Author Blog

This is where I share my research into the world of Jane Austen, chat about other writers, and explore the craft of writing in general.

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The Coopers

Jane Austen often used names as working titles for her novels, such as The Watsons or Elinor and Marianne. If she had applied this practice to write about her own relations, then I venture that The Coopers would have made a fascinating read too. The Cooper family were Jane’s aunt, uncle and two cousins, and together they build a classic generational saga.

Thomas was named after his rich uncle, Thomas Perrot, who owned the prestigious family seat of Northleigh. Having no children of his own, he passed this estate onto Jane Leigh’s elder brother, James, in his will, stipulating that the boy must assume the name Perrot when he inherited. Thus, the young man grew up to become James Leigh-Perrot.

Baby Thomas was not a well child and suffered from fits. He was sent to the country to be fostered by Mr and Mrs Cullum of Monk Sherborne, where he remained on their family farm for the rest of his life, reaching the impressive age of 74. In later years, Thomas was to be joined by another young boy who had similar developmental difficulties. This was his nephew, George, (Jane Austen’s brother) who also lived out a long life there.

When Jane Leigh was 26, her father announced his retirement, and the family moved to Bath. Sadly, Mr Leigh died in the city less than two years later, and a few months after that in April 1794, Jane Leigh and James Leigh-Perrot witnessed their sister Cassandra’s wedding to Reverend George Austen from Steventon. In December 1768, Jane Leigh herself got married to Rev Dr Edward Cooper, rector of Buckland St Mary in Somerset.

Nine years later they moved again to a larger house on Bennett Street, close to the Upper Assembly Rooms. Things were going well for them and in 1782, Rev Dr Cooper was given the living of St Mary the Virgin in Whaddon, a few miles south of Bath.

Rev Dr Cooper had a widowed sister named Mrs Cawley. In 1783 she opened a school for girls near Oxford, where her late husband had been Principal of Brasenose College. Twelve-year old Jane Cooper was enrolled to study there, accompanied by her cousins, Cassandra and Jane Austen, as classmates. Over the summer, a measles outbreak hit Oxford, so Mrs Cawley moved her girls to Southampton for safety. This turned out to be a bad decision, as Southampton was rife with typhus fever.  All the girls caught it, and Jane Cooper summoned her mother to come and help them. Mrs Cooper and Mrs Austen wasted no time in travelling to Southampton to bring their daughters home.

As rescue missions went, it was successful in as much as all three girls recovered. The tragedy came when Mrs Cooper contracted typhus herself and died a few days after getting home to Bath. She was buried in her husband’s churchyard at Whaddon.

Rev Dr Cooper was heartbroken and could no longer bear to live in the city. He moved to Sonning in Berkshire where he became rector of St Andrew’s Church. Edward Cooper was sent to boarding school at Eton, and Jane Cooper was sent to the Reading Ladies School. For a brief time, Cassandra and Jane Austen joined their cousin again to study together, but they did not stay for long. Jane Cooper remained there and completed her education.

During the school holidays, Edward and Jane Cooper were frequent guests in the Austen’s home and were close to all their Austen cousins. Edward Cooper followed in his father’s footsteps to become a clergyman and went to Oxford to obtain his degree where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in the summer of 1792.

Marking the end of his studies, Edward and Jane accompanied their father on holiday to the Isle of Wight. Their close family friends, Mr and Mrs Lybbe Powys and their daughter, Caroline, went with them. One day, they dined with a lady called Mrs. Williams whose son was a captain in the Royal Navy. Jane Cooper was smitten and by the end of the holiday she and Captain Williams were engaged.

The wedding was arranged for later that year, before Captain Williams sailed away to sea, but tragedy struck the family once more when Rev Dr Cooper died upon returning home to Sonning. Jane Cooper’s wedding was postponed, and she went to stay with her aunt and cousins Steventon. Edward remained in Sonning and, with the help of the Lybbe Powys family, sorted out his father’s affairs. Rev Dr Cooper was buried next to his late wife in his former church at Whaddon, where it would be hard to find a more peaceful spot.

Jane Cooper’s wedding impacted another member of the Austen family too. Charles Austen was home on leave from the Naval Academy and made a big impression on the naval captain. In his first appointment, Charles was invited to be a midshipman on Captain Williams’ ship and from then on the senior man was an important mentor and patron of Charles’s career.

