“Austen first emerged in penny editions in the 1890s. Penny versions were modeled on the sensational Penny Dreadfuls, those cheap stories of violence on which Britain’s lawmakers were known to blame the rise in urban crime. Operating in tandem, two newspaper giants stepped in to offer better entertainment to ‘the poorer millions.’ These alternatives were pushed as ‘Penny Delightfuls.'” And yes, poor working men and women bought and read them. – Literary Hub