The first Austen biography was Henry Thomas Austen's 1818 "Biographical Notice". It appeared in a posthumous edition of Northanger Abbey and included extracts from two letters, against the judgement of other family members. Details of Austen's life continued to be omitted or embellished in her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen, published in 1869, and in William and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh's biography Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters, published in 1913, all of which included additional letters.Nokes (1998), 2–4; Fergus (2005), 3–4; Le Faye (2004), 279 Austen's family and relatives built a legend of "good quiet Aunt Jane", portraying her as a woman in a happy domestic situation, whose family was the mainstay of her life. Modern biographers include details excised from the letters and family biographies, but the biographer Jan Fergus writes that the challenge is to keep the view balanced, not to present her languishing in periods of deep unhappiness as "an embittered, disappointed woman trapped in a thoroughly unpleasant family".
The first Austen biography was Henry Thomas Austen's 1818 "Biographical Notice" It appeared in a posthumous edition of Northanger Abbey and included extracts from two letters against the judgement of other family members Details of Austen's life continued to be omitted or embellished in her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen published in 1869 and in William and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh's biography Jane Austen Her Life and Letters published in 1913 all of which included additional lettersNokes (1998) 2–4; Fergus (2005) 3–4; Le Faye (2004) 279 Austen's family and relatives built a legend of "good quiet Aunt Jane" portraying her as a woman in a happy domestic situation whose family was the mainstay of her life Modern biographers include details excised from the letters and family biographies but the biographer Jan Fergus writes that the challenge is to keep the view balanced not to present her languishing in periods of deep unhappiness as "an embittered disappointed woman trapped in a thoroughly unpleasant family"