Inquiring reader Lily recently wrote to me and expressed her frustration at not being able to locate the publication dates of Jane Austen’s minor works online. Ever the accommodating Janeite, here is a partial list of her published works.
Novels: (c. 1794-1817)
- Sense and Sensibility: (30 October 1811) Thomas Egerton, Military Library (Whitehall, London)
- Pride and Prejudice: (28 January 1813) Thomas Egerton, Military Library (Whitehall, London)
- Mansfield Park: (July 1814) Thomas Egerton, Military Library (Whitehall, London)
- Emma: (December 1815) John Murray (London)
- Northanger Abbey: (December 1817) John Murray (London)
- Persuasion: (December 1817) John Murray (London)
Juvenilia: (c. 1787-98) Three manuscript notebooks containing 27 items.
Volume the First (c. 1787-90) was first edited by R. W. Chapman and published by Clarendon Press, Oxford in 1933. It is now owned by the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- Frederic & Elfredia
- Jack & Alice
- Edgar & Emma
- Henry & Eliza
- The adventures of Mr. Harley
- Sir William Mountague
- Memoirs of Mr. Clifford
- The Beautiful Cassandra
- Amelia Webster
- The Visit
- The Mystery
- The Three Sisters
- A beautiful description
- The generous Curate
- Ode to Pity
Volume the Second (c. 1790-93) was first published by Chatto & Windus in 1922. It is now owned by The British Museum.
- Love and Freindship (Austen’s original spelling of friendship)
- Lesley Castle
- The History of England
- A Collections of Letters
- The female philosopher
- The first Act of a Comedy
- A Letter from a Young Lady
- A Tour through Wales
- A Tale
Volume the Third (c. 1792) was first edited by R. W. Chapman and published by Clarendon Press, Oxford in 1951. It is now owned by The British Museum.
- Evelyn
- Catharine, or the Bower
Novella:
- Lady Susan: (c. 1793-4) was first published in part in A Memoir of Jane Austen, by James Edward Austen-Leigh in the second edition of 1871, and later, a full record of the manuscript alterations was edited by R. W. Chapman and included in the Oxford Press edition of 1923. The manuscript is now owned by The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.
Fragments of Novels:
- The Watson’s: (c. 1804-5) was first was first published in part in A Memoir of Jane Austen, by James Edward Austen-Leigh in the second edition of 1871. The first six leaves of the manuscript were sold and later acquired by The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. The remained of the manuscript (minus recently missing pages) was sold last year to The Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- Sanditon: (1817) an extract was first published (about one-sixth) in A Memoir of Jane Austen, by James Edward Austen-Leigh in the second edition of 1871. The manuscript is now owned by the King’s College Library, Cambridge.
You can visit digital images of many of the existing original Jane Austen manuscripts in her handwriting online at the awe inspiring website Jane Austen Fiction Manuscripts. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Laurel Ann
© 2007 – 2012 Laurel Ann Nattress, Austenprose
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Thank you for posting this! :)
Thanks for this post Laurel Ann!
Jane’s writing of “The Watsons” was interrupted by the death of her father. Wikipedia lists a half dozen completions of “The Watsons,” including one by a niece of Jane. Has anyone read any of them? Is there one that you can recommend?
Hi George, I have read The Watsons and Emma Watson, a continuation that includes all of the original uncompleted novel by Austen with a continuation by Joan Aiken. It has been some years since I read it, but I remember it favorably.
Another novel of keen interest is Lauren Willig’s The Mischief of the Mistletoe: A Pink Carnation Christmas whose heroine Arabella mirrors many characteristics of Austen’s Emma and features Jane Austen herself as her friend. Here is my review: http://austenprose.com/2010/11/15/the-mischief-of-the-mistletoe-a-pink-carnation-christmas-by-lauren-willig-%E2%80%93-a-review/
If my memory serves, The Watsons does not have many continuations or spinoffs. Can anyone correct me?
Oh, I feel honoured… :) thank you for this post, Laurel Ann. it’s wonderful to have access to a full & trustworthy! list in one place *and* with notes about texts’ ‘whereabouts’. Link concerning manuscripts is greatly appreciated as well.
THANK YOU! :))
Very helpful, thanks very much!
And yet… Now I’m wondering *why* some sources (wikipedia for example) give 1817 as the year of Sanditon publication… :/
Wikipedia lists 1817 as the year it was written.
No, in the little info box on the right it clearly states 1817 as a year of publication…(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanditon) and I think I saw other sources giving 1817, like goodreads.com, for example (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6305051-northanger-abbey-lady-susan-the-watsons-and-sanditon)… :/
You see, I did make a “research”, that’s why I grew confused and rather “frustrated”…
Obviously an error. How frustrating, since many take Wikipedia as the gospel truth.
My sources are A Bibliography of Jane Austen, by David Gilson (1997), The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Minor Works, collected and edited by R. W. Chapman (1988)and Oxford World’s Classics: Catharine and Other Writings, by Jane Austen, edited by Margaret Anne Doody and Douglas Murray (2009). I am pretty confident that all of these venerable sources in Austendom got it right.
Ok, thank you, that’s a bit of a comfort :)
As for wikipedia, well, that particular article’s date has no source stated, so cannot be considered reliable…(that’s why I was looking for confirmations in favour of 1817 or 1871…) I don’t intend to blame them, but there must exist some mutual “delusion” in sources that give the wrong date… and as a true Janeite one might want to rectify that… :}
great list. thanks
I love the link for the handwritten manuscripts! Thank you very much!!