I read this collection of Jane Austen’s letters at the prompting of a reading challenge. I’m so grateful to have read them. It was nice to catch a glimpse of the real personality of one of my favorite authors. Her keen observations of her social circle and kind but thoughtful literary advice to her niece made the letters worth reading. I cried at the end when a couple of letters from her sister after she passed were included. I hope to come back to these again some day.

Reading these letters over two centuries after they were written, it's entering another world, and unless one has read a biography of Jane Austen, a world doubly unfamiliar to a reader.

Reading Jane Austen is nothing as much as looking into a mirror held to English life of her times, mainly life of home, involving men and women, characters and values - and most of it, with sense valued high, transcends time and place, so isn't strange or foreign to readers even couple of centuries later. Reading letters written by the author, personal and mostly to family members, is not different in this sense, except they are naturally more intimate and so more of a close up mirror, viewed by the reader invisible to the characters who were real, long since gone.

Slowly one begins to see her through them, a woman quite involved in her family and everyday life in small details. She mentions her writing but rarely, and speaks of details of family and clan, cousins and nephews and nieces; of servants and food, prices and salaries, livings and commissions and promotions, visits and visitors and travels.

And more than anything else, of dresses, balls, dances. One begins to see why, after reading so much of her work, and liking most, Elizabeth Bennett remains the central figure - because she's as close to the author herself as can get, a mirror image as Jane Austen saw herself. She reads, but isn't bookish like Mary Bennet. She's interested in clothes and balls and dancing, but isn't silly like or crazy like the two youngest Bennet girls. And she's decent, but not Jane Bennet. She's sensible, like her writing.
............

It isn't until close to halfway that one clearly sees a reference to her own writing, in the thirty fifth letter - there is a reference before, or two, but very fleeting, and this one is very brief, too.

The letter mentioning publication of her most well known, most popular, most quintessential work, mentions not the title, but her best known character by name, and this letter, fortieth, does not disappoint - it's short, but is all about the book; what's more, she states flat out -

" ... Elizabeth. I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know. "!

And the next one continues about Pride and Prejudice, but is startling-

"The work is rather too light and bright and sparkling: it wants shade; it wants to be stretched out here and there with a long chapter of sense, if it could be had; if not, of solemn specious nonsense, about something unconnected with the story, — an essay on writing, a critique on Walter Scott, or the history of Buonaparte, or something that would form a contrast ... "

Heaven forbid!
............

Somewhere between the fiftieth and the sixtieth letter, after she's talked about her family's reception of Mansfield Park, there is another surprise- Jane Austen is writing to her niece Anna about the latter working on her own novel, and most of us not professionally acquainted with history of English literature are likely to be surprised that the Austen family as such isn't counted anywhere near the Bronte family as more than one author being involved therein; didn't Anna get to publish? Are the manuscripts gone?

Letter LXII, to her niece Fanny, presumably one we've been reading about in most of her letters to Cassandra and now grown up, is so very like her writing in her most popular works, filled with sensible advice about love and realities, it's a positive delight reading it. This continues in letter LXVI.
............

It's startling reading her next letter to - presumably her niece - Anna, where she goes

"The chief news from this country is ... "

and one naturally infers that its her newly married niece Anna who is, presumably with her husband, at the country of his posting, perhaps in India, or somewhere as distant, this being the era of rising power of the British empire.

But the very next paragraph brings

"I think I understand the country about Hendon from your description. ",

explaining the mistake one -naturally! - made in inferring so - she's only speaking of country as in town vs countryside!

Letter sixty-six is a tad surprising, in that it criticises a nuece Annato another niece Fanny, about trifles that were better spoken to with Anna, privately and directly. The author's opinions and attitude about things aren't unfamiliar, but it does seem bordering incorrect that she criticises one niece to another, in a letter, rather than privately talk the matter over with the niece concerned.

It's amusing, when further she says

"Thank you, but it is not settled yet whether I do hazard a second edition. We are to see Egerton today, when it will probably be determined. People are more ready to borrow and praise than to buy, which I cannot wonder at; but though I like praise as well as anybody, I like what Edward calls "Pewter" too.",

having just criticised one niece to another for spending on a pianoforte and a pelisse, which she obviously considers extravagance - or were books so cheap in England as to be a negligible expense in her day, for anyone capable of reading?

