MY DEAR CASSANDRA

In 1884, Edward, Lord Brabourne published the letters of Jane Austen in two volumes. These were letters that had been bequeathed to Lady Knatchbull (née Fanny Knight), his mother, by her great-aunt Cassandra Austen. It was to Jane's sister Cassandra that most of the letters that survive were written. By 1884 Jane Austen's novels were much acclaimed. The time had come to offer to the public "a picture of her such as no history written by another person could give so well," wrote Lord Brabourne. "Amid the most ordinary details and most commonplace topics, every now and then sparkle out the same wit and humour which illuminate the pages of Pride and Prejudice, ... etc., and which have endeared the name of Jane Austen to many thousands of readers in English-speaking homes." This is reason enough to publish a fresh selection of extracts from the letters in an easily readable edition in which relevant excerpts from the novels, together with appropriate illustrations, illuminate Jane Austen the woman and Jane Austen the author.--Adapted from page 6.