Jane Austen's House Museum | Home Discover Britain's most-loved writer Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire is the only house where Jane lived and wrote which is open to the public as a museum. Jane Austen's House Museum is currently closed to the public. We are now closed from 2 January until the end of February, including weekends, while we prepare the House for the bicentenary commemorations of Jane Austen's life. The Museum will reopen on 3 March 2017. Jane Austen’s inspiration - Country Life Country Life 0shares 0shares Chawton Cottage and Chawton House, near Alton in Hampshire, constitute a remarkable architectural footnote to the story of English literature. The former is the attractive red-brick residence of Jane Austen, her sister Cassandra, their mother and a friend, Martha Lloyd. In this house, Austen revised novels and presented them for publication, namely Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, and then wrote four more before her death in 1817. Her earlier novel, Northanger Abbey, also received revisions here and was published posthumously.

The other, Chawton House, is the principal residence of the same village, a stately old English manor house and the home of the Knight family since 1524. This was one of the country houses inherited by her brother Edward Austen, who obligingly changed his surname to Knight. Given the fame of Austen’s novels, it is hardly surprising that both houses are, in different ways, today preserved in her memory: Chawton Cottage since 1949, as the Jane Austen’s House Museum, and Chawton House as the Chawton House Library, which opened in 2003 as a place dedicated to the study of women’s writing. A 125-year leasehold was acquired by Virginian author and philanthropist Sandy Lerner, who restored the building and vested the lease in a trust. Both houses have been recently restored. In essence, the relationship of the two buildings-one a genteel home in the heart of the village; the other, a gentleman’s seat, a little aloof in its own parkland, paired with the parish church-presents us with the perfect setting for an Austen plotline.

Such a relationship between the occupants of the rectory or dower house to the Great House (as, indeed, Chawton House was known in the early 19th century) was one that Austen excelled at depicting in her novels. Neither the cottage nor the manor house was Austen’s childhood home. The house where she was born and lived for the first 25 years of her life was the Rectory at Steventon, about 20 miles away. Her father, the Rev George Austen, was presented to the living by a distant cousin, Thomas Knight, in 1764, and his youngest five children (of eight) were born there, including Jane in 1775. Knight was the same cousin who, having no children of his own, adopted one of Jane Austen’s brothers, Edward, in 1783. By 1807, Edward, who took the Knight name, had inherited both Godmersham Park in Kent and Chawton in Hampshire. * Subscribe to Country Life ; Country Life on Ipad Steventon rectory, which was demolished in the 1820s, was brick-built and whitewashed.

George Austen had updated the house, adding a Classical front and a bow window. It was, according to Jane’s nephew James Austen-Leigh, ‘considered to be above the average of parsonages; but the rooms were finished with less elegance than would be found in most ordinary dwellings’. When George retired in 1800, he handed over the living of Steven-ton and Deane to his eldest son, James, and moved to Bath, with his wife and two unmarried daughters. In 1805, George died, and, after a period, Edward pressed on his mother and sisters the offer of a residence on one of his estates. Edward had moved into Godmersham Park in 1797, a grand Palladian house, which still survives today. This last was the large country house that Jane knew better than any; she had visited often and spent long periods here. For this reason, it has been suggested that life there might have been the original for the depiction of fictional life at Mansfield Park. The Austen women, however, chose to live in the cottage at Chawton, which they moved to in July 1809.

It was a handsome red-brick house built originally as a farmhouse in about 1700, with various additions and possibly older structures abs-orbed within it-as well as numerous outbuildings. It had been the home of the estate bailiff, Bridger Seward, and occupied a prominent position at the crossroads to the village. It had also been briefly the New Inn-the pond near the house was the picking-up place for the coach. Among the numerous minor alter-ations carried out by Edward Knight for his mother and sisters was the blocking up of the window from the drawing room to the street, and adding a new Gothic window, looking onto the garden. The garden was extended and planted to give privacy, but retained a view towards Chawton Park and the beech woods that surrounded Chawton House, where the ladies liked to walk for exercise. The dining-room window still faced the street and friends in passing coaches sometimes saw the ladies at their meals.

Caroline Austen, James Austen-Leigh’s sister, left an account of her visits to the cottage: ‘The front door opened on the road… a good-sized entrance, and two parlours called drawing and dining room, made the length of the house.’ She recalled how ‘everything indoors and out was well kept-the house was well furnished, and it was altogether a comfortable ladylike establishment, tho’ I believe the means which supported it, were but small-The house was quite as good as the generality of Parsonage houses then-and much in the same style-the ceilings low and roughly finished-some bedrooms very small-none very large but in number sufficient to accommodate the inmates, and several guests’. She remembered how uncles and cousins often stayed, and also that Chawton House was loaned occasionally to Edward’s brothers and their families (although sometimes it was tenanted, too, in the manner of Kellynch Hall in Persuasion). As a result, ‘we ever retained a strong impression of the pleasantness of Chawton life’.

The drawing room at Chawton Cottage was used for needlework, music and letter writing, and it is thought Jane used a small table in the dining room, still in the house, to write and revise her novels. Her settled and quiet life there came after some disruptive wilderness years spent in Bath and Southampton and allowed for a burst of creativity. She died in 1817. After the death of Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra, in 1845, the cottage was divided into three labourer’s cottages. Acquired in 1948 by Thomas Edward Carpenter, it was presented, in memory of his son, a Lt Philip Carpenter, to a dedicated trust, with the support of the Jane Austen Society-including the then Duke of Wellington, president of the society, Hampshire landowner and champion of Regency taste. Today, it is open to the public and every room has interpretation boards explaining the context of Regency life and society. Edward was rarely resident at Chawton when Jane lived there; Godmersham in Kent was his principal seat, where he brought up his 11 children. His eldest son was later drawn to the antiquarian charms of Chawton, and Godmersham was sold.

