The holiday season is upon us once again with all the joys of gift giving for loved ones and friends. To make it easy for you, here is a handy gift guide for the Jane Austen fan in your life.
COLLECTOR’S EDITIONS OF JANE AUSTEN’S NOVELS
The Jane Austen Collection from the Folio Society
Any Jane Austen fan would give their eye teeth for this glorious collector’s edition of her six major novels by the Folio Society, a small press in England who creates exquisite fine editions of classics and selected contemporary writers. Each beautifully designed book in the collection includes the full text of Jane Austen’s novels and is illustrated in color by leading and award-winning artist. Bound in gold cloth, each book includes a coordinating slipcase.
A CLOSER LOOK:
Books in the Jane Austen Collection include: Sense and Sensibility (1811), illustrated by Philip Bannister, and introduced by Elena Ferrante; Pride and Prejudice (1813), illustrated by Anna and Elena Balbusso, and introduced by Sebastian Faulks; Mansfield Park (1815), illustrated by Darya Shnykina, and introduced by Lucy Worsley; Emma (1816), illustrated by Sam Wolfe Connelly, and introduced by Fay Weldon; Persuasion, illustrated by Deanna Staffo, and introduced by Siri Hustvedt; and Northanger Abbey, illustrated by Jonathan Burton, and introduced by Val McDermid.
These magnificent editions can be purchased separately or as a collection. Visit the Folio Society’s website for additional details and purchase links. (The books ship from the UK, so check Holiday delivery cut off on publisher’s website.)
Jane Austen: The Complete Works 7-Book Boxed Set: Classics hardcover boxed set (Penguin Clothbound Classics), by Jane Austen, book cover design by Coralie Bickford-Smith
This seven-book box set is sure to thrill any Jane Austen fan on Christmas day. It is stunningly beautiful in design and the interior is expertly edited. It includes all six of Austen’s major novels and a volume of her minor works.
DESCRIPTION:
Few novelists have conveyed the subtleties and nuances of their own social milieu with the wit and insight of Jane Austen. Through her vivacious and spirited heroines and their circle, she painted vivid portraits of English middle-class life as the eighteenth century came to a close. Each of these novels is a love story and a story about marriage—marriage for love, for financial security, for social status. But they are not mere romances. Ironic, comic, and wise, they are masterly studies of the society Austen observed. The seven books in this box set—Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Love and Freindship (early writings and juvenilia)—contain some of the most brilliant, dazzling prose in the English language. Part of Penguin’s beautiful Hardcover Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND | GOODREADS
The Complete Novels of Jane Austen (Leather-bound Classics), by Jane Austen, Introduction by Kenneth C. Mondschein PhD
This new leather-bound collector’s edition from Canterbury Classics of Jane Austen’s six major novels is periwinkle. Need I say more?
DESCRIPTION:
Jane Austen’s stories of clever women, elusive love and social mores have struck a chord with millions of fans who consider her work compelling, heartwarming, and essential. Adapted time and again for screen and stage, these enduring classics remain as enjoyable as ever and are the perfect addition to every home library. This collector’s edition includes all six of Austen’s completed novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. New readers will be enchanted once they open the genuine leather cover, see the specially designed endpapers, and read these brilliant stories, while readers familiar with Austen’s genius will enjoy the introduction from an acclaimed Austen scholar that provides background and context for the works they’ve always loved.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND | GOODREADS
HOME, FOOD & ENTERTAINING
Gin Austen, 50 Cocktails to Celebrate the Novels of Jane Austen, by Colleen Mullaney
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of this good book must be in want of a drink. There is nothing like a fun party with festive cocktails. This delightful book is packed full of delicious drinks that will amaze your friends and family of your bartending skills and knowledge of Jane Austen’s characters.
DESCRIPTION:
In six enduring novels, Jane Austen captured the fancies and foibles of Regency England, and every delightful page of this book celebrates the picnics, luncheons, dinner parties, and glamorous balls of Austen’s world. At these social engagements, gossip reigned, love flourished, and drinks flowed. Discover an exotic world of cobblers, crustas, flips, punches, shrubs, slings, sours, and toddies, with recipes that evoke the past but suit today’s tastes. Raise your glass to Sense and Sensibility with a Brandon Old-Fashioned, Elinorange Blossom, Hot Barton Rum, or Just a Dashwood. Toast Pride and Prejudice with a Cousin Collins, Fizzy Miss Lizzie, Gin & Bennet, or Salt & Pemberley. Brimming with enlightening quotes from the novels and Austen’s letters, beautiful photographs, and period design, this intoxicating volume is a must-have for any devoted Janeite.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND | GOODREADS
Tea with Jane Austen: Recipes Inspired by Her Novels and Letters, by Pen Vogler
Austen and drinking tea go together like sunshine and syllabub. This is the perfect melding of both loves for many Austen fans.
