Jane Austen's Letters

Jane Austen's Letters
by Jane Austen

Jane Austen's Letters
Our Price: $213.93
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $24.51 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Jane Austen
Editor: Dierdre Le Faye
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-05-25
ISBN: 0198117647
Number of pages: 672
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Summary of Jane Austen's Letters

Jane Austen's letters afford a unique insight into the daily life of the novelist: intimate and gossipy, observant and informative, they bring alive her family and friends, her surroundings and contemporary events with a freshness unparalleled in modern biographies. R W Chapman's ground-breaking edition of the Letters first appeared in 1932, and a second edition followed twenty years later. For this third edition Le Faye has added new material that has come to light since 1952, and reordered the letters into their correct chronological sequence. She has provided new biographical, topographical and general indexes, discreet annotation, and information on watermarks, postmarks and other physical details of the manuscripts. The edition has also been redesigned for ease of reading and reference.
Jane Austen famously labeled her literary ambit a "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory." Luckily, her personal travels and those of her family were slightly more extensive, otherwise we should be without her letters. Not only should every Janeite possess them, but also every connoisseur of correspondence. Austen's wit is ubiquitous--even though some protest it edges into waspishness. E. M. Forster, for example, described the letters between Austen and her beloved sister, Cassandra, as "the whinnying of harpies."

On September 18, 1796, she tells Cassandra, "What dreadful Hot weather we have!--It keeps one in a continual state of Inelegance.--If Miss Pearson should return with me, pray be careful not to expect too much Beauty..." The dashes and capitalization alone make one long for the days before stylistic rules had so cemented. As for the sentiments! Austen paces her monologues to perfection, making the comic and ironic most out of the smallest incidents. Still, her frustration does occasionally emerge. "I am forced to be abusive," she implodes to Cassandra, "for want of a subject, having nothing really to say." Jane Austen has more than enough to say for lovers of literature and the cultural pinprick.

Women Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Women Books
Lopsided: A Memoir ImageLopsided: A Memoir
by Meredith Norton
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-05-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $15.00
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia ImageEat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Penguin Audio; Published: 2006-02-16; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $19.19
Price in other shops: $39.95
Epilogue: A Memoir ImageEpilogue: A Memoir
by Anne Roiphe
Harper; Published: 2008-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops: $24.95
Summer at Tiffany LP ImageSummer at Tiffany LP
by Marjorie Hart
HarperLuxe; Published: 2007-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.26
Price in other shops: $15.99
Why Women Should Rule the World ImageWhy Women Should Rule the World
by Dee Dee Myers
Harper; Published: 2008-02-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.40
Price in other shops: $24.95
Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography ImageMother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography
by Kathryn Spink
Harpercollins; Published: 1997-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops: $23.00
Going Rogue LP: An American Life ImageGoing Rogue LP: An American Life
by Sarah Palin
HarperLuxe; Published: 2009-11-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.33
Price in other shops: $28.99
Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass ImageModel Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass
by Karen Duffy
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2001-11-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops: $13.00
Clear Springs: A Family Story ImageClear Springs: A Family Story
by Bobbie Ann Mason
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-04-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.90
Price in other shops: $14.95
Truth & Beauty ImageTruth & Beauty
by Ann Patchett
HarperAudio; Published: 2004-05-11; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops: $25.95
Similar Books and other products
Charles Dickens: A Life ImageCharles Dickens: A Life
by Claire Tomalin
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2011-10-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.00
Price in other shops: $36.00
Death Comes to Pemberley ImageDeath Comes to Pemberley
by P.D. James
Knopf; Published: 2011-12-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.57
Price in other shops: $25.95
Jane Austen For Dummies ImageJane Austen For Dummies
by Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray PhD
For Dummies; Published: 2006-07-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $19.99
Jane Austen's Letters ImageJane Austen's Letters
by Jane Austen
Pavilion Press; Published: 2003-05-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.95
Persuasion: An Annotated Edition ImagePersuasion: An Annotated Edition
by Jane Austen
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; Published: 2011-11-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.72
Price in other shops: $35.00
Jane Austen: A Family Record ImageJane Austen: A Family Record
by Deirdre Le Faye
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2003-12-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.32
Price in other shops: $38.99
A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter ImageA Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter
by William Deresiewicz
Penguin Group USA; Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2011-04-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.63
Price in other shops: $25.95
A Memoir of Jane Austen: and Other Family Recollections (Oxford World's Classics) ImageA Memoir of Jane Austen: and Other Family Recollections (Oxford World's Classics)
by James Edward Austen-Leigh
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-07-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.76
Price in other shops: $12.95
Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels ImageJane Austen: The World of Her Novels
by Deirdre Le Faye
Frances Lincoln; Published: 2003-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops: $19.95
Jane Austen: A Life ImageJane Austen: A Life
by Claire Tomalin
Vintage; Published: 1999-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops: $16.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories