Claire Tomalin - Jane Austen: a life

Table of Contents

For my
good neighbours,
Sue and David Gentleman

The uneventful nature of the authors life...has been a good deal exaggerated.

Jane Austens great-nephews, William and R. A. Austen-Leigh

Acclaim forCLAIRE TOMALINs

Jane Austen

One of those rare biographies you imagine that the subject herself might have approved. The Philadelphia Inquirer

Scholarly yet empathic... [Tomalin] is the finest, most disinterested of biographers. The New York Review of Books

Like Austen herself, Tomalin writes as an expert on human nature.... She is especially good at deploying small documentary details to great effect.... This is the new life that Janeites and Austenians... will want to read. TheBoston Globe

Claire Tomalin... one of our most painstaking, distinguished and sympathetic biographers, has produced a portrait of remarkable subtlety. TheEconomist

Another altogether admirable biographical performance by Claire Tomalin. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Tomalin is [a] natural biographer.... Throughout her book we feel a watchful consanguinity with Austen. Los Angeles Times

Jane Austen is written with much the same verve its subject brought to her novels, and its tale is nearly as absorbing as they. I can think of no higher praise. TheWomens Review of Books

[Tomalins] assessment of the impact of Austens early life on her adult personality is particularly subtle. SanFrancisco Examiner & Chronicle

Compulsively readable... probably the most complete view to date of Austens sometimes uneasy place in the polite world she describes. TheSeattle Times

A fine addition to the Austenophiles library. ChicagoSun-Times

Richly peopled and evocative. TheNew Leader

Compelling. Tomalin... has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Austen family that enables her to transport readers back to another time and place. Bookpage

Steel engraving made in 1869 for the first Memoir
of Jane Austen, from a copy of Cassandra Austens
sketch. There is a look which I recognise as hers...
though the general resemblance is not strong,
wrote her niece Caroline.

List of Illustrations

FRONTISPIECE

Jane Austen, engraving used as frontispiece to A Memoir of Jane Austen by her nephew James-Edward Austen-Leigh, 1870

Revd. George Austen, miniature ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Mrs. George Austen, ne Cassandra Leigh, silhouette ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Cottages at Steventon, drawing by Anna Lefroy (collection of the great-grandsons of Admiral Sir Francis Austen)

James Austen, miniature ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Edward Austen, later Knight, detail from a portrait painted during his Grand Tour, 1789 ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Henry Austen, miniature, c. 1820 ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust) Cassandra Austen, silhouette ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Francis Austen, miniature ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Jane Austen, pencil and watercolour on paper, by Cassandra Austen, c. 1801 (The National Portrait Gallery, London)

Charles Austen, portrait by R. Field, 1807 ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Steventon rectory (front view), drawing by Anna Lefroy (collection of the great-grandsons of Admiral Sir Francis Austen)

Revd. George Austen presenting his son Edward to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Knight, silhouette, c. 1778 ( D. Rose Esq./Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Mrs. Tysoe Saul Hancock, ne Philadelphia Austen, after a miniature by J. Smart ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Warren Hastings, portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1768 (The National Portrait Gallery, London)

Eliza Hancock, miniature ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Chteau de Jourdan, photograph (collection of the author)

William John Chute, pastel and pencil portrait, 1790 (The National Trust, Southern Region)

Mrs. William Chute, ne Elizabeth Smith, drawing (The National Trust, Southern Region)

Thomas Vere Chute, drawing (The National Trust, Southern Region)

John Portal of Laverstoke and Freefolk, painting by Henry Calvert (private collection. Photo: Nathan Kelly)

Hon. Newton Wallop, Leavers portrait from Eton (The Trustees of the Portsmouth Estates. Photo: Nathan Kelly)

Hon. Coulson Wallop, Leavers portrait from Eton (The Trustees of the Portsmouth Estates. Photo: Nathan Kelly)

Sir William Heathcote, the Revd. William Heathcote and Major Gilbert outHunting, painting by Daniel Gardner (National Trust Photographic Library/John Hammond)

St. Nicholas Church, Steventon, photograph (Hampshire Record Office 65M89/Z217/1)

Page from the Marriage Register of St. Nicholas Church, Steventon (Hampshire Record Office 71M82/PR3)

West doorway of St. Nicholas Church, Steventon, photograph (Hampshire Record Office 65M89/Z217/12)

Thomas Langlois Lefroy, miniature by G. Engleheart, 1799 (Photo: Hampshire Record Office 23M93/83/1/1)

Manydown, from Select Illustrations ofHampshire by G. F. Proser, 1833

James Leigh-Perrot, miniature by J. Smart (Hampshire Record Office 23M93/51/2/1)

Mrs. James Leigh-Perrot, ne Jane Cholmeley, silhouette ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Revd. (Isaac Peter) George Lefroy, miniature (Helen Lefroy)

Mrs. George Lefroy, ne Anne Brydges, miniature (Helen Lefroy)

Godmersham Park, Kent, from The History and Topographical Survey ofthe County of Kent by E. Hasted, 1799

Mrs. Thomas Knight, ne Catherine Knatchbull, portrait by George Romney (private collection)

Mrs. Edward Austen, ne Elizabeth Bridges, miniature ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Revd. George Austen, silhouette ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

A General View of Bath from the Claverton Road, from Bath by John Claude Nattes, 1806

View of Lyme Regis, watercolour (Fotomas Index)

Chawton Cottage, early photograph (private family collection/Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

The Prince Regent Driving a Curricle, engraving by Thomas Rowlandson (Courtauld Institute of Art)

Engraving from Raison et Sensibilit, Arthus Bertrand, Paris, 1828 (Bibliothque Nationale de France, Paris)

Title-page engraving from Sense and Sensibility, Richard Bentley, London, 1833

Title-page engraving from Pride and Prejudice, Richard Bentley, London, 1833

Engraving from La Famille Elliot, ou LAncienne Inclination, Arthus Bertrand, Paris, 1821 (Bibliothque Nationale de France, Paris)

Title-page engraving from Mansfield Park, Richard Bentley, London, 1833

Engraving from Emma, Richard Bentley, London, 1833

Lady Austen, ne Martha Lloyd, daguerreotype ( Jane Austen Memorial Trust)

Cassandra Austen, silhouette (collection of the great-grandsons of Admiral Sir Francis Austen)