Jane Austen earned £140 from the first edition of Sense and Sensibility. The novel was published anonymously in 1811, with the title page identifying its author only as “By a Lady.”
Austen paid for the publication herself and also paid Thomas Egerton’s publishing house a commission on sales. The first edition consisted of 750 copies, all of which had sold by July 1813. Its success gave Austen both income and greater confidence in her writing career.
The £140 figure refers to her profit from the first edition, not the book’s total sales revenue or the amount she was paid as a fixed fee. This distinction matters because Austen retained financial responsibility for the publication. The novel, her first published work, follows Elinor and Marianne Dashwood and contrasts emotional restraint with romantic sensibility.