A selection of Jane Austen's letters were first published in 1884 by Jane's niece Fanny Knight's son Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen. They are often described as the Brabourne edition as he became the first Baron Brabourne, and the edition was dedicated to Queen Victoria. Around two thirds of the letters now known to have survived were included in this edition.

 

The letters we have left help us to put together a picture of the person Jane was and her sister Cassandra is to thank for the majority of the letters we have today. However, she is often blamed for a scattered picture of Jane's life as she destroyed and edited her letters. This was presumably to keep private things private..! 

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