Publication Dates of Jane Austen’s Novels and Minor Works

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: (9 May 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