Celebrating Jane Austen During Women's History Month

Jane Austen (1775–1817) was a renowned English novelist known for witty, romantic social commentaries which explored the lives of 19th-century country gentlefolk. Her work, celebrated for its sharp irony and realism, was published anonymously during her lifetime, bringing her lasting fame after her death.

But the irony of our obsession with Jane Austen the woman is that during her lifetime, her works were all published anonymously. Her first novel to be published, Sense and Sensibility, was simply 'By a Lady'. Her next published novel, Pride and Prejudice, was 'By the Author of Sense and Sensibility.

In 1811 Sense and Sensibility was published in three volumes, with Jane herself paying for the cost of publication. It was an instant success, with the full print run of 750 selling out by 1813. In the fall of 1812 Jane sold the rights to Pride and Prejudice for £110, by which point she had begun writing Mansfield Park which was published in 1814, likely with an impressive print run of 1250. The novel made her more money than any other in her lifetime, more than £320. Jane Austen dealt masterfully with many themes, some traditional, some more daring, including love, social class and classism, the financial and social vulnerability of young women, family, and human folly. That she did not discuss politics despite the Napoleonic Wars is an interesting indicator of how little the private and public spheres overlapped for women of the period.

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