Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen 1775–1817
The book, and the century it came out of.
Catherine Morland reads too many gothic novels and arrives at an ancient abbey convinced she will find a murdered wife behind a locked door. Austen sold the manuscript in 1803 for ten pounds; the publisher sat on it for years and her brother had to buy it back. It is her funniest book and her first, and it takes the trouble to defend novel-reading in the middle of mocking it. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Defrance, Garneray and Mortimer among them.
This little work was finished in the year 1803, and intended for immediate publication.
Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.
It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.
- Series
- Love & Society
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 240 pages
- Reading time
- about 5 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785486808623
60 paintings are bound into this edition
Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.
Written in the 1790s, published in 1818
Gothic novels were the publishing phenomenon of the decade — Ann Radcliffe’s were bestsellers, the circulating libraries could not keep them on the shelves, and there was a genuine public argument about whether young women should be allowed to read them at all.
Austen wrote her answer while the craze was at its height, sold the manuscript in 1803 to a publisher who then sat on it for years without printing it, and had to buy it back. By the time it reached readers, in 1818 and after her death, the fashion it teases had already passed.
This book in culture: 3 versions
Most people meet a book like this one on a screen first. Here is what was made of it — and none of these is the book.
The whole afterlife of Northanger Abbey — screen, stage and beyond →
- 1987 Northanger Abbey Giles Foster TV film
- 1993 Ruby in Paradise Victor Nuñez
- 2007 Northanger Abbey Jon Jones TV film
A page from this edition
Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
Northanger Abbey, first published 1818, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Love & Society shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.
Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785486808623, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of Northanger Abbey?
- Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
- What exactly did you change?
- The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Jane Austen's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
- Are the pictures really in the book?
- Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
- How long is it?
- About 240 pages, which is roughly about 5 hours of reading.
- What do I actually get?
- An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
