Selected Letters, 1796-1817

by Jane Austen

Book Overview

This is the first paperback edition of Jane Austen's correspondence, edited by the noted Austen scholar R.W. Chapman and containing one third of her existing letters.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192814850
• ISBN13: 9780192814852
• Release Date: April 1985
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Bits -and pieces- of ivory

This being my first experience with reading a series of actual letters, I found that I had to keep reminding myself to stop waiting for a plot, or character building, or any of the usual things one finds in a novel. Also, the book contains only selected letters, leaving a sense of large gaps of time. These things made it difficult for me to get really involved in the reading of this book; however, the editor gives very helpful tidbits at the beginning of each section: where and with whom Jane was staying, and to whom various references were made. Extensive footnotes also help with the latter. If the best mark of a book is that it makes the reader want more, then by all means this collection has done it's work: I definitely plan on learning more about Jane Austen's life and times.