- Chawton House Library
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A view of Chawton House Library taken January 2008
A view of Chawton House Library March 2008Chawton House Library is located at Chawton House[2], Chawton, Hampshire.
The Library is now The Centre for the Study of Early English Women's Writing, 1600-1830,[3]
Opened in 2003, it has a collection of over 9,000 books together with related original manuscripts. It is set in 275 acres (1.11 km2) of Hampshire countryside, and is used for conferences, filming and more recently as a venue for weddings. The Library works in partnership with the University of Southampton, and provides an important resource for the university's MA in 18th Century Study.[4]
Contents
Women Writers
Below is a list of female authors, whose works are to be found at the Library.
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)
Frances Brooke (1724-1789)
Mary Brunton (1778-1818)
Frances Burney (1752-1840)
Sarah Burney (1772-1844)
Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849)
Sarah Fielding (1710-1768)
Mary Hays (1760-1824)
Eliza Haywood (1693-1756)
Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821)
Sophia Lee (1750-1824)
Harriet Lee (1757-1851)
Charlotte Lennox (1729-1804)
Delarivier Manley (1663-1724)
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu(1689-1762)
Sydney Owenson,Lady Morgan(1783-1859)
Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823)
Mary Darby Robinson (1758-1800)
Anna Seward (1742-1809)
Mary Shelley(1797-1851)
Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806)
Melesina Chenevix St. George Trench (1768-1827)
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Novels on-line project
The Novels On Line project[5] makes freely accessible the full-text transcripts of some of the rarest works in the Chawton House Library collection. These texts explore broad-ranging themes as satire, slavery, marriage, witchcraft and piracy. In bringing these little-known novels to a wider audience, it is hoped to stimulate interest in these works amongst a new generation of readers. The texts are completely unedited, and have been copied from the originals as accurately as possible. Even printer errors have been retained. This is an ongoing project with more novels and texts being made available on line.
Events
Events are held regularly at the library; these include Open Days, Fellows Lectures and Heritage Open Days.[1]
Knight Collection
The Library also houses the Knight Collection, a private collection of books belonging to the Knight family who owned and lived at Chawton House for 400 years. This collection of books was once owned by Edward Austen Knight, the brother of Jane Austen, and it is known that she used this collection of books.
The Walled Garden
Edward Austen Knight had the idea to build a new walled garden during his sister Jane Austen’s lifetime: in 1813, She wrote to her brother Frank:
“He (Edward Austen Knight) talks of making a new Garden; the present is a bad one & ill situated, near Mr Papillon's; — he means to have the new, at the top of the Lawn behind his own house.”
Today, Edward Austen Knight's original walls are mostly still intact. The restoration programme for this area is vast, and requires funding and the support of volunteers as it is the intention to rebuild the glasshouses and potting sheds that have long since fallen into disrepair. The central space is used for the production of vegetables, soft fruits, herbs and flowers. