A Jane Austen Year: Celebrating 250 Years of Jane Austen, by Jane Austen House Curators — A Preview

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: 

Next year we celebrate a milestone in Jane Austen’s life — the 250th anniversary of her birth on December 16, 1775, at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire. There will be many events and books throughout the year to commemorate her special year.

I am thrilled to present to you my first book selection to share — A Jane Austen Year, created by the curators of the Jane Austen Museum, her final home in Chawton, England. Here is a description of her home and the museum from their website:

Jane Austen’s House is a cherished museum in Chawton, Hampshire, where the beloved author lived for the last eight years of her life.  It houses an unparalleled collection of Austen treasures. Highlights include Jane’s jewellery, letters, first editions of her novels and the table at which she wrote her much loved novels. Visitors can step back in time to 1816 and follow in Jane’s footsteps as they explore the rooms where she lived and wrote. A series of temporary exhibitions explore Regency life and Jane Austen’s works.  The pretty garden is a perfect place to relax after your visit and of course, you’ll want to visit our Gift Shop which stocks a unique range of gifts and books.  We can’t wait to welcome you!

A Jane Austen Year is officially available on March 11, 2025, but if you pre-order it through the Jane Austen Museum’s gift shop, it will be shipped in January 2025, two months before general release!

I am so excited to herald in the first book of the Austen 250th celebration and can’t wait to read it. Here is more information about it.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

This beautifully illustrated book charts the life of one of the world’s most beloved authors through the letters, objects, and manuscripts that shaped her life.

Published in partnership with the curators of Jane Austen’s House, the enchanting Hampshire cottage where Jane Austen’s genius flourished that now attracts thousands of visitors every year.

Arranged over the course of a calendar year, from snowy scenes in January to festive recipes in December, specially commissioned photography of Austen’s home and possessions are brought together with extracts from her books, reproductions of her letters, and stories of her life throughout the seasons. Highlights include the first time Austen read a published copy of Pride and Prejudice to an enraptured audience in her drawing room, affectionate letters to her sister Cassandra reproduced in full and an exquisite miniature portrait of Tom Lefroy, the man she nearly married.

Read this book for a unique and intimate insight into Austen’s world. Dip into it as you will, or visit each month, and enjoy a full year of Austen—her life, works and letters, people and objects she knew, and of course her idyllic, inspiring home.

AUTHOR BIO

Jane Austen’s House is the inspiring Hampshire cottage where the beloved author lived for the last eight years of her life. It houses an unparalleled collection of Austen treasures. Highlights include Jane’s jewelry, letters, first editions of her novels, and the table at which she wrote her much loved novels. Visitors can step back in time to 1816 and follow in Austen’s footsteps as they explore the rooms where she lived and wrote. It has been open to the public as a museum since 1949, and is an international center for Jane Austen studies.

BOOK INFORMATION

• A Jane Austen Year: Celebrating 250 Years of Jane Austen, by Jane Austen House Curators
• Pitkin (March 11, 2025)
• Hardcover (208) pages
• ISBN: 978-1849949040
• Genre: Austenesque, Literary Letters, Biography

JANE AUSTEN HOUSE MUSEUM | AMAZON | ADD TO GOODREADS

Cover image and book description courtesy of Pitkin © 2025; text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2024, austenprose.com, an Amazon affiliate. No AI: material on Austenprose.com may not be used in datasets for, in the development of, or as inputs to generative AI programs.

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