Edward Cooper married Caroline Lybbe Powys in 1793, and his first church living was the same St Margaret of Antioch in Harpsden that his grandfather had served. The rectory where he and Caroline moved into was the very same house where his late mother had grown up.

Jane Cooper (now Williams) went to live on the Isle of Wight with Captain Williams’ mother, and she and Edward remained very close. When her husband was away at sea, Jane would often stay with him at Harpsden, or Edward and Caroline would visit Jane in Ryde. Captain Williams received a knighthood for his services in battle in 1796, and Jane was granted the title, Lady Williams.

It would be nice to imagine a long and stable life for them now, but tragedy struck once more in 1798. Lady Jane was returning home in her carriage when a frightened run-away horse charged directly at her. She was thrown to the ground and killed, only 28 years old.

Edward continued to maintain a relationship with his Austen cousins, and they met up from time to time over the years. He was a prolific writer of sermons and published them in a multi-volume collection called:  Practical and Familiar Sermons, Designed for Parochial and Domestic Instruction. They were circulated extensively across England and abroad.

Although he remained on good terms with his aunt Austen, it seems that relations between him and his uncle Leigh-Perrot were strained. When Mr Leigh-Perrot died in 1817, there was much speculation as to who would receive a share of his immense wealth. James Austen was the main beneficiary, but Edward Cooper received nothing at all. In a letter to Jane Austen in April, 1817 he wrote: ‘There was probably no reason why I should have expected any distinguished notice in his Will; but I certainly never seriously anticipated the probability of being altogether excluded from it.’  He called it ‘painful’ and assured his cousin that ‘I did not cease to pray for him daily & earnestly.’

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Of No Fixed Abode

If Mr Austen had not succumbed to a sudden fever at the beginning of 1805, who knows how differently Jane Austen’s life would have turned out? Perhaps she would have found a suitable beau in Bath, like Catherine Morland did in Henry Tilney, and married to secure the family’s fortune.

What actually transpired was different altogether, because when her father died, Jane and her mother and sister lost their home.

Reverend George Austen had been well respected in his Steventon community, but he was never rich. He did not own a large estate and he did not expect to inherit a fortune. When the time came for him to retire, there was no golden nest egg put by.

He did not immediately secure new lodgings for his family either at that time but took them on holiday instead. They spent the summer in Lyme Regis, freeing him from the financial strain of a residence in Bath. The lodgings in Lyme sounded low budget too, with Jane telling her sister in a letter on the 14^th September 1804, ‘… nothing certainly can exceed the inconvenience of the Offices, except the general Dirtiness of the House & furniture, & all its’ Inhabitants.’

In its favour, Green Park Buildings East did offer spacious accommodation, and the rent was lower than Sydney Place. The neighbourhood was popular with retired clergy and military men, but nevertheless it was in an unfashionable part of town and built on a flood plain. Even with a park view out of the window, the sight could hardly be compared to the grandeur of Sydney Gardens, which they had left behind.

It seems that Mr Austen suffered frequent bouts of ill health when he moved there, evident from Jane’s letter to her brother Frank on 21 January 1805, which announced their father’s death: ‘He was taken ill on Saturday morning, exactly in the same way as heretofore, an oppression in the head with fever, violent tremulousness, & the greatest degree of Feebleness.’ Mr Austen had lived for only twelve weeks in Green Park Buildings before he passed away.

Mrs Austen had a small income of her own from an inheritance she had been bequeathed some years before, and Cassandra had a small provision from her late fiancé, but Jane had nothing. Fortuitously, an elderly widow whom the girls were acquainted with in Bath died around the same time as Mr Austen and left them both a small sum in her will, but, like Mr Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, Mr Austen had made no allowance that would provide his daughters with long-term financial security.

Unlike Mr Bennett, however, Mr Austen had fathered mainly sons instead of daughters, and this fell in his favour. Society’s expectation at the time was that the males of the family would provide for their women.

True to her word, Mrs Austen did just that. In her first year as a widow, she and her daughters went first to stay with Edward in Godmersham, then from there on to Worthing for some sea bathing, concluding with a visit to James and his family in Steventon.

Eager to find somewhere more suitable for now, Mrs Austen had her eye on some rooms in St. James’s Square. She was forced to admit defeat soon after when she realised, ‘A person is in treaty for the whole House, so of Course he will be prefer’d to us who want only a part.’

In another twist of fate, a new person was set to join them in their household. Jane and Cassandra’s intimate friend, Martha Lloyd, found herself in a similar predicament to the Austen ladies, having lost her own mother a few weeks after the death of Mr Austen. She would bring her own inheritance as a contributory income which, when put together with the offerings of the brothers, should allow them all to live in reasonable comfort.

