The Life of Jane Austen
| 1775 | Jane Austen born at village of Steventon, England, to George and Cassandra Austen. |
| 1785-87 | With her sister, Cassandra, Austen attends the Abbey School in Reading, England. |
| 1790-93 | Writes her juvenilia. |
| 1795-98 | Writes original versions of Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. |
| 1797 | "First Impressions" (original version of Pride and Prejudice) rejected by a London publisher. |
| 1801 | Father retires and moves to Bath with his wife and daughters. |
| 1803 | Susan (original version of Northanger Abbey) is bought by a publisher but never issued. |
| 1804 | Austen begins, and quickly abandons, "The Watsons." |
| 1805 | Death of father, George. |
| 1808 | Moves to Southampton with mother and sister. |
| 1809-17 | Lives with her mother and sister in a small house provided by her wealthy brother Edward in the village of Chawton, in southern England. Begins revising original versions of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. |
| 1811 | Sense and Sensibility published. |
| 1813 | Pride and Prejudice published. |
| 1814 | Mansfield Park published. Austen begins work on Emma. |
| 1816 | Emma is published and is dedicated to the Prince Regent (future George IV) at his request. Austen completes Persuasion. |
| 1817 | Composes the fragment "Sanditon"; abandons it because of incapacitating illness. Austen is moved to Winchester for medical care in May and dies there on 18 July. Buried in Winchester Cathedral on 24 July. |
| 1818 | Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published jointly in a four-volume edition, with a biographical preface of Austen by her brother Henry. |