Chawton House stands in a well-wooded setting on high ground above the church. Its central range was built in about 1585, by John Knight, and the hall of that date lies directly to the side of the three-storey porch. The porch does not give directly onto the screens passage-as is conventional-but into a lobby. This oddity perhaps reflects the reorganisation of a pre-existing hall in the 1580s. The central chimneypiece of the Great Hall has a fitted fireback dated 1588. A cross wing was also added in the 1580s, which contains the principal dining room. Other Elizabethan improvements included a handsome stable block at the bottom of the hill, dated 1593. In the 1650s, two substantial wings were added, to the north and south of the main house, by Sir Richard Knight. With the new domestic offices of this period these wings formed a new enclosed courtyard. It seems that, at this point, the kitchens were re-sited to their present location in the north wing. A fine surviving painting shows the house as it existed in the 1740s with rendered walls.

To this building, Jane’s brother made only minor alterations. His house has, in turn, been much adapted over time. The Tapestry Gallery, for instance, was created by a later-19th-century Knight-Montagu, Edward’s grandson. His old English taste was noted in Country Life in 1903, when the hall was described with ‘much ancient furniture… with nothing modern to break the charm’. Montagu himself recorded various alterations made to the house in the 19th century ‘since I was a small boy’, including those done by his father. The hall was furnished simply in his childhood and con-verted to a drawing room in 1858, a stone-and-slate floor replaced with oak and deal boards in 1868. He moved a door dated 1655 ‘to the entrance to the offices’, opposite the main stairs. He also recorded the contribution of estate carpenter, William Wyeth (and his sons, Roland and Harold), who created much of the new panelling matching the old. The dining room was panelled in oak in 1895-96 with a chimney-piece designed by G. F. Bodley.

The Oak Room was repanelled with a neo-Jacobean overmantel. * Follow Country Life magazine on Twitter The house continued to pass through generations of the Knight family, until it was put up for sale in the early 1990s, and a 125-year leasehold acquired in 1993 by Miss Lerner, now vested in a trust. In July 2003, after a 10-year renovation and restoration project, the Great House reopened as the Chawton House Library, with a collection of more than 9,000 books, devoted to English women writers from 1600 to about 1830. It also houses the private collection of the Knight family’s books and several import-ant portraits-which once resided at Godmersham Park. Although a scholarly institution, it can be visited on pre-booked guided tours and has a full programme of events for the public. With its pairing of a large and small house, Chawton parallels the setting of many of Austen’s novels.

In this juxtaposition is made manifest the sense of belonging-but belonging on the periphery-that life here must have engendered; here, Jane had access to a gentleman’s seat, but not the weight of responsibility and public expectation that ownership entailed. Just think how often the role of chatelaine lies in the future for her heroines. Chawton is perhaps the place where she learnt to paint the social complications that naturally arose from this. For information, telephone 01420 83262 or visit and 01420 541010 or jocelyn wang It wouls be wonderful to live live in such an idiyllic Jane Austen themed house… Search The Places of Jane Austen Jane Austen Sights The Vyne, near Basingstoke A 16 c. house with many alterations over the years, with collections of furniture, paintings and ornaments. There is a long pannelled gallery with heldary carvings related to the Chute family who lived here for over 350 years. We know that Jane Austen came to dances here. Atractive gardens and grounds include an ornamental lake, and one of the earliest summer houses.

Open mid-March to end October, not Th. or Fri. The Wheatsheaf on the old London road This is an old coaching inn south of Steventon, where horses were changed on the way to and from London. Stage coaches carried the mail, and Jane Austen walked to here to send and receive her letters. The reciepent paid for the mail, as this was before the invention of postage stamps. The main building is much unchanged on the outside, and inside we can see the low ceilings, original beams and fire place. The old stables are now a restaurant, and at the side is a modern Premier Inn hotel. From the main road you can take a picture which will be much as Jane saw it. Steventon Church It is over 2 miles walk over Hampshire's rolling countryside from the London road to Steventon. With simple leather shoes, long skirts and on unmade roads, the return walk would be quite an effort. The village is small, scattered and rural, the birthplace of Jane Austen (1775), whose family lived at the rectory (demolished) for 25 years. In the church there are three tablets to the family, and family graves in the churchyard.

The church is over 600 years old and very simple inside and out, with some medieval painting on the walls. The wind vane is shaped like a quill pen. A yew tree by the West entrance is over 900 years old. The rectory was large and had 7 bedrooms. Outside there were fields where Mr. Austen farmed and his wife grew potatoes (at that time quite an innovation), formal gardens with a turf walk, sundial, strawberry beds, and a grassy bank down which the young Jane possibly enjoyed rolling as a child, like Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey. There was also a carriage sweep, and a barn used for private theatricals except in winter, when the dining room had to suffice. Jane’s very full social life at Steventon provided her with much of the material for her novels, and most of her long-life friendships were cemented during her time at Steventon. Here she wrote Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, although they were not published at that time. Her father offered Pride and Prejudice to a publisher in 1797 who turned it down without reading it.

Cassandra and Jane attended many dances at nearby large houses, some of which are still standing today. The most notable is the Vyne, a National Trust property, near Basingstoke. Jane also attended social gatherings in Basingstoke at the Assembly Rooms. Barclays Bank in the Market Place in Basingstoke stands where the Assembly rooms used to be. A plaque on the wall of the bank commemorates Jane. She liked shopping, and is known to have gone shopping in Andover, Alton, Alreford, Basingstoke, Whitchurch and Overton during the years she lived at Steventon. Jane spent the first 25 years of her life in Steventon, before the family moved to Bath in Somerset because her father wanted to retire there. Bath provided scenes for some of her books, but she did not embark on any of her novels during the five tears she lived here. Ashe Village A few miles north of Steventon is the village of Ashe, where Jane's father was also the rector and Jane visited her friends the Lefroy's at Ashe House.

From the farmyard we can see a circular pond with central island; this is the source of the River Test, which we can follow on pretty country lanes through little villages of 16c. thached cottages. Upper Test Valley The chalk hills around Basingstoke soak up the rains, and filter the water all year into small streams going South, which combine to make the River Test and its tributaries. The official source is a lake with a circular island which can be viewed from a lane by the old church at Ashe. The river runs clear and fast in shallow channels, often breaking into several streams in its gentle valley. It is the finest trout fishing river in the South of England. The prettiest part of the valley is the upper part, from Stockbridge to Whitchurch. There are many old thatched cottages, and in some places the land in the valley is common grazing and has never been cultivated, and is a haven for wild-life. The Mayfly near Longparish is a lovely riverside pub with great lunch-time food. Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a charming seaside town, barely commercialised, with many fine old buildings in its steep narrow streets.

