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Archive for the ‘Jane Austen’s The Watsons’ Category

Publication Dates of Jane Austen’s Novels and Minor Works

Posted in Jane Austen's Emma, Jane Austen's Lady Susan, Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, Jane Austen's Minor Works, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen's Persuasion, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen's Sanditon, Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's The Watsons, Jane Austen's Works, tagged , , , , on 31 March 2012 | 13 Comments »

The History of England, by Jane Austen excerpt p 171Inquiring reader Lily recently wrote to me and expressed her frustration at not being able to locate the publication dates of Jane Austen’s minor works online. Ever the accommodating Janeite, here is a partial list of her published works.

Novels: (c. 1794-1817)

  • Sense and Sensibility: (30 October 1811) Thomas Egerton, Military Library (Whitehall, London)
  • Pride and Prejudice: (28 January 1813) Thomas Egerton, Military Library (Whitehall, London)
  • Mansfield Park: (July 1814) Thomas Egerton, Military Library (Whitehall, London)
  • Emma: (December 1815) John Murray (London)
  • Northanger Abbey: (December 1817) John Murray (London)
  • Persuasion: (December 1817) John Murray (London)

Image of Jane Austen Minor Works Volume 1 at The Bodleian Library Oxford, England

Juvenilia: (c. 1787-98) Three manuscript notebooks containing 27 items.

Volume the First (c. 1787-90) was first edited by R. W. Chapman and published by Clarendon Press, Oxford in 1933. It is now owned by the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

  • Frederic & Elfredia
  • Jack & Alice
  • Edgar & Emma
  • Henry & Eliza
  • The adventures of Mr. Harley
  • Sir William Mountague
  • Memoirs of Mr. Clifford
  • The Beautiful Cassandra
  • Amelia Webster
  • The Visit
  • The Mystery
  • The Three Sisters
  • A beautiful description
  • The generous Curate
  • Ode to Pity

Volume the Second (c. 1790-93) was first published by Chatto & Windus in 1922. It is now owned by The British Museum.

  • Love and Freindship (Austen’s original spelling of friendship)
  • Lesley Castle
  • The History of England
  • A Collections of Letters
  • The female philosopher
  • The first Act of a Comedy
  • A Letter from a Young Lady
  • A Tour through Wales
  • A Tale

Volume the Third (c. 1792) was first edited by R. W. Chapman and published by Clarendon Press, Oxford in 1951. It is now owned by The British Museum.

  • Evelyn
  • Catharine, or the Bower

Illustration from The History of England, by Jane and Cassandra Austen

Novella:

  • Lady Susan: (c. 1793-4) was first published in part in A Memoir of Jane Austen, by James Edward Austen-Leigh in the second edition of 1871, and later, a full record of the manuscript alterations was edited by R. W. Chapman and included in the Oxford Press edition of 1923. The manuscript is now owned by The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.

Fragments of Novels:

  • The Watson’s: (c. 1804-5) was first was first published in part in A Memoir of Jane Austen, by James Edward Austen-Leigh in the second edition of 1871. The first six leaves of the manuscript were sold and later acquired by The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. The remained of the manuscript (minus recently missing pages) was sold last year to The Bodleian Library, Oxford.
  • Sanditon: (1817) an extract was first published (about one-sixth) in A Memoir of Jane Austen, by James Edward Austen-Leigh in the second edition of 1871. The manuscript is now owned by the King’s College Library, Cambridge.

You can visit digital images of many of the existing original Jane Austen manuscripts in her handwriting online at the awe inspiring website Jane Austen Fiction Manuscripts. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Laurel Ann

© 2007 – 2012 Laurel Ann Nattress, Austenprose

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Rare Jane Austen Manuscript of The Watsons to be Auctioned at Sotheby’s in London

Posted in Jane Austen in the News, Jane Austen's The Watsons, Jane Austen's Works, tagged , , , on 21 May 2011 | 4 Comments »

First page of The Watsons original manuscript, by Jane Austen (1803-1805)

An incredibly rare handwritten manuscript of Jane Austen’s unfinished work The Watsons will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London on July 14th, 2011. It is valued at £200,000 to £300,000.

The Watsons is a fragment of a novel that Austen began around 1803 when she was residing with her parents and sister Cassandra in Bath. Written during an unhappy time in her life, she did not complete it, most likely due to her father’s death in January 1805. It contains five chapters and is about 17,500 words in length. Because it is a rough draft neatly written in Jane Austen’s own hand, we see her edits and corrections in progress, offering us a unique window into the writers mind.

