Jane Austen

Jane Austen is one of the most influential novelists in English literature, whose keen observations of social manners, family life and courtship continue to captivate readers worldwide. Born in Steventon, Hampshire, she was the seventh of eight children in a close-knit family that fostered her early love of reading and writing. Her father, George Austen, was a clergyman and a keen supporter of his children’s education, while her mother, Cassandra Leigh, nurtured her daughter’s wit and social insight. Austen began writing as a teenager, producing short stories, plays and parodies that honed her observational skills and mastery of character.

By the early 19th century, Austen had developed her signature style: novels that combined sharp social commentary with keenly drawn character studies. Works such as Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Northanger Abbey (1817) and Persuasion (1817) reflected both the manners of the gentry and the limitations placed on women of her time. Her writing is distinguished by wit, irony, and a subtle understanding of human behaviour, qualities that have ensured her enduring literary reputation.

Austen lived most of her life quietly in Hampshire and later Bath, producing works that were initially published anonymously. Despite her modest social position, her novels offer an acute, nuanced observation of courtship, social mobility and family life, drawing from her own experiences and surroundings. She died in 1817 at the age of 41, leaving behind a remarkable body of work that continued to grow in acclaim posthumously.

Today, Austen’s manuscripts, letters and early editions remain highly prized in the rare book market. First editions and personal correspondence, particularly those addressed to her sister Cassandra, often achieve strong results at auction, reflecting the enduring fascination with her life, personality and literary genius.

AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1815)

Autograph manuscript poem, ‘On the Marriage of Mr. Gell of East Bourn to Miss Gill’, n.p. [Chawton], n.d. [early 1811].

[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817)]. Pride and Prejudice . London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1813.

AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817). Sense and Sensibility ... second edition . London: for the author by C. Roworth and published by T. Egerton, 1813. 3 volumes. (Lacks half-titles and final blanks, some browning and staining.) Gilson A2; Keynes 2.

YELLOLY, Mary (1816-1838). 'A Picture History of the Grenville Family', [Carrow Abbey, Norwich, 1825 - August 1829], 257 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS IN WATERCOLOUR, most by Mary but also by her mother and siblings, manuscript captions, introductory pages and indexes to each part in a more mature cursive hand, later annotations giving Mary's birth and dates and indicating the artist for each picture, 204 pages, folio (323 x 197mm) , 4 parts in one volume, contemporary half red straight-grained roan, gilt-tooled label on front cover lettered 'Miss Mary Yelloly', endleaves watermarked 1828, flat spine gilt with obelisk tool. Provenance : Mary Yelloly (1816-1838) -- Bryan Hall, Banningham, Norfolk (d. 2006; bookplate).

[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817)]. Sense and Sensibility: A Novel in Three Volumes By a Lady . London: for the author by C. Roworth and published by T. Egerton, 1811.

[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817).] Mansfield Park: A Novel... By the Author of "Sense and Sensibility," and "Pride and Prejudice." London: T. Egerton, 1814.

[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817)].

Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion. London: John Murray, 1818.

[AUSTEN, Jane]. Pride and Prejudice . London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1813.

AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817). Signature ('Yours very affec[tionate]ly, Jane'), cut from a letter, n.d.

AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817)

Pride and Prejudice . London: T. Egerton, 1813.

[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817).] Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion ... With a Biographical Notice of the Author [by Henry Austen]. London: C. Rowarth [vols I-II], and T. Davison [vols III- IV] for John Murray, 1818 [but c. 20 December 1817].

[AUSTEN, Jane]. Mansfield Park: A Novel... By the Author of "Sense and Sensibility," and "Pride and Prejudice." London: T. Egerton, 1814.

[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817).] Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion. With a Biographical Notice of the Author [by Henry Austen]. London: C. Rowarth [vols I-II], and T. Davison [vols III- IV] for John Murray, 1818 [but ca. 20 December 1817].

[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817).] Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion... With a Biographical Notice of the Author [by Henry Austen]. London: C. Rowarth [vols I-II], and T. Davison [vols III- IV] for John Murray, 1818 [but ca. 20 December 1817]. 4 volumes, 12° (169 x 100mm). Half-titles. (Some occasional light browning and spotting, without final blanks P7-8 in vol. IV as often.) Contemporary half calf, leather gilt spine labels, speckled edges (front cover of vol. I nearly detached, front joints cracked and restored in vol. III, extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance : Maria Cipriani (ownership inscription).

[AUSTEN, Jane]. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion . London: John Murray, 1818.

[Jane Austen (1775-1817)]

A pair of chamber candlesticks. 1779

AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817). Sense and Sensibility , London: printed for the Author and published by T. Egerton, 1813. 3 volumes, 12° (176 x 105mm). (Lacking half-titles and without final blanks, occasional light spotting.) Contemporary calf, gilt spines (joints splitting, corners very lightly bumped, small blank stain to vol. II).

AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817). Pride and Prejudice . London: T. Egerton, 1813. 3 volumes, 12° (173 x 115mm). (Lacking half-titles, P2 at end of volume one with small marginal repair, tiny orange marginal mark to L5v of vol. II and lighter mark on a few other leaves, some spotting occasionally heavier.) Contemporary calf (rebacked, extremities lightly rubbed).