Though the domain of Jane Austen’s novels was as
circumscribed as her life, her caustic wit and keen observation
made her the equal of the greatest novelists in any language. Born
the seventh child of the rector of Steventon, Hampshire, on
December 16, 1775, she was educated mainly at home. At an early age
she began writing sketches and satires of popular novels for her
family’s entertainment. As a clergyman’s daughter from a
well-connected family, she had ample opportunity to study the
habits of the middle class, the gentry, and the aristocracy. At 21,
she began a novel called “The First Impressions,” an early version
of Pride and Prejudice. In 1801, on her father’s retirement,
the family moved to the fashionable resort of Bath. Two years later
she sold the first version of Northanger Abby to a London
publisher, but the first of her novels to appear in print
was Sense and Sensibility, published at her own expense in
1811. It was followed by Pride and
Prejudice (1813), Mansfield
Park (1814), and Emma (1815).After her
father died in 1805, the family first moved to Southampton then to
Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Despite this relative retirement,
Jane Austen was still in touch with a wider world, mainly through
her brothers; one had become a very rich country gentleman, another
a London banker, and two were naval officers. Though her many
novels were published anonymously, she had many early and devoted
readers, among them the Prince Regent and Sir Walter Scott. In
1816, in declining health, Austen
wrote Persuasion and revised Northanger
Abby. Her last work, Sandition, was left
unfinished at her death on July 18, 1817. She was buried in
Winchester Cathedral. Austen’s identity as an author was announced
to the world posthumously by her brother Henry, who supervised the
publication of Northanger
Abby and Persuasion in 1818.
Chellie Carroll studied applied arts at the
University of Derby, and had a brief stint as a designer in
retail. She is an artist based out of the UK, where she enjoys
living in the beautiful and historic Peak District. She is the
illustrator of the popular Pride and Prejudice and
Dracula titles in the Coloring Classics series of books.
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