When Austen died in 1817, her sister Cassandra inherited the untitled manuscript which passed upon her death in 1844 to her niece Caroline Mary Craven Austen (1805 – 1880), the younger daughter of Jane Austen’s eldest brother James. Upon Caroline’s death, the manuscript was inherited by her nephew William Austen-Leigh who offered the first six leaves (12 pages) for a charity sale in 1915 during World War I to benefit the Red Cross. The manuscript was auctioned at Christies in London and sold for £65 to Lady Wernher. This portion of the manuscript was later sold in 1925 to J. P. Morgan, Jr. and now resides in The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.

The remaining pages would pass to Lionel Arthur Austen-Leigh and his three sisters who were the nephew and nieces of William Austen-Leigh and where displayed at the British Museum for many years. It was sold in 1978 to the British Rail Pension Fund, who in 1988 presented it for auction at Sotheby’s in London attaining £90,000 from Sir Peter Michael. It is now on deposit at Queen Mary, University of London, where Sir Peter was once a student. Shockingly, in 2005 a portion of the manuscript was lost by the University! A full investigation revealed no clues to their disappearance. The missing pages have yet to be found.

The Watsons is an important manuscript in Austen scholarship. By 1803, she had written her juvenilia and three novels, Elinor and Marianne, First Impressions and Susan. These three novels would later be reworked and published as Sense and Sensibility in 1811, Pride and Prejudice in 1813 and Northanger Abbey in 1817. Austen scholar Claudia L. Johnson states in her 2003 introduction in the Oxford World’s Classics edition of Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sandition that:

“The Watsons thus stands as an unfinished bridge between the animation of Austen’s youthful work and the greater sobriety of her later phase.”

The Watsons touches upon one of Austen’s familiar themes: unmarried ladies challenged by their families and financial deficiencies. The heroine Emma Watson has been raised by a wealthy aunt with the advantages of education and refinement. Her two elder brothers and three sisters remained with their widowed father, a sickly and impecunious clergyman barely able to discharge his parish duties and definitely not in control of his three quarrelsome unmarried daughters who reside with him in the Surrey village of Stanton. When Emma’s aunt remarries, she is sent back home to find mercenary husband hunting the order of the day for her two sisters Penelope and Margaret who think nothing of stealing others beaus. Her solace is with her eldest sister Elizabeth who attempts to keep the family a float with frugality and cheer. Residing in the neighborhood is a titled family whose loutish son Lord Osborn is attracted to Emma while her sister chases after his social-climbing friend Tom Musgrave.

As an Austen enthusiast, we can only hope this portion of The Watsons is purchased by a library, museum or similar institution and displayed to the public. Of course its ideal home would be to re-join the first 12 pages at The Morgan Library in New York.

© 2007 – 2011 Laurel Ann Nattress, Austenprose

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Preview of The Mischief of the Mistletoe: A Pink Carnation Christmas, by Lauren Willig

Posted in Austenesque Books, Jane Austen Book Sleuth, Jane Austen's The Watsons, Jane Austen's Works, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 10 September 2010 | 18 Comments »

OMG. I feel like a giddy schoolgirl. Look what arrived on my doorstep today. An advanced reading copy of The Mischief of the Mistletoe, by Lauren Willig! *major goosebumps*

I have been a fervent fan of Ms. Willig’s Pink Carnation series since the day it landed on the new release table in my B&N store in 2005. If you have not had the pleasure of reading any of the novels in the series just think Scarlet Pimpernel meets Georgette Heyer with a dash of Jane Austen thrown in and you’ll get my drift. They are romantic comedies set during the Napoleonic Wars laced with espionage, intrigue and wit. Of all the contemporary historical novelists, Lauren Willig is a nonpareil in my book. Like Georgette Heyer her historical details are spot on, her plots imaginatively engaging, her heroines admirable and heroes swoon-worthy. It does not get much better than this.

The Mischief of the Mistletoe is due to release on October 28th so you’ll have to be patient a bit longer. Janeites will be thrilled to discover that Lauren has drawn her inspiration for her heroine, Arabella Dempsey, from Jane Austen’s personal correspondence and her unfinished novel The Watsons. Austen even makes a cameo appearance! Here is the publisher’s description:

‘Tis the season to get Pink! Lauren Willig’s beloved Pink Carnation series gets into the holiday spirit with this irresistible Regency Christmas caper.

Arabella Dempsey’s dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls’ school in Bath, expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies…

Reginald “Turnip” Fitzhugh – often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation – has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, “Meet me at Farley Castle,” the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austen’s modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate twelve-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? Is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella’s and Turnip’s hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?