Its most famous feature is the great breakwater known as the Cobb, immortalised by local author John Fowles in his novel The French Lieutenant's Woman. Jane Austen was another author who enjoyed Lyme Regis. The coastline is a notable hunting ground for palaeontologists, with some famous local fossil finds, such as the ichthyosaurus found by Mary Anning in the early 19th century. Southampton Southampton developed along the waterfront between the mouths of the Test and the Itchen, Hampshire's two main rivers. Ideally located at the head of Southampton Water, it was a major port throughout the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, and until well into the 1960s, it flourished as a passenger port able to accommodate the largest liners, and as an aircraft-building centre; Spitfires were produced here. Heavy wartime bombing and post-war redevelopment destroyed much of the city. However, there are some remarkable survivals, including stretches of the town walls, Bargate (a fine medieval gatehouse), the 15th-century Merchants' Hall, and Bugle Street.

The Wool House, built in about 1400 as a warehouse, now houses the Southampton Maritime Museum; next door is the mid-19th century Italianate Yacht Club. Jane Austen stayed here with a brother in a house in Castle Square, beside the mediaeval sea walls. There is now a pub on the site of the house. We know that Jane attended dances in the ballroom of the Dolphin Hotel. It has the largest unsupported bay windows in the country. Winchester Capital of Wessex from the time of Alfred, and capital of all England from the 10th century until the Norman Conquest, this is one of the most historic cities in the country, crammed with medieval and later buildings. The huge cathedral is the second on the site, Norman and a mixture of later medieval styles, and is the second longest in Europe - a beautiful building, full of superb fittings including the best set of medieval chantry chapels in the country and early 14th-century wooden quire stalls of the highest quality. The Triforum gallery has a very good display on the buildings. The statue of William Walker the diver records his dangerous work replacing the footings.

The small cathedral close has a medieval pilgrim hall and other attractive corners. The 14th-century Kingsgate has the little Church of St Swithun above. Jane Austen died in College Street, and is buried in the cathedral. The plaque to her makes no mention of her writings. Winchester College, the famous public school, still inhabits the original medieval courts, with chapel and hall. The ruins of the medieval bishop's palace, Wolvesey Palace (English Heritage) are extensive. The town itself is dense, full of Georgian brick houses. One of the best is the Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum, and there are four more military museums in Peninsula Barracks and the City Museum in the pretty little square. Opposite the decorative Victorian guildhall (with exhibition gallery) is a huge statue of King Alfred (1901). The City Mill (National Trust) of 1774 has a pretty little garden. The 13th-century great hall is the only surviving part of the castle, and one of the finest medieval halls in the country, displaying the so-called King Arthur's table, an early medieval fake, and with a little `medieval garden' attached.

Westgate, part of the medieval city walls, has a museum above. See also St Cross. Chawton, the Jane Austen house Revered as the village where Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life, and wrote three of her novels. A single street of brick houses and cottages, with the Austen house on the corner, only a fair-sized village house. Many relics and some rooms looking much as in her time. Everything in the House is very well annotated, and it takes a while to see it all. Recent renovation has added a kitchen in 18 c. style and a new souvenir shop. Everything in the garden is as of Jane's time, with herbs and plants used for cooking, medical purposes and dying clothing. Chawton House (not open), where one of her brothers lived, is also little changed. It is just beyond the church, where we can see her mother's and Casandra's graves. The original church was damaged by fire and re-built in the 19 c. Bath Bath owes its prosperity to its hot springs, unique in Britain, and first capitalised upon by the Romans, who constructed a great bathing complex here.

In AD 973 Bath Abbey was the site of the coronation of Edgar, first king of All England. The present abbey, dating from the 15th century, is famous for its magnificent fan vaulting and monuments. During the 18th century the presence of the flamboyant Richard “Beau” Nash helped to make Bath one of England’s most fashionable towns, while the Palladian architecture of John Wood and his son turned it into one of the country’s most coherent and beautiful cityscapes. Today the Roman Baths Museum houses the finest Roman remains in Britain, and Bath’s Georgian masterpieces - the Pump Rooms, the Assembly Rooms, the Circus, the Royal Crescent, and the Florentine-style Pulteney Bridge - remain in a marvelous state of preservation. The town is also a major cultural centre with many excellent museums. Bath is the most elegant town in the country, with acres of handsome Georgian buildings in the creamy orange local stone and surrounded by small green hills. The town has always been based on its natural hot springs, the largest producing a million litres a day of red-stained hot water.

The Romans built their baths around the spring, with a temple dedicated to Minerva and the Iron Age god Sulis, providing a mixture of physical healing and spiritual refreshment, doubtless, as later, relieved with more social amusements. The Roman baths were rediscovered in the later 19th century, and can be seen along with the little medieval King’s Bath, and displays of finds which include Roman sculpture and Roman curses. Medieval Bath was small, with a big monastery, whose large and handsome early 16th-century church survives as Bath Abbey, fan-vaulted and with a famous west front. The 17th-century town was promoted as a spa, and really took off from 1725, becoming the most fashionable resort in the country. Present-day Bath is the stylish town created for those who came to bathe and to drink the water in the Georgian period. Two people heavily influenced the town: ‘Beau’ Nash, the official Master of ceremonies for 50 years who made the resort genteel, and the architect John Wood who designed many areas of Bath including the Circus (1754), the large circular terrace.

His son designed the Royal Crescent (no 1 is open to the public) and the Assembly Rooms in the 1760’s, while Robert Adam produced Pulteney Bridge at the same time. Other notable buildings include the Guildhall (1776) and the Pump Room (1789), but fine as these individual buildings are, it is Bath as a whole which impresses, miles of Georgian houses, mostly in terraces, looking much as they did when Jane Austen or Gainsborough visited. The magnificent Royal Crescent was built by John Wood the Younger between 1767 and 1774. This glorious terrace of 30 classically inspired, three-storey houses in glowing, golden Bath stone is often claimed to be the most majestic street in Britain. No. 1 Royal Crescent has been superbly restored and furnished to reflect the golden 18th-century age of Bath when aristocrats, such as the Duke of York, lived here. Royal Victoria Park (laid out from 1830) and the Botanic Gardens in the north-west area of the city, are fine Victorian additions to the town, although by then it had ceased to be fashionable.

