This book includes an introduction by Stape, St Mary`s College, Strawberry Hill. 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`.