six chapters and includes eighteen black-and-white illustrations by Marta García Navarro, which seem to be inspired by the 2005 motion picture.  For the cover she redesigned one of those illustrations in color. 

Tea Stilton and Increíble Austen adaptations and Molino abridged edition 
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The latest addition is a thirty-two-page adaptation for children from four to seven years old, prepared by María Cecilia Cavalone and illustrated by the Gallego Bros., Emilio and Jesús Gallego, for Mi primera biblioteca (My First Library) collection published by Shackleton Books in Barcelona, Spain.  The collection introduces great literary classics to children.  Cavallone was already familiar with Austen, having written an Austen biography for Shackleton’s Mis pequeños heroes (My Little Heroes) collection.  Additional activities for young readers can be downloaded from the publishing house website. 

Cover of Mi primera biblioteca adaptation 

In the last twenty-five years, Pride and Prejudice has become widely known and extremely popular among the Spanish-speaking public, garnering over a score of adaptations or abridgements, a feat that very few works of world literature could achieve. 

A century has elapsed since Pride and Prejudice was first published in Spanish, with more than a century’s delay.  Initially released as a work of a little-known female English novelist, it has become one of the most renowned gems of world literature.  As in other parts of the world and in other languages, this novel holds the interest of Spanish-speaking readers (and publishers) as no other Austen work does. 

It cannot be denied that the Pride and Prejudice screen adaptations have cemented its popularity around the world, and, since the mid-1990s, they have generated an unstoppable fandom, while the Internet has shortened distances so that Janeites can easily communicate with each other.  Nevertheless, Spain still dominates the publishing market in Spanish, and reading and book collecting are still privileges for the average public on this side of the ocean.  In Latin America, one can count oneself fortunate to acquire one copy of the novel. 

Publishing houses are keen to capitalize, releasing a wide variety of editions, translations, and adaptations.  Older translations with their many semantic and pragmatic mistakes are still in print, for both low-cost and deluxe editions and in a few cases released by powerful publishing houses.  Those reprintings often please the eye with attractive covers and illustrations to offset deficiencies of translation.  Newer translations and editions have benefited from a deeper understanding and knowledge of Austen’s world.  Instead of anachronistic covers and illustrations depicting a Victorian or Edwardian world, Georgian and Regency paintings and portraits have been more accurately chosen, and the peacock—nodding to Hugh Thomson’s 1894 edition—has become a staple image for covers. 

Giant publishing groups know that the Austen name is profitable in Spanish, and Pride and Prejudice is particularly so.  For example, Grupo Planeta and Grupo Anaya have published sequels and adaptations, in addition to unabridged editions.  Penguin Random House, under at least five of its many imprints, has published even more—making it more annoying that the multinational conglomerate does not release a quality translation of the novel in Spanish. 

Despite its popularity, however, no newer scholarly, fully annotated edition of Pride and Prejudice has been published in the past forty years in the Spanish-speaking world.  Of the two editions of that kind, one has been out of print and forgotten for almost fifty years; the other, though available on both sides of the Atlantic, offers a flawed translation, the most frequently rehashed.  A century since the novel was finally translated into Spanish, it is time for a new scholarly edition, preferably by a Latin American editor and translator, if possible.  Such a project seems more a dream than a feasible option, since a wide gap between the region and Spain still prevails, particularly regarding translators’ rights and fair payment.  It seems unlikely, especially considering the financial costs, that a Latin American—or any—publishing house would be willing to undertake such an enterprise.

NOTES

1Part 1 of this essay was published in Persuasions On-Line 44.1 as Pride and Prejudice’s Popularity in the Spanish-Speaking World (1924–1994): Getting Stronger than Pride.

2Since 2006, at Jane Austen en castellano we have been compiling different translations in Spanish of the famous first line; they can be read at https://orgulloyprejuicio.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/orgulloyprejuicio-fraseinicial/.