Best view of the city is from the wooded ridge to the south. Two of Jane Austen’s novels, `Northanger Abbey’ and `Persuasion’, are partly set in Regency Bath and give a good picture of the social life then, as do the Assembly Rooms and the Museum of Costume. Today Bath attracts visitors from all over the world, and has masses of smart shops. The annual summer music festival holds concerts many of the Georgian buildings, and the Holbourne of Menstrie Museum (in a hotel of 1796) and the Victoria Art Gallery have temporary exhibitions as well as their permanent displays. The Building of Bath Museum has details of the construction of the Georgian town. Bath is always bustling and always beautiful.

Chawton House Library | Austenonly You may care to know that Simon Langton, shown below talking to Lucy Scott the actress who played Charlotte Lucas, and who was Simon Langton from the book,”The Making of Pride and Prejudice” by Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin the director of the BBC’s 1995 production of Pride and Pejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, is going to give a talk about that experience at Chawton House on the 18th April at 7p.m. Here are all the details from the Chawton House press release: To Celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice acclaimed film and TV director Simon Laongton will discuss directing the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and prejudice starring COlin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA, as well as other costume dramas which he has been involved with throughout his prolific career.

Simon Langton was nominated for both a BAFTA award in the UK and an Emmy award in the USA for his 1982 dramatisation of the John le Carré novel, Simley’s People. He later won a BAFTA award for the 1989 series, Mother Love, starring Diana Rigg. Other productions include The Scarlet Pimpernel; Upstairs Downstairs; Jeeves and Wooster; the Duchess of Duke Street and Anna Karenina with Christopher Reeve. He continues to direct British drama, most recently with a number of episodes of Rosemary and Thyme, Foyles War and Midsomer Murders. An intimate supper with Simon Langton at Chawton House Library will follow the lecture; tickets are available for the lecture or lecture with supper.

If you want to book tickets for the lecture, or lecture and supper then please do contact Chawton House at Chawton House Library, Chawton, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 1SJ; Tel: 01420 541010 Share this post: January 25, 2013 in BBC , Chawton , Chawton House Library , Jane Austen , John Mullan , Pride and Prejudice , Pride and Prejudice 200 , The Culture Show | Tags: BBC , Chawton , Jane Austen , John Mullan , Pride and Prejudice | by jfwakefield | 15 comments This week’s edition of BBC2’s The Culture Show , presented by the delicious Andrew Graham-Dixon, has a wonderful, small section( just over 5 minutes long) presented by Professor John. Filmed on location at Chawton House on a very snowy day, he talks about Pride and Prejudice and the different adaptations that have been made of the novel – all nine of them- and it is a thoughtful, sensible essay, pointing out that the adaptations, in the main, reflect the times in which they were made.

John Mullan at a snowy Chawton House The whole episode of The Culture Show is available to watch via the BBC iPlayer for the next seven days (and sadly this will only be available to this of you in the UK) here, but… hurrah and huzzah… the BBC has provided a clip of the entire essay on Pride and Prejudice from the programme which can be accessed by everyone ( or so I assume) via this link on their website here , Our Love Affair with Pride and Prejudice . I do hope you will watch it and enjoy it. Share this post: A few weeks ago I wrote that Chawton House Library were about to launch a new website. It is now live and ready for you to explore. Chawton House Library’s New Website Go here to see it in all its newly-minted glory . The online novels are there in full and there is a wonderful picture gallery to bring back memories or to give those of you who have not been lucky enough to visit the Chawton home of Jane Austen’s brother, Edward ( and yes, it was also ocassoinally occupied by Frank Austen and his family )some idea of how quietly spectacular it all is.

Eleanor Marsden, the Director of Development, has asked me to mention a very special project that the Library is currently working upon. They are raising funds to restore a rather beautiful and intricate sampler in their collection, shown below. It dates from 1830 and was stitched by Mary Pennington aged only 10 years, as Instructed by Mrs Stubbs: The Chawton Sampler As they write on the appeals page: The Pennington sampler is an asset to the Library as we seek to contextualise the education of the period and C.18 women’s literature held here; its maker’s proficiency at age ten speaks volumes about how she filled her time, her accomplishments, tastes, and her interests. The sampler also sits alongside portraits of other accomplished women of the period, and re-values work produced in the home by placing it alongside work produced professionally by writers and painters. Our object collections are fundamental to contextualising the literature – and vice versa – and with a number of C.18 miscellanies in the literary collection, the sampler by Mary Pennington is a beautiful and rare example of domestic work by a young woman of the long eighteenth century.

If you would like to help them with any donations to fund this project, then do go here to their fund raising page . You have to agree, this sampler is very fine, and would probably out do poor Charlotte Palmer’s effort -a landscape of silks -which was hung in her old bedroom in Mrs. Jennings’ house in Town, as proof of her rather expensive, and, it is implied by Jane Austen, rather useless education: It had formerly been Charlotte’s, and over the mantlepiece still hung a landscape in coloured silks of her performance, in proof of her having spent seven years at a great school in town to some effect. Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 26. Share this post: I was lucky enough to visit this very fascinating exhibition at Chawton House Library on Friday. Chawton House Library It is based around a the discovery of a fascinating document, the sale catalogue of the bookseller, John Burdon who had premises in College Street, Winchester. When he died in 1803 , his sons failed to carry on his business and thus his entire stock was sold at auction in 1807.

By studying the catalogue- which lists over 5,000 individual titles- we can deduce what reading material was available to his customers in Winchester and the surrounding area. We can also deduce what Jane Austen might then have read and had access to, in addition to the books we know she referenced in her novels and letters.Burdon was entitled to be called the Austen family’s bookseller, because it would appear they had an account at the shop. In her letter to Cassandra Austen, her sister, of the 25th November 1798 she makes the following comment, referring to her father’s account at Burdon’s bookshop: We have got “Fitz Albini”; my father has bought it against my private wishes, for it does not quite satisfy my feelings that we should purchase the only one of Egerton’s works of which his family are ashamed. That these scruples, however, do not at all interfere with my reading it, you will easily believe. We have neither of us yet finished the first volume. My father is disappointed — I am not, for I expected nothing better. Never did any book carry more internal evidence of its author. Every sentiment is completely Egerton’s.