The Mischief of the Mistletoe: A Pink Carnation Christmas, by Lauren Willig
Dutton Adult (October 28, 2010)
Hardcover (352) pages
ISBN: 978-0525951872

Additional resources

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The Watsons and Sanditon, by Jane Austen (Naxos AudioBooks): A Review & Giveaway

Posted in Audio Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Jane Austen's Novels & Letters Book Reviews, Jane Austen's The Watsons, Jane Austen's Works, tagged , , , , , , on 16 March 2010 | 15 Comments »

“One abandoned and the other uncompleted.” The Watsons and Sanditon may be fragments in Jane Austen’s literary canon, but they still deserve due deference. Composed over a decade apart in 1803-4 and 1817, each represents Austen’s desire to continue writing during two challenging times in her life. The Watsons was started when Jane was living in Bath with her parents and sister Cassandra. Raised at Steventon rectory in Hampshire, her father Rev. George Austen’s retirement from the clergy in 1801 prompted a relocation of his family to the resort town known for its healing waters and social activity. There she and her sister found a wider social circle, Assembly Balls, and other diversions but dearly missed the pleasures of the country, her large family and circle of friends that she was forced to leave behind. Her few remaining family letters during this period reflect her unhappy situation. Austen began Sanditon in 1817 during a brief remission in an illness that would ultimately take her life seven months later. Although gravely ill, the tone and freshness of the novel is comical and upbeat and reveals an evolution in style that displays her genius as a writer and an innovator of the British novel. We may never know why Jane Austen put The Watsons aside and did not return to it as she did with her other manuscripts. Moreover, her untimely death at age 41 parallels Sanditon’s abrupt halt after 12 chapters. They both fail to reach their full potential and it is our great loss and literature’s sad regret. 

The Watsons touches upon one of Austen’s familiar themes: unmarried ladies challenged by their families and financial deficiencies. The heroine Emma Watson has been raised by a wealthy aunt with the advantages of education and refinement. Her two elder brothers and three sisters remained with their widowed father, a sickly and impecunious clergyman barely able to discharge his parish duties and definitely not in control of his three quarrelsome unmarried daughters who reside with him in the Surrey village of Stanton. When Emma’s aunt remarries, she is sent back home to find mercenary husband hunting the order of the day for her two sisters Penelope and Margaret who think nothing of stealing others beaus. Her solace is with her eldest sister Elizabeth who attempts to keep the family a float with frugality and cheer. Residing in the neighborhood is a titled family whose loutish son Lord Osborn is attracted to Emma while her sister chases after his social-climbing friend Tom Musgrave. 

Sanditon takes an entirely different direction from Austen’s usual fare of 3 or 4 families in a country village by turning the narrative away from the individual’s struggles to an entire community. Set in the emerging seaside village of Sanditon on the Sussex coast we are introduced to a large cast of characters dominated by the two minions of the community: Mr. Parker a local landowner with grand designs to turn a fishing village into a fashionable seabathing spa for the invalid and his partner Lady Denham, the local great lady who has ‘a shrewd eye & self satisfying air’ and cares little about the community and only her pocketbook. There are several young people to add a spark of romance, character foibles galore, plot ironies to raise an eyebrow at business speculation, hypochondria, and a sharp jab at the effluvia of novels and poetry to keep the narrative whizzing along until an abrupt halt just when we are hooked.  

Given that there are very, very few commercial recordings of Jane Austen’s minor works, I was very pleased to see Naxos AudioBooks’ continue to add new titles to their already impressive catalogue of Austen’s six major novels and Lady Susan in abridged and unabridged formats. This brand new recording of The Watsons and Sanditon maintains their impeccable quality. Amusingly read by the acclaimed BBC Radio personality Anna Bentinck, the diversity of the plots and the numerous characters could have been a challenge to a lesser accomplished reader, but I admired her energetic interpretations of the female roles. She has a fine touch with Austen’s nuanced humor and I appreciated her pregnant pauses as much as her rapid fire delivery when warranted. A must have addition for any Austen enthusiast, download this to your iPod or pop it into your car CD player for an amusing lark. 

4 out of 5 Regency Stars 

The Watson and Sanditon, by Jane Austen, read by Anna Bentinck
Naxos AudioBooks USA (2010)
Unabridged, 4 CDs, 4h 29m
ISBN: 978–962–634–281–7

Giveaway

Enter a chance to win one digital copy of Naxos AudioBooks recording of The Watsons and Sanditon, by Jane Austen by leaving a comment stating what intrigues you about either The Watsons or Sanditon, or who your favorite character is by midnight PDT Friday, March 26th, 2010. Winner will be announced on Saturday, March 27th. Good luck!

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