That's to say, if there were no concept in her time of public libraries. Which would amount to the reason why rich had libraries at home, whether anyone read anything at all ever, or little, while poor being unread, unwashed, subcultures was presumed natural order of things in West generally.

But whether there were libraries or not, there was a middle class struggling to stay afloat, to manage poor finances - as for example on a curate's living, or even a vicar with a sizable family - while struggling to stay decent, reasonably decently dressed and so forth, in the difficult pre industrial era - and Austen is very familiar with it all, having described it so well in Sense and Sensibility, apart from her minute discussion of muslin and prices in her letters. Surely she was familiar with books or borrowers being not necessarily damaged by borrowing, unlike clothes or furniture?
............

The very next letter, LXVII, however, is accompanied with a postscript from Lord Brabourne, a nephew of the author, informing the reader about the ill health of her brother and her being feeble perhaps as a consequence of the worry, and the subsequent plight of the family when, after his recovery, his bank failed, affecting the circumstances of them all. It affects one as one reads it, decades over two centuries later, such is the identification of a reader with the author and her near and dear, as an effect of reading this compilation of her letters.

LXXIII has matter that makes one wonder, was Northanger Abbey inspired from an episode in life of author's niece, Fanny Knight? In the book the couple was united, by him leaving his father; here, Austen urges Fanny to get over him.
............

It's a sudden shock, although one knew she is long gone, when letter LXXVI has her nephew, Lord Brabourne, inform readers about Jane Austen passing on; one had expected the letters to continue to last. Next two are letters from her sister Cassandra to their niece Fanny.

Below are some of interesting excerpts.
............
............

The preface to this, included in

Jane Austen: Complete Works
+ Extras - 83 titles
(Annotated and illustrated)
by Jane Austen.
Kindle Edition
Published April 21st 2013
by Bourville Publishing
(first published 1989)
ASIN:- B00CH82ACY

is so well written, giving a good picture of times and place the author lived in, that the temptation to quote therefrom is irresistible.
............

"The recent cult for Miss Austen, which has resulted in no less than ten new editions of her novels within a decade and three memoirs by different hands within as many years, have made the facts of her life familiar to most readers. It was a short life, and an uneventful one as viewed from the standpoint of our modern times, when steam and electricity have linked together the ends of the earth, and the very air seems teeming with news, agitations, discussions. We have barely time to recover our breath between post and post; and the morning paper with its statements of disaster and its hints of still greater evils to be, is scarcely out-lived, when, lo! in comes the evening issue, contradicting the news of the morning, to be sure, but full of omens and auguries of its own to strew our pillows with the seed of wakefulness.

"To us, publications come hot and hot from the press. Telegraphic wires like the intricate and incalculable zigzags of the lightning ramify above our heads; and who can tell at what moment their darts may strike? In Miss Austen's day the tranquil, drowsy, decorous English day of a century since, all was different. News travelled then from hand to hand, carried in creaking post-wagons, or in cases of extreme urgency by men on horseback. ... No doubt they lived the longer for this exemption from excitement, and kept their nerves in a state of wholesome repair; but it goes without saying that the events of which they knew so little did not stir them deeply.

"Miss Austen's life coincided with two of the momentous epochs of history, — the American struggle for independence, and the French Revolution; but there is scarcely an allusion to either in her letters. ... She was interested in the fleet and its victories because two of her brothers were in the navy and had promotion and prize-money to look forward to. In this connection she mentions Trafalgar and the Egyptian expedition, and generously remarks that she would read Southey's "Life of Nelson" if there was anything in it about her brother Frank! She honours Sir John Moore by remarking after his death that his mother would perhaps have preferred to have him less distinguished and still alive; further than that, the making of the gooseberry jam and a good recipe for orange wine interests her more than all the marchings and counter-marchings, the manoeuvres and diplomacies, going on the world over. ... "The society of rural England in those days," as Mr. Goldwin Smith happily puts it, "enjoyed a calm of its own in the midst of the European tempest like the windless centre of a circular storm.""
............

