Short answers, pulled from the story.
Pride and Prejudice was first published on the 28th of January 1813 by Thomas Egerton of the Military Library, Whitehall. It appeared in three hardcover volumes, priced at 18 shillings, and was advertised in The Morning Chronicle. The first edition sold out quickly, and a second edition followed in October 1813.
The novel was originally titled First Impressions. Jane Austen wrote the first draft between October 1796 and August 1797. She revised the manuscript between 1811 and 1812 and renamed it Pride and Prejudice, most likely drawing on a passage in Fanny Burney's 1782 novel Cecilia, where the phrase appears three times in block capitals.
Jane Austen sold the copyright to Thomas Egerton for £110, having originally asked for £150. This proved costly: Jan Fergus calculated that Egerton made around £450 from just the first two editions of the book alone.
Longbourn is bound by a strict settlement that Mr Bennet entered into when coming of age, which restricts inheritance to the male line. Because the Bennets have no son, the estate must pass to their nearest male heir, Mr Collins, upon Mr Bennet's death. Mrs Bennet and her daughters would then be left to live only on interest from Mrs Bennet's separate estate of roughly £9,000 in total.
Pride and Prejudice has sold over twenty million copies, making it one of the most popular novels in English literature. The novel has also inspired dramatic adaptations, films, television versions, reprints, and unofficial sequels across more than a century.
Around forty letters are quoted or referred to across Pride and Prejudice. Letters allow characters to express feelings they cannot state in polite conversation, and Darcy's letter to Elizabeth after his first rejected proposal is the pivotal document that reveals Wickham's true character and begins to shift Elizabeth's feelings toward Darcy. The density of letters has led some commentators to suggest the original draft, First Impressions, may have been an epistolary novel.