There is very little story, and what there is is told in a strange, unconnected way. There are many characters introduced, apparently merely to be delineated. We have not been able to recognise any of them hitherto, except Dr. and Mrs. Hey and Mr. Oxenden, who is not very tenderly treated…We have got Boswell’s “Tour to the Hebrides” and are to have his “Life of Johnson”; and, as some money will yet remain in Burdon’s hands, it is to be laid out in the purchase of Cowper’s works. The exhibit very carefully leads the visitor around the story of what could be available to purchase in a provincial booksellers like Burdons. And the choice was surprisingly vast and varied: local authors, international big hitters, travel journals, political treaties, theological works, poetry, fiction, plays. And not all of this material was produced in London and distributed locally by the bookshop, after ordering them from catalogues. Burdon was a producer as well as a supplier. He supplied newspapers, pamphlets, single volumes, and lavishly produced multi volume sets.

Neither was he alone: Winchester had several booksellers, stationers, bookbinders, private libraries and circulating libraries. The press that printed the weekly-produced Hampshire Chronicle from 1778 was on show in the Oak Room,which you can just make out in the photograph below, to the right. The Display in The Oak Room at Chawton House Library The exhibit was set out in two rooms at Chawton House: the Oak Room, where part of the room was set up as a Gentleman’s Library of the period… The Table Display in the Oak Room …his desk chair left momentarily empty as he is seemingly suddenly called away from his books… The Table Display in the Oak Room And then the Map Room…. The Displays in the Map Room The “hands-on” Table Display in the Map Room where, in addition to the intriguing displays set around the walls, the central table was invitingly set with some 18th and early 19th century examples of the books that the Austens might have read. Such as the works of the poet, William Cowper, the purchase of which was anticipated by Jane Austen in her letter to Cassandra, above.

Poems by William Cowper in Two Volumes And the table was also set with the wonderfully refreshing invitation to Touch the Books An Encouraging Notice in the Map Room Each book was accompanied by a laminated card printed with thought-provoking statements and questions relating to each book. The Young Misses Magazine One of my favourite books on show was the Winchester College Borrowers Book, below The Winchester College Borrowers Book The Librarian at the College would carefully record each book borrowed by each Fellow, making it possible for the researchers to attempt to discern the individual reader’s taste and habits. The page was open at the page recoding the borrowings of George Isaac Huntingford,who seems mostly to have preferred theological works.

The catalogue of Mr Burdon’s stock was on display via a slideshow on a monitor in the Oak Room: I was glad to see John Baskerville well represented ( and do note you can enlarge any of these photographs, in order to read the details, simply by clicking on them): The Digital Slide Show of a “Catalogue of the Stock in Trade of the Late Mr Burdon, Bookseller (1807)” I do hope this is available either to purchase or view online soon, as it would be wonderful to speculate about the type of books Jane Austen might have purchased and not mentioned in her letters…. And in the famous alcove in the Oak Room, The Winchester Bindery , which operates from the current P. and G.

Wells bookshop in Winchester, where Mr Burdon had his premises in the late 18th century… The famous alcove in the Oak Room where Jane Austen is reputed to have enjoyed sitting produced an explanatory display about the bookbinders art, which included some 18th century tools – see the mind-blowingly large set of card cutters, below: Display of Bookbinding Tools and Materials, including the enormous Card Cutters How many children were employed in the use of these, I wonder ?…The exhibition,which runs until Friday afternoon does have a simply produced but very informative catalogue, which is reasonably available at the cost of £1. The Exhibition Catalogue I do hope some of you will manage to get to this exhibition. It is very illuminating, and shows that though a family like the Austens might live in a remote and tiny village like Steventon, provided they had some spare money for books, they could keep up to date with the latest fashions in literature and be kept well supplied with news items. They would not want for variety, and would not have to rely upon London booksellers to supply their wants.

I really enjoyed the exhibit, and would like to thank Eleanor Marsden for her hospitality and Christopher Knight who was a very sensitive, patient and kind steward of the rooms as I wondered around the displays, squeaking ( very quietly, mind) in delighted surprise at the depth and inviting nature of the exhibits. Share this post: Eleanor Marsden, the Development Officer at Chawton House Library, has kindly allowed us a teaser, a sneak preview of their new website: The New Chawton House Library Website ©ChawtonHouseLibrary It will be launched at the end of July, and looks very different from their current website, below, I’m sure you will agree. Chawton House Library Website ©ChawtonHouse Library I’m looking forward to examining it in detail, as I’m sure there are treasures waiting to be found within its digital pages! It will be at the same address, so do keep an eye open for it. Share this post: June 27, 2012 in Chawton , Chawton House Library , Jane Austen , P.G.

Wells , Winchester | Tags: Chawton , Exhibition , Jane Austen , Jane Austen's Bookshop , Winchester | by jfwakefield | 10 comments Chawton House Library is currently staging an intriguing exhibition entitled, Jane Austen’s Bookshop. A result of a joint research project by the University of Winchester, California State University Long Beach and Chawton House itself, the exhibition provides a detailed look at the stock of John Burdon’s bookshop in Winchester, which was open for business during Jane Austen’s life time in College Street, Winchester. As the University of Winchester website tells us: The exhibition provides, for the first time, a snapshot of a complete catalogue of printed material which was available at John Burdon’s bookshop in Winchester during Jane Austen’s lifetime. Burdon’s was used by the Austen family as well as other influential writers of the period and was based in College Street, now the home of Wells Bookshop. P and G Wells is a favourite bookshop of mine.

