Jane Austen’s Treasures Online From the British Library

Last week the Guardian posted an article titled “British Library puts 1,200 ‘literary treasures’ on new website.”

A host of texts from Austen have been digitised for the new site, meanwhile, including the opinions – mostly positive – her friends and family had of her novels, copied out by the author. Her immediate family is shown to have disagreed over which of her books was better; her sister Cassandra liked Emma “better than P&P – but not so well as MP” while her mother found the same novel “more entertaining than MP – but not so interesting as P&P”. A Mr Cockerelle, however, “liked [Emma] so little, that Fanny would not send me his opinion”, while a Mrs Augusta Bramstone “owned that she thought S&S – and P&P downright nonsense”, and “having finished the 1st vol. [of Mansfield Park] flattered herself she had got through the worst”.  

Letter from Jane to her brother Frank dated July 26, 1809.

You can find more works here – Jane Austen digitized British Library.

Have fun browsing the library!