Sense and Sensibility (Illustrated Edition‪)‬

As has happened with many of history’s greatest writers, Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) did not earn the credit she was due until well after her death. Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, has earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature over the last 150 years. 

Austen’s romantic fiction was an interesting genre that belied the fact her writing was laden with realism and a scathing critique on society and the role women played in it during her life. Austen tried several different types of literary styles before settling on writing novels from 1811-1817, releasing Sense and Sensibility (1811), her most famous work, Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816). The novels highlighted the dependence of women on marrying high to reach a better social status and financial security, and Austen achieved some success from these works in her life.  

Austen’s first published novel, and possibly the most romantic, is Sense and Sensibility. The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. The former is a sensible, rational girl, but Marianne is wildly romantic, which Austen both satirizes and empathizes with in the book. The novel depicts their different love lifes, and though it seems as though more of the focus is on Marianne’s tumultuous love life, the end of the book makes clear that Austen favored Elinor, who combined sense and sensibility. 

This edition of Sense and Sensibility is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and images of Austen.