In what month and year did Austen finish writing First Impressions?

Jane Austen finished writing First Impressions in August 1797.

First Impressions was the original working title of the novel later published as Pride and Prejudice. Austen began the manuscript in 1796, when she was about 20, and completed its initial draft the following year at the age of 21. The surviving evidence identifies August 1797 as the month in which she finished that early version.

The manuscript was not yet the exact form readers know today. Austen later revised it substantially, probably in 1811 and 1812, before selling the publication rights to Thomas Egerton. She changed the title to Pride and Prejudice, and the revised novel appeared anonymously in January 1813.

Another date often causes confusion. On 1 November 1797, Austen’s father wrote to London publisher Thomas Cadell asking whether he would consider the manuscript. Cadell rejected it immediately, marking the letter “Declined by Return of Post.” That failed submission came after Austen had completed First Impressions; it was not the date of completion. The original manuscript itself has not survived, so historians describe August 1797 as the completion of the initial draft.