How many chapters does 'Emma' contain?

Jane Austen’s Emma contains 55 chapters.

The novel is arranged in three volumes, following the common publishing format for Austen’s fiction. Its 55 numbered chapters trace Emma Woodhouse’s misguided attempts to arrange romances in the Surrey village of Highbury, gradually exposing how confidently she misreads the people around her.

The chapter structure helps Austen control the novel’s slow accumulation of clues. Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax’s secret engagement, Harriet Smith’s changing affections, and Emma’s own feelings for Mr Knightley emerge through small conversations, visits, parties, and misunderstandings rather than dramatic adventures.

Emma was first published in December 1815, although its title page carries the date 1816. John Murray published the three-volume first edition. A common mix-up is to confuse the novel’s 55 chapters with its three volumes or with page counts, which vary widely between editions.