Louise Ross – författare

Here, republished for the first time, are the complete first edition texts of Jane Austen's much-loved classic master-pieces. A rare and inaccessible resource for most scholars, the first editions are unique documents in the history of English literature. Other subsequent editions of the novels were corrected, some by Jane Austen herself, and many spellings and much punctuation changed. The first editions are now so scarce and valuable that they are only available to a few scholars in major university collections.The first edition text of The Memoir by Austen's nephew includes engravings which were suppressed in subsequent printings. Lord Brabourne's editions of the first collected selection of Jane Austen's letters to her sister Cassandra and others also contains interesting illustrations not repeated in the few subsequent texts to be reprinted.This set of Austen's complete novels, her Memoir and Letters is an invaluable source for the scholar or enthusiast, now able to experience these classic texts in their original form.

There have been more studies, critical books, and learned articles produced over the years about Jane Austen than of any other English literary "great" with the exception of William Shakespeare. The flow of these studies greatly increased in the latter part of this century. Her novels, juvenilia and surviving letters have been intensively researched. Added to this, there is an ever growing interest in her life, times, the importance to her writing of a sense of place, and in her familial and social relationships. To study her work within this wider context, the student needs to refer to the source texts, some written by members of her family after her death, printed in small printings and now both scarce and valuable.