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!

More Jane Austen at the Morgan!

Here is a link for an interesting slideshow of the Morgan exhibit: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/11/06/arts/20091107-austen-ss_index.html Courtesy of the New York Times

Book recommendation: Jane Austen Collection

Amazon.com recently featured the Jane Austen Collection as a wonderful text for every Janeite.

Here is a synopsis of their review: Jane Austen’s novels have proved to be enduring favorites in every medium in which they appear, whether books or movies, comic books or TV mini-series. Works like Emma, Persuasion, and Pride and Prejudice present incomparable portraits of marriageable but discriminating young women, the scoundrels and gentlemen who entrance and confound them, their scheming mothers and hapless fathers — all set in the well-mannered world of early 19th-century British country life. With this collection, fans can enjoy the books anew in audio format. Joanna Lumley, whose Patsy made Absolutely Fabulous a cult hit, aptly showcases the mordant wit of Pride and Prejudice. Anna Massey brings character and vigor to her dramatizations of Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. Belinda Lang offers a stylish interpretation of Emma, while Harriet Walter evokes Austen in a different mode in her reading of the little-known novella, The Watsons. Musical backgrounds enhance the listener's experience.

Thanks to Janeite Geri for the find!