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Which manuscript notebooks contain Jane Austen’s youthful writings?
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Jane Austen
Jane Austen, a 19th-century engraving likely derived from a portrait by her sister, Cassandra Austen, c. 1810.
Jane Austen’s earliest known writings, produced between approximately 1787 and 1793, are preserved in three manuscript notebooks titled Volume the First, Volume the Second, and Volume the Third.1
These notebooks contain a variety of works, including plays, verses, and short novels, which demonstrate Austen’s early engagement with parody of contemporary literary forms, such as the sentimental novel and sentimental comedy.1