They have always stocked rare to find Jane Austen-related material, and in the dark days before the online buying of books was easily transacted, you could always reply on them to send books to you via their excellent mail order service. P and G Wells Bookshop,College Street, Winchester ©Austenonly One of those rare survivors, an independent bookshop, P. and G. Wells still offer a fine service to their customers, all over the world, and, of course, an additional link to Jane Austen is that their premises are situated on College Street in Winchester, a few doors away from the house where it is thought that Jane Austen died, below… Number 8, College Street, Winchester ©Austenonly and they are also in the same street as Winchester College, below, where many of Jane’s nephews were educated: Winchester College,College Street, Winchester. ©Austenonly The big breakthrough which inspired much of the research was made by Dr. Norbert Schürer, a visiting Leverhulme Fellow at Winchester who specialises in studying the work of women writers of the eighteenth century. He found the bookseller’s catalogue which dates from 1807.

As he explains: I was researching eighteenth-century print culture in Winchester.One of the first things I did was to identify Burdon’s bookshop by putting research from other critics together. Then quite by chance, I discovered that the bookshop had been sold in 1807 with a complete catalogue, giving us the name of every single book in the store. The catalogue apparently contains details of all the books stocked by John Burdon in 1807 : they include novels, biographies, travel narratives as well as travel guides, journals and periodicals, theological literature, sermons, poetry and a wealth of other reading matter. The exhibition will explore how readers and writers in Winchester shared printed material in the early 19th century, and it focuses on publications made by scholars at Winchester College, annual reports from the County Hospital, and advertisements and reviews in local newspapers like the Hampshire Chronicle. It is open weekdays, 10am-4pm, from Tuesday 19 June to Friday 6 July.

I am lucky enough to be in Chawton this weekend, and if I manage to get to the exhibition, I will, of course, report back to you, but I should think that many of you in the area will be making plans to visit it. It sounds totally fascinating. Share this post: June 24, 2012 in Chawton , Chawton House Library , Jane Austen , Jane Austen Centenary Booklet 1917 | Tags: 1917 , Chawton , Jane Austen , Jane Austen Centenary Booklet | by jfwakefield | 4 comments Mr Brodnax Moore, the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. George Brook Knight, has very kindly made available to us a PDF. file of the booklet which was produced to mark the unveiling of the Centenary Tablet on Chawton Cottage (now the Jane Austen House Museum) in 1917. This is the cover of the original booklet: The Cover of the Jane Austen Centenary Booklet The booklet, now quite a rare find in antiquarian bookshops, contains details of the unveiling ceremony, with photographs and the text of the speeches.

Constance Hill, who wrote Jane Austen, Her Home and Her Friends,(1902) and her sister, Ellen G. Hill were the prime movers in the desire to erect a tablet on the cottage, and helped form a committee to raise the necessary funds. They wished to commemorate the fact that this was the house where Jane Austen had lived and worked. At that time in the early 20th century the house was still in the ownership of the Knight family and was part of the Chawton estate. It was not open to the public, and the formation of the Jane Austen Society was some decades away. This booklet records, therefore, the beginnings of the interest in Jane Austen’s life, times and works which continues today. Ellen Hill designed the tablet, shown below, which can still be seen on the house today, and its interesting symbolism is explained in the booklet. The Jane Austen Centenary Memorial Tablet, in situ at Jane Austen’s House. ©Austenonly If you would like to read the booklet, or download it to keep on your computer, then you may by clicking on this link, below, which will take you directly to the file.

Jane Austen Centenary Booklet I’m sure you will all want to thank Mr. Moore for this very kind and generous gift to us. The original booklet was found by him in one of his grandmother’s albums. She and her husband lived at the Great House, now know as Chawton House Library, below, in the 1930s. Chawton House, Hampshire. ©Austenonly He very carefully constructed the PDF file directly from it. I am very grateful to him for making this available to us all, and for his thoughtfulness. So, please, do enjoy reading this interesting item. Share this post: April 27, 2012 in Chawton House Library , Jane Austen , Professor Kathryn Sutherland , The Watsons | Tags: Chawton , Jane Austen , The Watsons | by jfwakefield | 5 comments Today I’d like to give you advance notice of a talk to be given by Professor Kathryn Sutherland of St Anne’s College, Oxford University, at Chawton House Library on the 8th May entitled ‘The Watsons’: Jane Austen Practising.

The Watsons is one of the few remaining manuscripts written in Jane Austen’s hand to survive, and you may recall that it was bought by the Bodleian Library last year , to ensure that it remains in the UK for scholars and Austen enthusiasts to continue to have access to it. You can see it here on the Jane Austen Fiction Manuscripts website . The only other manuscripts of Jane Austen’s adult works that survive are the other unfinished fragment, Sanditon, together with the cancelled chapters of Persuasion. Professor Sutherland, below, has made an especial study of Jane Austen’s existing manuscripts, partly in an attempt to try to decipher her working methods and so her talk promises to be fascinating. In her book, Jane Austen’s Textual Lives: From Aeschylus to Bollywood, Professor Sutherland deals with many fascinating subjects, looking anew and in great detail on aspects of Jane Austen’s life and works we take for granted as having “always been there”, particularly with regard to the censorship of the Austen and Knight families surrounding the release of biographical information.

The part of her book I particularly admired were the chapters where she goes into amazing detail to try to determine how exactly Jane Austen wrote: how she revised, amended and fiddled with her manuscripts and what processes her works were subjected to before and after they left her care and control. The Professor has been criticised on the internet and in the press for some of her comments regarding Jane Austen’s grammar. In the book, in layman’s terms if you will allow me, Professor Sutherland details how Austen’s later works were corrected by a series of editors. Some journalists clearly decided that Professor Sutherland was on the side of the editors, and that she was agreeing with their “attacks” on Austen’s original and idiosyncratic texts. It is my understanding, on reading the book, that nothing could be further from the truth. This brouhaha has sadly detracted from her main argument, which is that Jane Austen’s genius should not and ought not to have been constrained by the workings of and the unasked for (and in many cases unwarranted) imposition of a Victorian ( or Edwardian or even modern) man’s idea of correct grammar.

And that, in fact, by imposing their own standardised version of correct, written English upon her texts, quite a lot of Jane Austen’s original intent has been diminished as a result. She conducts a minute forensic examination of the novels, their publishing history and the changes various editors have imposed upon Austen( and us). The results will surprise you (and often discomfort). This part of the book is a fascinating and illuminating read. Some of the language used is undoubtedly academic and it is challenging…but then, why should reading always be a totally effortless pastime? Reading her book opened my eyes to the terrible power an editor has, especially when the author is not available to defend her choices. These choices- her use of words, punctuation and grammar- which make perfect sense in the context of her novel, may be seen as sloppy or careless mistakes to a reader not exactly in tune with the author’s original intent. I had really not considered just how crucial the editorial approach to a text truly is until I had considered the effects on these texts. ( Forgive me, I am not always so dense). This book opened my eyes and made me think critically about the whole process of publishing a book, in detail, for the first time.

