JANE AUSTEN [Hardcover]

MARGHANITA LASKI (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Unknown (1975)
• ASIN: B000S5FVC4
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A brief, readable biography with illustrations, November 2, 2008

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This is a competent, readable, brief biography of Jane Austen. It is illustrated with 137 black-and-white illustrations. As a short biography, it is not on the level of Carol Shields' Jane Austen: A Life (Penguin Lives), but perhaps the reader wants the illustrations and the slightly easier read. A title somewhat similar to this is England's Jane: The Story of Jane Austen (World Writers) by Juliane Poirier Locke; that is considered to be a juvenile, but I wouldn't scorn it for that. This book has a little more of the detail external to Jane's life--dates, people she knew, etc.

The illustrations are a mixed bag. A number of them, surprisingly for a Thames and Hudson book, are of quite poor quality. A lot of them, however, are nicely reproduced contemporary or near-contemporary illustrations of places associated with Jane Austen. They are so nice, that although I read a library copy of this, I am considering it for my own collection just for the pictures. The poorly reproduced pictures are mostly portraits, which I generally have copies of in other books.

4.0 out of 5 stars A readable, illustrated, brief biography, November 2, 2008

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jane Austen (Literary Lives Series) (Paperback)

This is a competent, readable, brief biography of Jane Austen. It is illustrated with 137 black-and-white illustrations. As a short biography, it is not on the level of Carol Shield's Jane Austen: A Life (Penguin Lives), but perhaps the reader wants the illustrations and the slightly easier read. A title somewhat similar to this is England's Jane: The Story of Jane Austen (World Writers) by Juliane Poirier Locke; that is considered to be a juvenile, but I wouldn't scorn it for that. This book has a little more of the detail external to Jane's life--dates, people she knew, etc.

The illustrations are a mixed bag. A number of them, surprisingly for a Thames and Hudson book, are of quite poor quality. A lot of them, however, are nicely reproduced contemporary or near-contemporary illustrations of places associated with Jane Austen. They are so nice, that although I read a library copy of this, I am considering it for my own collection just for the pictures. The poorly reproduced pictures are mostly portraits, which I generally have copies of in other books. A reader interested in places JA is associated with would do well to look at The World of Jane Austen by Nigel Nicholson, a collection of photographs.