Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: English novelist Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, the seventh of eight children of Rev. George Austen and his wife Cassandra Austen, nee Leigh. Her six major novels concern the pursuit of security, and love, for women dependent upon marriage among the landed... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: In honor of lovers everywhere we are highlighting some of Jane Austen’s insights on courtship, love, and marriage in her novels, and in her life, on the most romantic day of the year, Valentine’s Day. Here are 24 of the best quotes to include in a card, express... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen-themed Twelfth Night Cake by Sprinkles Bakes Today is Jane Austen 239th birthday. Born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire, England, her many admirers have proclaimed her birthday as Jane Austen Day and are celebrating around the world in creative and diverse ways. Please join us and the Jane Austen Centre Facebook... Continue Reading →
Exciting news for Janeites! Deirdre Le Faye’s incredible scholarship on Jane Austen and her family continues in this new edition of Jane Austen’s Letters. Many will be thrilled to learn that this 4th edition not only includes a new cover, but updates! Here is the description from Oxford University Press: Jane Austen's letters afford a... Continue Reading →
My dear Cassandra, Where shall I begin? Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first? – Jane Austen, June 15, 1808 Two years ago I purchased the lovely illustrated volume My Dear Cassandra by Penelope Hughes-Hallet (1990). Inspired by Jane Austen’s close relationship with her sister Cassandra, it is chockablock full of... Continue Reading →
"You deserve a longer letter than this; but it is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well as they deserve." Jane Austen, 24 December 1798 Jane Austen’s personal correspondence has stirred up controversy since her untimely death in 1817 at age 41. The next year her brother Henry Austen wrote in the ‘Biographical... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen's letters offer a rich repository of her life and Regency times. Austen at Large reporter Virginia Claire shares her thoughts on Jane Austen's reading of Pride and Prejudice to her neighbor Miss Benn.
Jane Austen's letters are rich repository of her life and Regency times. In this letter to her sister Cassandra, Jane is in London visiting her brother Henry Austen while her fourth novel Emma is to be published by John Murray. She also talks of shopping and running errands for her family, friends and herself. Even though she has book royalties coming in from her three previous publications, she still is keenly aware of how much a shilling is worth, concerned over her recent purchase of 4 silk stockings!
It would have excited in her an amused incredulity, no doubt, had any one predicted that two generations after her death the real recognition of her powers was to come. Time, which like desert sands has effaced the footprints of so many promising authors, has, with her, served as the desert wind, to blow aside... Continue Reading →
I would not let Martha read First Impressions again upon any account, and am very glad that I did not leave it in your power. She is very cunning, but I saw through her design; she means to publish it from memory, and one more perusal must enable her to do it. Letter to Cassandra... Continue Reading →
Allied troops entering Paris after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte "the little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush, as produces so little effect after so much labour" Letter to Edward Austen, 16 December 1816, The Letters of Jane Austen Today marks the anniversary of the Battle... Continue Reading →
"At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy ... My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea" Jane Austen Letter to Cassandra Austen, 16 January 1796, The Letters of Jane Austen My Dear Miss Austen, Our tears flow too dear Jane. A tornado has hit... Continue Reading →
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