By now it was clear that Bath was not meant to be their destiny, and a brighter alternative presented itself. Frank Austen was home on leave from a long voyage with the navy and was getting married. He offered his mother, sisters and Martha a home with him and his wife, Mary, after they were wed. He proposed to rent a large house in Southampton for them all to live, content that his new bride would be safe with his dear sisters and mother when he was called away again to sea.

There had been no shortage of invites from well-meaning relatives since Mr Austen had died, so the ladies-of-no-fixed-abode planned another summer of visits while Frank and Mary arranged their wedding and went on honeymoon.

Everyone who had welcomed the Austen ladies as guests during their period of grief was invited to come and stay in Southampton, including a mix of different nieces and nephews who were growing up into fine young ladies and gentlemen in their own right.  

Mary did not care for Castle Square as much as her husband did, so as soon as she had recovered from childbirth, she took her new daughter for a visit to Godmersham and then moved on to her family in Ramsgate. The following year she rented a cottage in Alton, leaving the house that Frank was paying for in Southampton to the exclusive use of his mother, sisters and their friend.

By all accounts, it was a happy time for them while they were there, with eccentric neighbours living in a gothic castle next door, and frequent trips to local beauty spots. They stayed there for two years, until a pair of properties became vacant on Edward Austen’s estates which he could offer them rent free. One was in Kent, near to Godmersham Park, and the other was in Chawton, close his manor house in Hampshire.  

The stability worked wonders for Jane and she was able to reawaken the creativity that had lain dormant since the days of her youth in Steventon. She could now devote herself once more to her writing and she did not disappoint. It was here in Chawton, that her greatest works were made ready for the world.

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House Hunting in bath

It is well documented that when Jane Austen was told the news she was moving to Bath, she was not happy at the prospect. Her father was approaching 70 at the time, and her mother was 61. The rectory where they lived in Steventon had been home to a boarding school as well as a working farm; it was not unreasonable for Mr and Mrs Austen to decide it was too much for them to manage in their advancing years.

Mr Austen duly auctioned off his belongings and handed his church living over to his eldest son, James, in the spring of 1801. Only his two daughters remained under his care now, since all of his sons had already left home. There must have been part of him that hoped his girls would find a suitable husband each in Bath to secure their financial futures.

Right from the outset, the family wasted no time in considering the properties available. Within days of bringing in the new year of 1801, every available lodging up for lease in Bath had been scrutinised. Cassandra was staying with her brother, Edward, in Godmersham but her trusted opinions were still sought by letter. Jane wrote to her on the 3^rd of January, setting out her findings of the different possibilities and urging her sister, ‘You and Edward may confer together, & your opinion of each will be expected with eagerness.’

On moving to Bath, the Austens resided in the first instance with Mrs Austen’s brother, James Leigh-Perrot, and his wife. It would have been nice to think they would all live close by one another as neighbours, and Mrs Leigh-Perrot certainly encouraged the idea. Jane wrote in the same letter, ‘We know that Mrs Perrot will want to get us into Axford Buildings, but we all unite in a particular dislike of that part of town.’

The recognition that Axford Buildings was a possibility, however, does give us a starting point in trying to understand their budget. To work out the sums I have quoted in the rest of this article, I have taken the data from rightmove.co.uk.

In today’s world, the Leigh-Perrot’s Paragon townhouse sold for £700,000 in 2022. Axford Buildings was further along the road than that, in a direction away from town and in 2024 a single floor flat in the locality was advertised for £350,000. The Austens rented and did not buy outright, but if I were to seek out a similar styled property today my search filter would be set for around £700,000, with the hope that I could find something cheaper or at least negotiate on the fixtures and fittings.

It was not pursued further, which must have been a relief to Jane who wrote diplomatically to Cassandra that their mother’s ‘knowledge is confined only to the outside’. Perhaps Jane was able to persuade her that the inside would not have been as appealing, because having done her homework Jane would have been very aware that this area of town was out of their price range. A five-bed terrace on Queen Square sold for £3 million in 2022 – a far cry from the house on the Paragon.

In Jane’s novel, Persuasion, Anne Elliot is faced with a dilemma when she learns her family are moving to Bath. Anne’s father, Sir Walter Elliot, is uncompromising in his demands that he must be situated in a good location. This was distressing for the practical Anne, who knew exactly what their financial situation was like. Surely, it is no coincidence that Jane Austen wrote this after her own father caused her a headache by craving somewhere far above his own limits.

