Jane Austen’s House, Chawton
Opening today, 9 October 2024, the exhibition celebrates Jane Austen as a ground-breaking and ambitious writer in the very house where she created her six beloved novels – directly linking Jane Austen’s creative process with the domestic space from which it came. Drawing on the Museum’s extraordinary collection, it will celebrate Jane Austen’s creative genius and show how seriously she took her craft, animating and sharing the physical and mental processes she used to develop her works – from her earliest teenage writings to her adult novels, inspirations, pioneering techniques, and publication.
Showcased in the exhibition are objects that are believed to have inspired Jane Austen’s writings, including the topaz crosses that were gifted to Jane and her sister Cassandra by their sailor brother Charles in 1804, and which inspired the amber cross gifted to Fanny Price by her sailor brother William in Mansfield Park. At the centre of the exhibition, a full collection of first editions of Jane Austen’s novels –which are very rarely seen together – are housed in a specially-made 12-sided display case, echoing Austen’s famous 12-sided writing table which sits in the Dining Room at Jane Austen’s House. The display includes a first edition of Sense and Sensibility in its original publisher’s boards, Jane’s brother Frank’s personal copy of Emma and her brother Edward’s copy of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Audio excerpts from the novels accompanies the display, read by Hattie Morahan and Dominic Gerrard – including the opening chapter of Pride and Prejudice and Captain Wentworth’s iconic letter in Persuasion.
The exhibition looks at Jane Austen’s letters and how letter-writing wove its way into her novels, using large-scale facsimiles of letters drawn from the museum collection to illustrate the display. Also featured is a specially commissioned short film looking at how the manuscript of The Watsons – one of Jane Austen’s very few surviving manuscripts, held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford – reveals a lot about Austen’s writing process, from the size and date of her paper to how she attached paper patches with pins to allow for re-writes. The exhibition focuses on the publication of Jane Austen’s novels and her relationships with her publishers, Thomas Egerton and John Murray. It displays facsimile items from the John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland, including Murray’s account book and a cheque made out by him to ‘Miss Jane Austin’. Also on display is a newspaper from 31 October 1811 containing the publication announcement of Sense and Sensibility.
Facsimiles of surviving manuscripts, touch objects, film and audio will provide a hands-on experience for visitors, exploring the physicality of Jane Austen’s writing process.
Sophie Reynolds, Head of Collections, Interpretation & Events at Jane Austen’s House said: “This exhibition is a deep dive into Jane Austen’s creative process. We hope that it will unlock a new way for our visitors to understand Jane Austen as a dedicated, driven and professional writer, and to explore how her life and living arrangements affected her writing in the very house in which she lived and wrote.”
Lizzie Dunford, Jane Austen’s House Director said: “Jane Austen and the Art of Writing is a landmark new exhibition for not just the museum, but for lovers of Austen’s work around the world. Years in the planning, it brings together the extraordinary books and objects that make the collection at Jane Austen’s House so unique, and so special, and will allow visitors to be quite literally surrounded by the books and objects that influenced Austen, and the groundbreaking, era-defining novels that were written from her final home. It is a treasury; of words, of ideas, and of the eternal brilliance of Austen’s imagination.”
Jane Austen’s 250th birthday falls on Tuesday 16 December 2025 and Jane Austen’s House will be celebrating throughout the year with additional exhibitions, events and a series of themed festivals. Building on the success of their annual Pride and Prejudice Day on 28 January, the novel’s publication, the House will host a Pride and Prejudice Festival from 23-28 January, featuring unique events including Reading Aloud: An Evening of Pride & Prejudice, a re-enactment of the first ever reading of Pride and Prejudice, in the very room in which Jane Austen read aloud from her novel, and Pride and Prejudice in Words and Music, an exquisite performance bringing P&P to life through Carl Davis’s instantly-recognisable musical score. Plus, themed tours, pop up talks, late views, a free Pride and Prejudice trail, free drop in writing sessions, sewing groups and bookable piano practice slots. The festival also includes virtual talks and tours so Jane Austen fans around the world can join in the festivities online. Austenmania, a new exhibition celebrating Austen adaptations including the iconic BBC Pride and Prejudice mini-series, will open in time for the festival on 22 January and run throughout 2025. Tickets for the Pride and Prejudice Festival are on sale now: https://janeaustens.house/visit/whats-on/
Following the Pride and Prejudice Festival in January, Jane Austen’s House will host a Sense & Sensibility Festival from 1-11 May with an events programme that explores drawing and music, and the natural world. The summer festival (12-20 July) will be themed around Emma, Austen’s perfect summer novel, with a particular focus on fashion and dress with the highlight of the programme being the Museum’s popular annual Dress Up Day on 19 July. An autumnal Persuasion & Poetry Festival (12-21 September) will feature poetry readings, writing workshops and local guided walks. In December, a Birthday Celebration Week will run from 13-21 December, featuring musical performances, readings, tours and special festivities on 16 December, both at the House and online via Jane Austen’s Virtual Birthday Party. This popular annual event is regularly attended by hundreds of guests from around the world who gather at the virtual event to toast the author. Full-festival line-ups and tickets will be released in due course.
Throughout 2025, Jane Austen’s House will continue to run their regular events programme of Virtual Book Clubs, Guided Village Walks, Waking Up The House Tours and Guided Virtual Tours. Tickets for the January – March editions of these events are on sale now: https://janeaustens.house/visit/whats-on/
In honour of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, Jane Austen’s House will publish a brand-new book, A Jane Austen Year, which charts the life, works and legacy of one of the world’s most beloved authors through the seasons of a year at Jane Austen’s House, the enchanting Hampshire cottage where she lived and wrote. Available to pre-order now, the book offers a unique and intimate insight into Jane Austen’s world – her life, novels and letters, people and objects she knew, and of course her idyllic, inspiring home. Copies purchased directly from Jane Austen’s House will be delivered in January 2025 ahead of general release on 13 March 2025.
Tickets, news and events details for 2025 can be found at: https://janeaustens.house/visit/jane-austen-250/