" ... Seeing little, she painted what she saw with absolute fidelity and a dexterity and perfection unequalled. ... Endowed with the keenest and most delicate insight and a vivid sense of humour, she depicted with exactitude what she observed and what she understood, giving to each fact and emotion its precise shade and value. The things she did not see she did not attempt. Affectation was impossible to her, — most of all, affectation of knowledge or feeling not justly her own. "She held the mirror up to her time" with an exquisite sincerity and fidelity; and the closeness of her study brought her intimately near to those hidden springs which underlie all human nature. This is the reason why, for all their skimp skirts, leg-of-mutton sleeves, and bygone impossible bonnets, her characters do not seem to us old-fashioned. Minds and hearts are made pretty much after the same pattern from century to century; and given a modern dress and speech, Emma or Elizabeth or dear Anne Eliot could enter a drawing-room today, and excite no surprise except by so closely resembling the people whom they would find there."
............

""I was very well pleased (pray tell Fanny) with a small portrait of Mrs. Bingley, excessively like her. I went in hopes of seeing one of her sister, but there was no Mrs. Darcy. Perhaps I may find her in the great exhibition, which we shall go to if we have time. Mrs. Bingley's is exactly like herself, — size, shaped face, features and sweetness; there never was a greater likeness. She is dressed in a white gown, with green ornaments, which convinces me of what I had always supposed, that green was a favourite colour with her. I dare say Mrs. D. will be in yellow."

"And later: —

""We have been both to the exhibition and Sir J. Reynolds'; and I am disappointed, for there was nothing like Mrs. D. at either. I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye. I can imagine he would have that sort of feeling, — that mixture of love, pride, and delicacy.""
............

" ... But Cowper and Crabbe were the poetical sensations in Miss Austen's time, Scott and Byron its phenomenal novelties; it took months to get most books printed, and years to persuade anybody to read them. Furthermore the letters, in all probability, are carefully chosen to reveal only the more superficial side of their writer. There are wide gaps of omission, covering important events such as Mr. Austen's death, the long illness through which Jane nursed her brother Henry, and the anxieties and worries which his failure in business caused to the whole family. What is vouchsafed us is a glimpse of the girlish and untroubled moments of Miss Austen's life; and the glimpse is a sweet and friendly one. ... Her literary work never stood in the way of her home duties, any more than her "quiet, limpid, unimpassioned style" stood between her thought and her readers.

"Her fame may justly be said to be almost entirely posthumous. She was read and praised to a moderate degree during her lifetime, but all her novels together brought her no more than seven hundred pounds; and her reputation, as it were, was in its close-sheathed bud when, at the early age of forty-one, she died. It would have excited in her an amused incredulity, no doubt, had anyone predicted that two generations after her death the real recognition of her powers was to come. Time, which like desert sands has effaced the footprints of so many promising authors, has, with her, served as the desert wind, to blow aside those dusts of the commonplace which for a while concealed her true proportions. She is loved more than she ever hoped to be, and far more widely known."
............

"Scott, Macaulay, Sir James Mackintosh, Miss Martineau, Mrs. Ritchie, Miss Mitford, and a host of others have vied in their generous tributes of admiration. But most striking of all, to our thinking, is that paid to Miss Austen by Lord Tennyson when, in some visit to Lyme not many years since, those with him pointed out this and the other feature of the place only to be interrupted with —"Never mind all that. Show me the exact spot where Louisa Musgrove fell!" Could non-historical verisimilitude go farther or mean more?

"S. C. W.

"Newport, June, 1892."
............
............

"I.

"Steventon, Thursday (January 16, 1796)."

Austen was a normal girl - young woman - of her times, or of any -

"Our party to Ashe tomorrow night will consist of Edward Cooper, James (for a ball is nothing without him), Buller, who is now staying with us, and I. I look forward with great impatience to it, as I rather expect to receive an offer from my friend in the course of the evening. I shall refuse him, however, unless he promises to give away his white coat."

But the very next bit is her inner self, the author

"I am very much flattered by your commendation of my last letter, for I write only for fame, and without any view to pecuniary emolument."