DESCRIPTION:
Inspired by the novels and letters of Jane Austen, this collection of cakes, bakes, and pastries is based on authentic recipes from the Recency era, which have been fully updated for modern-day cooks. In Jane Austen’s day, tea and cakes were usually served after dinner, or to evening guests, but these rolls, buns, tarts, and biscuits will be equally welcome at breakfast, with mid-morning coffee, or for an English afternoon tea. Recipes featured in the book include English Muffins, based on the muffins served with after-dinner tea in Pride and Prejudice; Buttered Apple Tart as offered by Mr. Woodhouse to Miss Bates in Emma; and Jumbles, inspired by the cookies enjoyed by Fanny in Mansfield Park. From Plum Cake and Gingerbread to Ratafia Cakes and Sally Lunns Tea with Jane Austen has all the recipes you need to create the finest tea time treats, and the original recipes are given alongside, so you can compare them and appreciate modern time-savers such as dried yeast, and electric mixers all the more!
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND | GOODREADS
I’d Rather Be at Pemberley Tea or Coffee Mug, by CafePress
Imagine yourself at Pemberley, Mr. Darcy’s palatial manor house, while sipping hot tea or your favorite flavored coffee with this striking black and white mug sporting a visage of the famous fictional estate.
DESCRIPTION:
Durable white ceramic with easy-grip handle gives a classic coffee mug look and feel. Mug is 3.75″x3″, 11 oz capacity. Microwave safe. Dishwasher safe, top shelf recommended.
Alison Gardiner Famous Illustrator Jane Austen Characters and Books 100% Cotton Tea Towel/Dish Cloth, by ALISON GARDINER DESIGNS
Washing up was never as pleasurable with these beautifully designed tea towels featuring characters from Jane Austen’s novels!
DESCRIPTION:
British artist Alison Gardner has a fresh, inviting way with Jane Austen’s beloved characters! Each of the six characters is delightfully illustrated holding one of Austen’s classic novels. Made of 100% cotton, the towel measures a generous 19″ x 29″ as was printed in England.
JANE AUSTEN-INSPIRED BOOKS
The World of Sanditon: The Official Companion, by Sara Sheridan, and Andrew Davies
Jane Austen’s last unfinished novel Sanditon has been adapted and continued by screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice 1995). It premiered in the UK this past summer and will air on Masterpiece PBS in the US starting in January. Get a peek inside the production and learn about the story of a Miss Charlotte Heywood, a young girl who travels to a Regency-era sea spa on the Sussex coast. This sumptuous book is heavily illustrated so US fans will be introduced to the town and the characters before the television series premieres on PBS on January 12, 2020.
DESCRIPTION:
An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of Jane Austen’s Sanditon television series.
Sanditon, the final novel Austen was working on before her death, has been given an exciting conclusion, and will be brought to a primetime television audience on PBS/Masterpiece for the very first time by Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies ( War & Peace, Mr. Selfridge, Les Misérables, Pride and Prejudice).
This, the official companion to the Masterpiece series, contains everything a fan could want to know. It explores the world Austen created, along with fascinating insights about the period and the real-life heartbreak behind her final story. And it offers location guides, behind the scenes details, and interviews with the cast, alongside beautiful illustrations and set photography.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND | GOODREADS
Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion, by Hilary Davidson
This beautifully designed book is one of my favorites of 2019. It is packed with glorious illustrations of Regency-era clothing and fashions and an illuminating text. Check out my review.
DESCRIPTION:
A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated examination of dress, clothing, fashion, and sewing in the Regency seen through the lens of Jane Austen’s life and writings.
This lively book reveals the clothing and fashion of the world depicted in Jane Austen’s beloved books, focusing on the long Regency between the years 1795 and 1825. During this period, accelerated change saw Britain’s turbulent entry into the modern age, and clothing reflected these transformations. Starting with the intimate perspective of clothing the self, Dress in the Age of Jane Austen moves outward through the social and cultural spheres of home, village, countryside, and cities, and into the wider national and global realms, exploring the varied ways people dressed to inhabit these environments. Jane Austen’s famously observant fictional writings, as well as her letters, provide the entry point for examining the Regency age’s rich complexity of fashion, dress, and textiles for men and women in their contemporary contexts.
Lavishly illustrated with paintings, drawings, historic garments, and fashion plates—including many previously unpublished images—this authoritative yet accessible book will help readers visualize the external selves of Austen’s immortal characters as clearly as she wrote of their internal ones. The result is an enhanced understanding of Austen’s work and time, and also of the history of one of Britain’s most distinctive fashion eras.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND | GOODREADS
STOCKING STUFFERS
Jane Austen Bag – 9″ Zipper Pouch for Pencils, Tools, Cosmetics and More, by The Unemployed Philosophers Guild
This pretty bag would have suited Harriet Smith in Jane Austen’s Emma perfectly to store her bits of collected treasures.
