Juvenilia | Jane Austen

Perhaps as early as 1787, Austen began to write poems, stories, and plays for her own and her family's amusement. Austen later compiled these early works into three bound notebooks, now referred to as the Juvenilia. Among these works are a satirical novel in letters in which she mocked popular novels of sensibility, and The History of England, a manuscript of 34 pages accompanied by 13 watercolour miniatures by her sister Cassandra.

The entertaining and funny pieces compiled in Juvenilia were penned by Jane Austen in her youth. They offer a tantalizing and colourful array of escapades and incidents. Several of the characters presented here reappear in Austen's later works in their mature form. This memorable collection is a testament to the creative development of one of the greatest minds of English Literature.