Then again

Then again, we don't know if she's teasing -

"Tell Mary that I make over Mr. Heartley and all his estate to her for her sole use and benefit in future, and not only him, but all my other admirers into the bargain wherever she can find them, even the kiss which C. Powlett wanted to give me, as I mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy, for whom I don't care sixpence."

Or later, whether she's serious -

"Friday. — At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea. Wm. Chute called here yesterday. I wonder what he means by being so civil."
................................................................................................

III.

Austen is occupied with travel, balls, and writing to Cassandra about it, throughout the letter, until there's this bit.

"Give my love to Mary Harrison, and tell her I wish, whenever she is attached to a young man, some respectable Dr. Marchmont may keep them apart for five volumes…."

Does that refer to writing about her?
............

IV.

Curious contents.

"I believe I told you in a former letter that Edward had some idea of taking the name of Claringbould; but that scheme is over, though it would be a very eligible as well as a very pleasant plan, would anyone advance him money enough to begin on. We rather expected Mr. Milles to have done so on Tuesday; but to our great surprise nothing was said on the subject, and unless it is in your power to assist your brother with five or six hundred pounds, he must entirely give up the idea."

And

"Mrs. Milles, Mr. John Toke, and in short everybody of any sensibility inquired in tender strains after you, and I took an opportunity of assuring Mr. J. T. that neither he nor his father need longer keep themselves single for you."

In midst, there's

"We went by Bifrons, and I contemplated with a melancholy pleasure the abode of him on whom I once fondly doted."

Which leaves one curious unless well versed with her life, of course. Then

"So His Royal Highness Sir Thomas Williams has at length sailed; the papers say "on a cruise." But I hope they are gone to Cork, or I shall have written in vain. Give my love to Jane, as she arrived at Steventon yesterday, I dare say."

Which is unclear - literal or sarcastic? Then a bomb -

"Mr. Children's two sons are both going to be married, John and George. They are to have one wife between them, a Miss Holwell, who belongs to the Black Hole at Calcutta. ... "

Further,

"Buy Mary Harrison's gown by all means. You shall have mine forever so much money, though, if I am tolerably rich when I get home, I shall like it very much myself."

Leaves one wondering.
............

VII.

"Steventon, Saturday (October 27).

"My dear Cassandra, —"

" ... I bought some Japan ink likewise, and next week shall begin my operations on my hat, on which you know my principal hopes of happiness depend."

"Mrs. Hall, of Sherborne, was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child, some weeks before she expected, owing to a fright. I suppose she happened unawares to look at her husband."

"I hear that Martha is in better looks and spirits than she has enjoyed for a long time, and I flatter myself she will now be able to jest openly about Mr. W."

"The books from Winton are all unpacked and put away; the binding has compressed them most conveniently, and ....
............

Her wit and humor resonate on every page—find out just how delightful Jane would be to sit next to at a dinner party, and how much more clever her catty observations would be than your own. Exceptionally footnoted by scholar (and Austen devotee) Deidre Le Faye.

Written by her brother some years after here death & includes family opinions (very vague at times) and letters. Caroline burned most of the letters she & Jane shared just after Jane's death. What a shame. We do get an insight to her family, the times & the people around her.
My personal opinion - she was MUCH too nice to certain people.!

So far, I have found Jane Austen's letters just as witty and interesting as her novels. Life as she sees it is fascinating: I love how she describes the people around her. Flipping to the back of the book to understand references to people and places is a little annoying, but fine for what I like to do: read one or two letters at a time, just enough to get a daily dose of her beautiful language and unique brand of humor.

