Enormously influential on all later biographies of Jane Austen, the Memoir of Jane Austen (1869) by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh enjoys the privileged perspective of first-hand knowledge. It displays the deft touch of a man trained in the compassionate observation of human fallibility and virtue. Austen-Leigh's highly readable and affectionate account of his aunt offers a vividly compelling portrait of Jane Austen's habits and personality. Accompanied by the novella Lady Susan and the unfinished The Watsons, this edition is simply essential reading for any admirer of a writer whom Virginia Woolf called the most perfect artist among women .

You may have noticed that Jane's picture on the cover is slightly different to the way that history has traditionally remembered her. Readers of The Times will be aware that Jane has been the beneficiary of a 'Wordsworth Makeover'. The only contemporary portrait of her, by her sister Cassandra, was described by her niece as being 'hideously unlike' her, and she was described by friends and family as 'very attractive', and 'like a doll'. We have done our best to set the record straight...