Two apologies: one is that another post will immediately follow on this same passage, but with an entirely different slant, so I thought it would be better to separate them in case they lead in entirely different directions.

The second is for the atrocious pun in the title. If I remember rightly, every one of JA's works that she published in her lifetime was in the three-volume format: S&S, P&P, MP and E. I believe this was because printed matter, being so expensive, was commonly shared. A three-volume format would enable Person A in a household to read volume I and then pass it on to Person B while they continued with Volume II. (It is for this reason that Sir John's sending the Dashwoods his newspaper every day (Ch.6) represents more than just a sop. They wouldn't have been able to afford a daily paper - at that time probably The Times.)