Even if these letters weren't by Jane Austen, they'd be worth reading for the way they take you right into the lives lived by the lower country gentry in the late Georgian era. The quiet country life? It's worse even than Shetland ... a constant round of calling on neighbours and them calling on you, keeping in touch with relatives by letter, dinner parties, balls, theatres, visits of a fortnight or more with other relatives ... and in among that you had to harvest your fruit and vegetables and make preserves, wine, brew your beer, make or refurbish your own clothes ... it's amazing Austen got any writing done at all in among it. But as they are by Austen, well, the busy round is told with wit and spirit worthy of Elizabeth Bennet. Most importantly, what a lovely idea you get of Austen herself - lively, interested in everything, so fond of her sister, concerned about her mother, amused by her brothers and giddy niece Fanny. You read the biography written by her brother Henry, in which he speaks of her as a most beloved sister and aunt, and think he's over-egging the pud a bit, and then you read her letters and see how it couldn't help but be true. And I bet you wouldn't pick Jane Austen as the writer of the comment (I'm paraphrasing here) 'The good thing about being older is that at balls I can sit by the fire and drink as much wine as I like.'

The volume (tome) is the sort where you need several bookmarks: one for the text, one for the footnotes and another, if you want, for the biographical section, where there's more information on everyone mentioned in the letters. I read the notes first, for each letter, then the letter itself, and I really could have done with having Le Faye's biography of Austen to hand as well, and to find out what had happened in the times the sisters were together - which wasn't often, as one or other was always being needed to help with the children and house when another baby was being born to one of their brothers, while the other had to stay at home with their mother.

A work of thorough scholarship, which ends with Austen's sister Cassandra's letters written to her favourite niece, Fanny, just after Austen's death: 'I have lost such a sister ...' These moved me to tears - you really felt her loss.

This book was a Christmas treat to myself, with a book token, and worth every penny.

I love Jane Austen but reading her letters wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. I started reading them a bit before bed most nights or when I couldn't sleep. Finally finished the book this evening and I was surprisingly brought to tears by her last letter and her sister Cassandra's letter after her death. This is an impressive collection and though it took me a long time, really glad I read this collection.

This is the complete collection of the surviving letters of Jane Austen (about 150) and a must-read book by all of her fans. This will give you the chance to take a peek inside the mind of this witty genius.

Most of Jane Austen's letters in this are addressed to her sister Cassandra, but there are also letters to her brothers, friends, and towards the end, her nieces and nephews as well as publishers. For those who are interested, the very first letter has its mention of Tom Lefroy. (personally I didn't like 'Becoming Jane', but thanks to her sister's pyromaniacal stunt, I guess people can always speculate.) The biting wit of her novels is clearly evident in her letters and kind a makes you sad when you read the final one.

Questo libro è una raccolta delle corrispondenze che ci sono pervenute sino ad oggi (anche se purtroppo non sono tutte!) che ci permette di dare un'occhiata al mondo che la Nostra ha vissuto e la sprizzante ironia che ritroviamo anche nelle sue opere. E' senza altro una lettura per austeniani!

A close reading of these letters quickly dispels any illusions of Austen as a proper, humourless, spinster aunt. Austen's letters are funny, witty, and occasionally downright cruel.

Seis meses. Seis meses recorriendo la vida de una mujer y una escritora que ha sobrevivido a los límites del tiempo. A través de los ojos y de las palabras de mi queridísima Jane, juntas hemos vivido bailes, viajes, mudanzas, esperanzas, decepciones, ironías... sin duda he visto crecer y madurar el excepcional carácter de una mujer excepcional. Leyendo sus cartas he aprendido que, como se refleja en todas sus obras, Jane veía la vida como un sin fin de matices. Estas cartas demuestran no sólo su forma de pensar y ver la vida, sino también como todas estas vivencias le otorgaron la capacidad observadora y el conocimiento de una sociedad de la época tan profundo que consiguió hacer de ella su legado.

Gracias, Jane. Gracias por abogar por la independencia y por ser fiel a una misma. Gracias por enseñarnos a valorar y ser agradecidos. Gracias por seguir dejando huella en toda persona que se sumerge en tus novelas.

It feels odd to review what is essentially a random assortment of letters (aka, the ones that survived). They're a bit random and at times read as just a series of "and then we met this persin, and I considered buying this dress, my love to x, y and z."

But on the other hand, JA's voice and style really come out. It's an interesting snapshot of life. Some of the letters are fun. And as the book progressed to the tjme when the novels started being published I was more interested. Particularly liked the exchange with the Prince Regent's royal secretary (not his official title, which I am too lazy to look up). The appendices are also impressive.

Interesting, but also not really the type of book you just sit down and read