As a dyslexic with some paralysed fingers, it has taken me years to try to attune myself to grammatical rules, punctuation and spelling: I once had the luxury of secretaries to point me in the right direction but I always had to ensure that their well-meaning additions did not detract from my correct legal turn of phrase. Now spell and grammar checks irritate me in a similar way ;) I confess I waited to read the paperback edition of her book to be available because the original price for the hardback was prohibitive, and I think much of the outrage written about regarding Professor Sutherland’s comments reveals that not many of her critics seem to be familiar with the arguments in her book either. On reading her book- which though academic in tone is not inaccessible to the amateur reader of Jane Austen- I promise– it becomes clear that she is firmly on the side of Austen and her creative genius. The book is available now as a reasonably priced paperback and also as an even more attractively priced Kindle edition.

I would urge you to seek it out, and while it is an academic study, its subject matter is so fascinating and revelatory, I am convinced you will find it worthwhile and that it might very well alter your thoughts on Austen’s works and how they are edited . Back to the Chawton House Lecture. It is to take place on the 8th May and tickets are available from Chawton House Library. Go here to see all the details . I do hope many of you can go along. If you can’t, do try to have sight of Professor Sutherland’s book. I really don’t think you will regret it. Share this post: March 22, 2012 in Chawton , Chawton House Library , Edward Knight , Jane Austen , Jane Austen and Fashion , Jane Austen House Museum | Tags: Chawton , Jane Austen , Jane Austen and Fashion | by jfwakefield | 5 comments In 2006 I was privileged to see this suit, shown below in its restored state, just before it went to be stabilised and restored, while I was on a visit to Chawton House Library .

It is now the subject of an appeal, for it needs a special display case in order that the public can have access to it, to view it in all its restored glory ©ChawtonHouseLibrary Chawton House was, of course, known to Jane Austen as The Great House in Chawton village and it was once owned by Edward Knight, her brother, shown below in his Grand Tour portrait, which is now also on show at the Library. Edward inherited the Godmersham estate in Kent and the Chawton estate in Hampshire from Thomas Knight. He was a relative of George Austen, Edward and Jane’s father. Thomas and his wife were childless and had “adopted ” Edward, and made him their heir. This grand inheritance enabled him to provide a productive and happy home for Jane Austen her sister, Cassandra, their mother, Mrs Austen and their friend Martha Lloyd from 1809, at what is now the Jane Austen’s House Museum in the village. ©ChawtonHouseLibrary This silk suit- a suit of two pieces, frock coat and breeches- has been in the Knight family since the 1790s.

©ChawtonHouseLibrary It is said to have belonged to Edward, and the suit is now on loan to Chawton House Library by kind permission of Richard Knight, Edward’s descendant. Since I saw it the suit has been restored. Louise Squire, the textile conservator, prepared a report on it in 2009 and commented: ©ChawtonHouseLibrary “The matching silk frock coat and breeches are dated to approximately 1789. The coat is fully lined with a yellow silk taffeta fabric,with the sleeves being lined in a white plain weave linen fabric. The olive green breeches are constructed in ribbed silk and feature a wide waistband, loose fitting seat and finish below the knee with narrow cuffs. The coat and breeches are a good example of the fashion of the day, with Edward’s penchant for oversize buttons!” ©ChawtonHouseLibrary The Library has had a bespoke mannequin made for the suit, which you can see here, below, displaying the restored olive green silk breeches.

©ChawtonHouseLibrary The suit is very small by modern standards, hence the need for the bespoke mannequin, and it is a fascinating object in its own right, without the added interest of its Austen family connections. For the suit to be put on display and for all us all to be able to enjoy it, it now needs a special conservation-grade display case, not only to display it but to protect it. This will cost around £5000, and the Library has raised nearly half the sun required for it. But just over half of the sum still needs to be raised, hence their current appeal for funds. So, if you think you might be able to help the library with financial contributions towards the cost of displaying this very interesting Austen relic, you can contact Eleanor Marsden, the Development Director, on telephone number 01420-541010 or you can e-mail her on Elanor.marsden@chawton.net, for she would be delighted to hear from you with any offers of help you can afford to give. Share this post: Like Loading...

Don't Miss a Post: Add Your Email Address Below to Have Posts Sent to You If you are not a Wordpress member, just add your email here to subscribe to this site. An Invitation to Visit our Sister Site: A Jane Austen Gazetteer Click on the image above to visit our Sister Site: A Jane Austen Gazetteer An Invitation to Visit our Sister Site: Jane Austen’s Letters Click on the image above to visit our Sister Site: Jane Austen's Letters Search AustenOnly Posts and Pages By Entering Your Search Term in the Box Below Join Austen Only on Twitter austenonly.files.wordpres… Copyright Notice Copyright: This site and all images and information complied within are copyright Austenonly.com unless otherwise stated/attributed.No permission is given/implied for any use of this site, the information and images contained therein, for any commercial use whatsoever. No material may be copied in any form without first obtaining written permission of the author, save that extracts of posts may be used on other non-commcerial sites on the internet, provided that full and clear credit is given to Austenonly.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content( that is, a link must be provided to the original post/image with full attribution ).

The existence of the RSS or ATOM feeds in no way authorises wholesale or part transmission of posts or parts of posts to another site without prior permission being given and attribution stated. Any sites using RSS or ATOM feeds in this way without obtaining prior written permission of the author of this blog will be subject to legal action. Currently Reading Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmasby Rebecca Smith Recently Read England - Jane Austen Country - Wayfarers Walking Tour Tour of Jane's cottage, now the Jane Austen House Museum Private dinner at Chawton House, a mansion owned by her brother Edward Visit the homes of Austen family friends Secrets of ladies corsets and clothing revealed by Regency expert Visit to Selborne, home of 18th century naturalist Gilbert White One of English literature's best-loved authors, Jane Austen, wittily observed preindustrial English society from a sheltered and gentrified family life in Hampshire. The literary walk of her lifetime takes us to many of her haunts, including the village of Steventon where her father was Rector, and the gentle rolling countryside that forms the backdrop to much of her work.