 She explained to Cassandra on the 14th of January, ‘He grows quite ambitious, and actually requires now a comfortable and creditable looking house.’ Laura Place was his favoured location, which Jane knew to be impossible. Her exasperation grew enough for her to continue to protest a week later, ‘I join with you in wishing for the environs of Laura Place, but do not venture to expect it.’  It is easy to see why - at the close of 2022, a 4- bedroom flat on Laura Place sold for £1.8 million - not even the whole house.

Trim Street was an uncomfortable option that could not be overlooked by the Austens. Its location was in the centre of town and the rents were very reasonable. They were some of the oldest houses in the city and the street itself was very narrow. The tall buildings stopped the fresh air from circulating and various businesses and inns were interspersed amongst the residential rooms. This would have meant constant noise and smells and it would also have been awkward to expect the well-respected Leigh-Perrots to be seen visiting them there. As early as January the family rejected it, with Jane informing Cassandra that their mother would ‘do everything in her power to avoid Trim Street’. Today, it sits much more proudly than it once did, and in 2023 a house being used as a business property there was advertised for £695,000.

Green Park Buildings West

If you walk a little further out of town beyond Queen Square, you come to Green Park. These properties are well proportioned and overlook a pleasant park. Such a situation was appealing to the Austens, understandably so when you consider they had come from the countryside. Two vacancies here caused a surge of excitement in May 1801. There were two rows of buildings around the fields: Green Park East and Green Park West. Two leases came up for renewal on the east side, and Jane wrote eagerly to Cassandra on 5^th May, that ‘one of which pleased me very well’. She praised the size of the rooms and the bright aspect, only stopping short in her enthusiasm to admit that ‘the only doubt is the dampness of the offices, of which there were symptoms.’  The keen landlord offered to raise the floor for them in his eagerness to get their business, persuading them that it would lessen the effects of the damp. Jane continued to be keen, telling Cassandra that it was ‘so very desirable in size and situation,’ but in the end they did not take it. On the 20^th May Jane wrote, ‘though the water may be kept out of sight, it cannot be sent away, nor the ill effects of its nearness be excluded.’

All of the buildings on the east side of the park were destroyed by bombs in World War II, but the mirror image on the west side still stands in part, to give us a good idea of what Jane’s property looked like. The cost of Green Park today is slightly more than the house on the Paragon, with a one storey flat on the street selling for just shy of £500,000 in 2023.

After so much looking around and still finding themselves lodging with the Leigh-Perrots, things must have begun to feel desperate. Every area of the city had been scoured and nothing suitable had been found.

Jane and Cassandra enjoyed the attractions of Sydney Gardens and regularly walked there along Great Pulteney Street. New properties were sprouting up in the area all the time, so when Mr Austen saw a newspaper advert for a modern house at 4 Sydney Place, he lost no time in going to view it. The building boasted four storeys and a basement; it had a sunny drawing room with a large window overlooking Sydney Gardens. There was piped water, respectable neighbours and the landlord promised to give it a fresh coat of paint before they moved in.

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The Human Connection

Published on the website of the Association of Self-Published Authors (ASPA) on May 21st, 2024. Find it here.

For me, there is a ‘buzz’ to knowing the work was scribed by another human hand. It matters little in the end if a letter was read on the day it was posted or hundreds of years later. The fact remains that it has fulfilled its purpose in bringing a direct message from one mind to another.

I found a very interesting webpage on buzzfeed.com showing a range of original manuscripts from famous writers.  Each piece is different, and the personality of the writer shines out from the page. Take a look for yourself and see what they reveal to you about the person who wrote them: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alanamohamed/13-drafts-from-famous-authors-that-only-writers-can

It isn’t just me who gets excited about these kinds of things, either. The auctioneer Sotheby’s, recently listed an original handwritten manuscript of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four for a sum well over £1,000,000: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/arthur-conan-doyles-handwritten-sherlock-holmes-manuscript-is-for-sale-180984101/

Last year, a single page manuscript written by Dylan Thomas sold for over $10,000 at auction: https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/347935206760540-dylan-thomas-handwritten-manuscript-for-note-published-in-collected-poems-1934-1952            

And a century old set of project books about cleaning, needlework and recipes sold for £950: https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/auctions/rare-books-manuscripts-maps-and-photography-549/lot/281

I fully appreciate in today’s world we would be lost without digital technology. As time moves on, we must embrace what it brings and adapt alongside its change. But from a personal perspective, I still find something magical about a script written by hand; it brings the page alive and shows the mood of the writer in every stroke.

