See Rare First-Edition Copies of Jane Austen’s Novels at the Cottage Where She Wrote and Revised Them

First-edition copies of Jane Austen’s completed novels are on display in the home where the beloved author spent years writing and revising. The rare books are part of a new permanent exhibition, “Jane Austen and the Art of Writing,” at her family’s former cottage in Chawton, a village located some 50 miles from London.

Austen lived in the house during the last eight years of her life—between 1809 and 1817—with her mother and sister Cassandra. She wrote or revised all six of her completed novels there: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

This is the first time that all six first-edition novels will be on display together at Jane Austen’s House, which is now a museum. They include a copy of Emma that Austen’s brother Frank owned, copies of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion from her brother Edward, and a copy of Sense and Sensibility with the publisher’s original binding.

“The new exhibition presents them as real treasures—almost as relics of Jane Austen’s life in this house,” Sophie Reynolds, the head of collections, interpretation and engagement at the museum, tells the Guardian’s Steven Morris. “Some of these are copies that Austen would have handled, including those owned by her brothers Frank and Edward. It is very special to see them all together like this.”

The novels appear on display in a 12-sided case built for the new installation, a nod to Austen’s small 12-sided wooden table she often worked at. The rare books are part of the museum’s preparations for the beloved author’s 250th birthday celebrations in December 2025.

Lizzie Dunford, director of the museum, is excited for visitors to have the unique opportunity to “be quite literally surrounded by the books and objects that influenced Austen,” per the Farnham Herald’s Paul Coates.

The show also features other objects from Austen’s life that are connected to her writing. For example, topaz crosses that Jane and Cassandra received from their brother Charles likely inspired the amber cross that Fanny Price receives from her brother William in Mansfield Park. Charles, like William, was a sailor who “would often bring back trinkets from his travels,” writes Artnet’s Tim Brinkhof.

Additionally, some of Austen’s letters are on view at the exhibition, which examines how her correspondence and love of letter-writing informed her fiction. Visitors will also see a film about The Watsons, one of Austen’s unfinished novels, and how the original manuscript sheds light on her writing process.

“This exhibition is a deep dive into Jane Austen’s creative process,” says Reynolds, per the Farnham Herald. “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.”

“Jane Austen and the Art of Writing” is now on view at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, England.

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.