Monthly Spotlight

July 2006 Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s novels have been collectable from the outset, with The Prince Regent keeping a set of her works at each of his royal residences – quite an achievement considering the era in which she wrote saw novel writing as unimportant and trivial.

Within her novels, Austen’s insightful social commentary on the world around her gives us delightful vignettes into the Georgian world of courtship and marriage. This, in conjunction with her charming use of wit, satire and irony has made her the collectable world famous novelist she is today. Despite this Austen saw limited success during her short lifetime.

Biography.

Jane Austen was born in December 1775 at the rectory of Steventon in Hampshire. Her father was the parson there and she was the youngest of several children. As a parson’s daughter Jane was connected to the landed classes and it was in this social sphere that the action is confined to. Austen’s education was generally superior to those given to girls at that time – firstly, in 1783 she was educated in Oxford by a relative and then in Southampton. Between 1785 and 1786 she attended the Reading ladies boarding school where she took early to writing. Her first tale was begun in 1789. At the tender age of sixteen Jane wrote a parody of Goldsmith’s History of England.

Austen lived a quiet life with her family; she never married. In 1801 the family relocated to Bath, which became the setting for much of her writing, until her father’s death in 1805. After residing shortly with her brother’s family in Southampton, Jane settled in Chawton where she lived in a cottage on another brother’s estate with her family. It was at Chawton that the majority of Austen’s works were composed.

Tragically in 1816 Jane began to suffer from ill health. It is now thought that she suffered from Addison’s disease. Her condition worsened to such an extent that in 1817 that she moved to Winchester. However after a few months there Jane Austen died in July aged just 42 years old.

Bibliography.

Austen published her novels anonymously according to the convention for female authors at the time. The first of her novels Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811. Two years later the best known of her works Pride and Prejudice followed suit. In 1814 Mansfield Park was published, followed by Emma in 1816. Both Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in 1818. It was then that her brother revealed her true authorship. When she died Jane Austen left two novels unfinished, The Watsons and Sanditon.

We are pleased to be able to offer for sale first editions of Pride and Prejudice (link) of which it is thought only 1500 copies were published and Emma (link).  The scarcity of such items makes them incredibly valuable but we also have other editions of Austen’s works for sale in a variety of ages and bindings to suit every Jane Austen enthusiast.