Emma was written after the publication of Pride and Prejudice and was submitted to the London publisher John Murray II in the autumn of 1815. He offered Austen £450 for this plus the copyrights of Mansfield Park and … See more

Prior to publishing, John Murray's reader, William Gifford, who was also the editor of the Quarterly Review, said of the novel that "Of Emma I have nothing but good to say. I was sure of the writer before you mentioned her. The M… See more

The British critic Robert Irvine wrote that unlike the situation in Austen's previous novels, the town of Highbury in Surrey emerges as a character in its own right. Irvine wrote that: "In Emma, we find something … See more

The fictional Highbury is said to be in Surrey, 16 miles (26 km) from London and 8 miles (13 km) from Richmond. (It is not to be confused with the real Highbury, which is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Charing Cross, now part of … See more