DESCRIPTION:
This bag is just the place to keep all the small things you need: a bottle of ink and a pen, a stack of letters tied with a ribbon, a needle, and thread. This pouch is for those who recognize that the small is not inevitably the trivial. The case is 5″x9″ and 2″ wide at the base, so it stands at the ready! Fits right into your backpack to keep any accessories organized.
Jane Austen Gift Set, by Moore Gifts
DESCRIPTION:
This gift bundle includes specialty items that every Jane Austen fan would love, including two pairs of Austen themed cozy socks, a scented candle, literary tea collection, a tea infuser, and Jane Austen note cards so they can immediately write you a thank you note. The items come packaged in a nice sturdy giftable box.
TOYS & GAMES
Jane Austen Bath Duck, by Duckshop
This adorable rubber duckie of Jane Austen’s visage belongs on every Jane Austen fans’ bookshelf next to a set of her complete novels.
DESCRIPTION:
The image says it all. This darling Jane Austen duck sports a ruffled cap, a turquoise ring and a copy of Pride and Prejudice. (the manufacturer warns that it does not swim upright) It looks great on my bookshelf!
A CLOSER LOOK:
Jane Austen Action Figure, by Accoutrements
We have long thought that Jane Austen has superpowers. This action figure confirms it.
DESCRIPTION:
Some people think the idea of a Jane Austen Action Figure is weird and random. We think Jane Austen deserves it! She wrote anonymously in her day, which is why it is so important we recognize her now in every way possible! This 5-1/2″ tall hard vinyl figure pays homage to one of history’s greatest observers of the subtleties of character and human interaction. She comes with a book and quill and is the perfect gift for any Austen fan no matter their sensibility or prejudices. It comes in an illustrated box that looks like a book. 5-1/2″ tall vinyl figure which includes a book and quill.
AMAZON | ARCHIE MCPHEE | PBS SHOP
Pride & Prejudice & Puzzles: Ingenious Riddles & Vexing Dilemmas Inspired by Jane Austen’s Novels, by Richard Galland
Miss Emma Woodhouse would enjoy this clever collection of riddles and word games.
DESCRIPTION:
Enter the world of Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion with this beautifully realized puzzle collection that transports you to Jane Austen’s England–a land of polite intrigue and conjugal contrivance.
Permit yourself the indulgence of an interval of recreation and amusement to make your acquaintance with the riddles and conundrums contained within; for you are sure to receive no inconsiderable pleasure from the puzzling over and resolving of them. Your quest for an amiable distraction will be over, leaving your curiosity entirely satisfied. Puzzles there are plenty, clues there are many, and the pages are handsomely decorated with fine engravings entirely suited to the subject matter.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND | GOODREADS
CLOTHING
Society of Obstinate Headstrong Girls Jane Austen T-Shirt
Seriously displeasing people Since 1813, this awesome funny t-shirt is for any Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice fan!
DESCRIPTION:
Made of a lightweight cotton blend in a classic fit. It is available in several colors.
PERIOD DRAMA
Pride & Prejudice (Blu-ray + DVD)
This 1995 BBC/A&E adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel by Andrew Davies remains the gold standard of period drama, even after 24 years. When it premiered it sparked a Jane Austen renaissance. This new 2019 release has a new cover, but I believe that it is the same as the previous conversion to Blu-Ray in 2008.
DESCRIPTION:
Oscar-winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) and BAFTA-winner Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty) star in this definitive version of Pride & Prejudice – now fully restored from the original film negatives. The alluring tale of the forbidden love shared by the spirited Elizabeth Bennett and the distinguished Mr. Darcy is beautifully brought to life by award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies (Bridget Jones’s Diary, House of Cards). Indulge in the beautifully remastered edition of Jane Austen’s classic love story.
Happy Holidays Janeites!
The © copyright to all of the images and descriptions used in this post are owned by their respective publishers and distributors; text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2019, Austenprose.com
Austenprose 
A wonderful collection and great of you to take the time to put it all together. Some great gift ideas here.
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Thanks, Teresa. I always look forward to creating a holiday gift list. It’s like shopping vicariously for items I wish I could have!
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A very dangerous post for me. LOL I want all the things. :)
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Such a lovely list, Laurel Ann! I love these types of lists…I always find something I didn’t know about before…like the Jane Austen duck! That is so ridiculously adorable! Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks for your praise, Meredith. It means so much more coming from you, the Queen of Lists. The Jane Austen Duck is adorable.
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