I recently volunteered to a museum seeking transcribers for a two-hundred-year-old journal. The appeal for help was so popular, that the website for applications was overwhelmed. I was one of the lucky ones and duly received my two pages to record exactly as it was written. From reading the posts of other lucky applicants to the project on social media, I could see they were all as excited to be part of the process as me.

The message I take from this reflection, therefore, is that we should never underestimate the value of our creations. Before you throw away those plot plans and mind maps you scribbled down last week, when you were too lazy to switch on your laptop, be warned that those are precisely the little things that may one day be worth a fortune.

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Literature in School

Published on the website of the Association of Self-Published Authors (ASPA) on April 25th 2024. Find it here.

This request is in direct competition with the maths formulas they need to learn, along with multiple French verb tables and the dates of historical battles. The pressure on young minds is immense during exam season and it does not surprise me that some of them find English Literature a chore. Mutterings of ‘what’s the point’ ‘out of date’ and ‘boring’ are not unusual to hear, so teachers need a pretty strong case to prove it’s worth the effort.

Love of English

Here at ASPA it goes without saying that we are all avid readers and enjoy playing around with words but I wonder, if we never studied Literature as part of our own school curriculum, would we still have sought it out?

My own experience stems from primary school days when, around eight years of age, I won a poetry competition. It must have been organised by my teacher because I remember being taken to the library one evening to read my poem out in front of a group of strangers and was given a certificate by the mayor. My photo was in the local newspaper, and it felt like a big achievement. A couple of years later, I remember a creative writing lesson where the teacher lit a candle and we had to describe the flame; the next day she read mine out to the class.  I can’t remember any other positive reinforcements like these in any other subject, so English was firmly secured as my favourite.

Difficult themes.

School texts also bring about the opportunity to discuss uncomfortable themes in a professional and neutral environment. In my lessons recently we have talked about rape, religion, drug abuse and disability in a way that would not be the same if I knew the individuals on a more personal level. We analyse quotations systematically, trying to understand the writer’s intentions in bringing these taboo subjects to light.

Students are encouraged to express themselves openly in written exams and describe the impression that certain words leave on them as readers. English Literature helps them to do this in a safe way and, as long as they can back up their arguments with sound reasoning, their opinion is as valid as anyone else’s. These skills give young people the opportunity to evaluate their thoughts and feelings on hard-to-talk-about topics in their own minds, even if they choose never to mention them again outside the lesson.

Atticus’s line in To Kill a Mocking Bird is a common throw away response in class quizzes: ‘You rarely win, but you sometimes do,’ and there is definite distaste in revision sessions when readers recall the context of the ‘sweet young things’ from Robert Cormier’s Heroes.

If you know any sixteen-year- old studying the poem War Photographer, you can bet they know the line ‘The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.’ Because, like everything else we read, there is a whole story behind a single line. 

What of the future?

Nowadays, if a student tells me they can’t wait to burn their English books the minute the exam is over I might commend them on reaching such a decision. I will respect the fact they have made the choice of which subjects they want to pursue further and which ones they want to leave behind.  But before the conversation is over, I will be sure to tell them to put their novels away in a corner instead of destroying them. ‘You never know,’ I will suggest, ‘You might want to read them again one day.'

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'It's no work for a woman!'

Published on the website of the Association of Self-Published Authors (ASPA) on April 11th, 2024.  Find it here

In 1836, a twenty-year-old Charlotte Brontë wrote to the Poet Laureate of the day, Robert Southey, to seek his opinion about a poem she had written. His reply was kind, but pointed out in no uncertain terms that ‘literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life’ and her ‘proper duties’ were at home.

Charlotte was flattered that this revered figure of authority had taken time to reply, but his instruction also taught her an early lesson: female writers would always be met with bias and prejudice in her male-dominated world.

Their big breakthrough came in 1847. Drawing upon her memories as a governess and remembering two other sisters who had died from tuberculosis at school, Currer Bell wrote Jane Eyre. It received immediate acclaim for the London publishers Smith, Elder & Co.  with critics in no doubt that this new author was male. No woman could possibly know about a man like Mr Rochester.

Meanwhile, Ellis Bell submitted Wuthering Heights, and Acton Bell submitted Agnes Grey to a different publisher, Thomas Cautley Newby, who printed the books together in a three-volume set.

