Which Jane Austen novel directly preceded Pride and Prejudice in publication order?

Sense and Sensibility directly preceded Pride and Prejudice in Jane Austen’s publication order. It was Austen’s first published novel, appearing in 1811, before Pride and Prejudice was issued in 1813.

Sense and Sensibility follows the Dashwood sisters, especially Elinor and Marianne, whose contrasting temperaments give the novel its title. Like Pride and Prejudice, it examines courtship, money, family pressure and the social limits placed on women in early nineteenth-century England.

Both books were published by Thomas Egerton’s Military Library in London, and both originally appeared anonymously. Sense and Sensibility was identified as written “By a Lady,” while Pride and Prejudice was attributed to “the Author of Sense and Sensibility.” That wording allowed Austen’s second novel to benefit from the reputation of her first without revealing her name.

A common mix-up is chronology by writing rather than publication. Austen drafted an early version of Pride and Prejudice before Sense and Sensibility was published, but Sense and Sensibility still came first in the sequence of her published novels. Mansfield Park followed Pride and Prejudice in 1814.