The publishing arm of the Bodleian Library is to release a collection of Jane Austen’s letters this year, and they promise to provide an intimate glimpse into the life of the author after she moved to Bath, aged 25.
The collection, to be released this September will be called Jane Austen: The Chawton Letters and has been edited by Kathryn Sutherland, professor of bibliography and textual criticism at the University of Oxford. The book will be released in association with Jane Austen’s House Museum.
The world has seen many Austen events this year, marking 200 years since the author’s death. In the UK we have celebrated with the author’s image on the new £10 note and the entire book trade has been celebrating all things Austen.
These letters are the last surviving example of the author in letter form, confiding her confidential private thoughts, her agony over the poor reception of Pride and Prejudice and the planning of Mansfield Park and the publication of Emma. There’s even a letter written by her sister Cassandra a few days after Austen’s death.
Each letter in the collection will be accompanied by reproductions of the original manuscripts in Austen’s hand, plus printed versions for easy reading.
This book will be published on 29th September 2017 in the UK a few weeks before the US release, a little after 200 years after the author’s death in July 1817. The publisher is Bodleian Libraries who are also currently hosting Which Jane Austen, an exhibition into the author’s life running until 29th October 2017.
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