Wuthering Heights baffled critics from the outset, who were shocked by its content. They accepted that it was imaginative, but most classed it as coarse, savage and cruel, even from a male author.

Speculation grew about who these unfamiliar new authors were. Due to the fact they all shared the same surname, most critics thought they must be brothers. Some theorised there may be a husband and wife amongst them, and some wondered if they were actually one and the same person.

All correspondence between Charlotte and Mr Smith had so far passed through the name of Currer Bell, so the man was very surprised when Currer Bell’s name was announced and in walked an unassuming, country woman wearing spectacles. Charlotte and Anne had travelled on purpose to London to introduce themselves to him, yet Charlotte still had to prove she was in earnest by showing him a copy of a letter written in his own hand.

He was said to be delighted at the discovery and eager to show off his protégé at the opera. The sisters, however, did not want their confidence betrayed, so to add another bizarre level to the deceit, Mr Smith introduced the ladies that evening as his country cousins, the Miss Browns.

Charlotte was now the only writer left, and keeping Currer Bell’s identity secret was no longer important to her. She had already told her father the truth by giving him a copy of Jane Eyre and revealed her literary exploits to a friend. Her brother (perhaps intentionally) had been the only one of the family never to have been made aware of his sisters’ true talents.

Charlotte Brontë died in 1855, but her novels are still read widely today. The work of all three sisters have successfully endured the test of time, with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights in particular being labelled as literary classics.

Not bad, I suppose, considering they were all penned by women!

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How Do You Define Success?

Published on the website of the Association of Self-Published Authors (ASPA) on March 25th, 2024.  Find it here.

Most of us strive to be successful writers, but what does that actually mean? Let me tell you the publishing history of Jane Austen, then perhaps you can decide if she would have considered herself a success or not.

Most of Jane’s family never really expected anything to come from this hobby and her manuscripts lay dormant in her writing desk. Girls in those days were raised for only one purpose, to marry and have lots of children and she did come very close. But fortunately for her, an older brother had connections.

In 1802, Henry Austen negotiated a deal with the publishers Crosby and Co. They bought the copyright of Susan for £10 which must have been a very exciting time for Jane. Unfortunately, Crosby never put Susan into print.

Six years later, and still unpublished, Jane never forgot this disappointment. She wrote an angry letter to Mr Crosby offering to send the manuscript again or take it elsewhere. He replied with an equally irate response, threatening he would put a stop to any other publication as, in fairness, he did still own the copyright. He conceded to sell it back to her for the same sum of £10, but Jane could not afford to buy it.

Flushed with success, she next reworked First Impressions. Since she had originally written it, another book was out in circulation with the same title, so Jane was forced to change its name. She went for Pride and Prejudice. Mr Egerton offered her a lucrative £110 for the copyright and accredited it to ‘The Author of Sense and Sensibility’. It was big success but having given up her copyright, Jane saw none of this extra money. When two more print runs were released due to high demand, Mr Egerton kept the entire £465 profit.

Jane’s next work was longer and more serious. This was Mansfield Park which Mr Egerton did not like. He still agreed to publish it but was not interested in buying the copyright. It published in 1814 and sold out within six months, but still Mr Egerton refused a second run.

This turned out to be another bad decision. Emma sold very well, but Mansfield Park did not. By the time she had covered her liabilities for the unsold books, she made only £39 on the whole project. Sadly, this was also her last experience of putting her novels into print. None of the four titles she had released had been credited to her name, and Mansfield Park had flopped.

She must have felt some consolation in 1816 when she finally bought back the £10 copyright of Susan from Mr Crosby, but even that was not without its problems. Similar to what had happened with First Impressions, another author now had the title Susan in circulation. Jane’s eponymous heroine needed a new name and thus became Catherine.

The copyrights to all six of her novels were sold off to a low-cost publisher in 1832, who marketed the outstanding copies still in circulation at rock bottom price. After that they went out of print altogether.

Over subsequent years, Jane’s manuscripts passed down through her family and the rest, as they say, is history. But for me this story serves as a reminder to us all: success and failure can come in many forms and are dependent on how they are perceived at the time. Not even the greatest and most famous of authors are immune from disappointment.

FOOTNOTE: If you would like to see the value of what Jane’s earnings were worth at the time, The National Archives has a currency convertor to show how many animals, stones of wool or quarters of wheat she could have bought with her money. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/