A walk through rich meadows and snug valleys, handsome estates and civilized landscapes intersperses two visits to Chawton, where Jane moved at the age of 33. These take us on paths she probably used, passing timeless cottages she would have known. The week closes in Winchester, once capital of the ancient kingdom of Wessex, where Jane is buried in the ancient cathedral. We'll start here Sunday Overnight: Oakley Hall Hotel After arriving at Basingstoke, we rendezvous at Oakley Hall, an elegant 18th Century Manor House Hotel in the village of Oakley. Former owners of the house, the Bramstons, were good friends of the Austen family, who lived nearby. It is suggested that Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park is based on Oakley Hall and that Lady Bertram was based on Mrs Bramston. Monday Overnight: Oakley Hall Hotel Our first walk takes us to Steventon where Jane spent her first 25 years. We ramble in her footsteps, along paths close to the rectory and through the gentle rolling countryside that would have been so familiar to her.

The Rectory itself was pulled down soon after her death but the 12th Century church where she worshipped stands unchanged. The Austens had a wide circle of friends whom she often visited; we see the homes of some of their closest friends such as Deane House and Ashe House, where Jane received a proposal of marriage. After a pub lunch, we visit the church where Jane's brother was vicar and then we drive to the start of a gentle walk through the woods on the estate to our visit inside the Vynne, a mansion built in the 16th Century and visited by Henry VIII on at least three occasions. It was home to the Chute family who were one of the most respected families and also part of the Austens' circle (although Jane was not particularly fond of Eliza Chute). Before dinner, we have a fascinating talk from a Regency clothing expert who will reveal secrets of corsetry and ladies costumes in Jane Austen's era. Tuesday Overnight: Oakley Hall Hotel We set off for the pretty village of Chawton where Jane moved in 1809. Our circular walk takes us along paths familiar to Jane and her sister and we visit her cottage, now the Jane Austen House Museum.

After our pub lunch, we walk around the extensive grounds surrounding "The Great House, the fine Elizabethan mansion owned by Jane Austen's brother Edward. We pass the churchyard where Jane's mother and sister are buried and we return to our hotel for dinner. Wednesday Overnight: Langrish House Hotel Today our walk focuses on the pretty village of Selborne the former home of Gilbert White who was a fellow clergyman and contemporary of Jane's father and a famous 18th Century naturalist and author. Our morning and afternoon walks take us through one of Hampshire's famous "Hangers", beautiful beech-clad hills. After our lunch we visit White's house and extensive garden before resuming our walk, ascending via the famous zig-zag path from the village. We transfer to our hotel in Petersfield. In the evening we return to Chawton House, now renowned for its library collection which focuses primarily on women's writing from 1600 to 1830s, for a private dinner at the very table where Jane would have dined with her family.

Thursday Overnight: Langrish House Hotel We start our day strolling through Chawton Woods, a favourite haunt of Jane & her sister Cassandra, towards Fourmarks Station where we board the restored steam train on the Watercress line. This train was first introduced to Hampshire by Jane Austen's brother. We have lunch in the village of Tichborne in a local coaching inn, and then our walk follows a beautiful river path towards Winchester. Friday Overnight: Lainston House Hotel We walk in Winchester through the streets of this historic city and onto the meadows south of the city. When we arrive at the Hospital of St Cross, England's oldest and most perfect Almshouse, we will receive refreshments in the form of the Wayfarers' Dole, a unique and ancient tradition established almost a thousand years ago. One of the Brothers will show us this spectacular collection of medieval and Tudor buildings before we continue along the river Itchen to our pub lunch. In the afternoon we continue our exploration of the city and finish with a visit to the Cathedral where Jane is buried. Our Farewell Dinner will be in our hotel, a grand 17th century country house set in 63 acres of parkland.

Saturday The Wayfarers will provide a transfer from your hotel to Winchester Rail Station. "It's seeing all the secret stuff!" Terrain: Country byways, well-trodden footpaths, village lanes, low hills. 6-10 miles of walking per day. TRIP DETAILS BBC - Hampshire - History - Inside Jane Austen's house You are in: Hampshire > History > Local History > Inside Jane Austen's house Jane Austen's Chawton home Inside Jane Austen's house The Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton has long been a 'must see' for her legions of fans but with a recent spate of TV and film adaptations, visitor numbers are on the up. One of Britain's greatest literary figures, Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire. Although the Austen family moved to Bath, they returned to Hampshire after Jane's father died in 1805. The family lived in Southampton before eventually settling in the village of Chawton.

Help playing audio/video Exhibits at the museum It was in the picturesque Meon Valley village that Jane wrote many of her most famous novels including Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. Although all of Jane Austen's novels were published anonymously, her wit and insight into life in the early 19th century has meant her books have had a lasting legacy. It's not just Jane Austen's writing that's stood the test of time, her home is faring well too. It is now a museum dedicated to celebrating her life and works and attracts 37,000 visitors each year - the spate of film and TV adaptations of Jane Austen novels has no doubt boosted numbers. If the museum gets £500,000 in lottery funding, visitors will get to see a little more. Expansion plans include renovating Jane Austen's kitchen, currently closed the the public, as well as developing a visitors centre beside the house. Plans for a visitors' centre Jane lived in the house for eight years, with her mother and sister Cassandra, up until her death in 1817.

Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the family moving to Chawton and the museum wants the changes in place by then. Education Officer Louise West explained: "We want to do more ... we're not planning to turn it into a razzamatazz attraction, that would be entirely wrong, but we do want to honour her memory more and perhaps have more events." If they are unsuccessful however they say crisis management will start, the improvements will be scrapped and those hidden rooms will never get to tell their own stories. The museum is open to the public and houses many family heirlooms and a reference library for scholars of Jane Austen's works. last updated: 12/05/2008 at 16:47 created: 12/05/2008

Question: Which authoress lived at Chawton House in Hampshire in the early years of the 19th century?
Answer: JANE AUSTEN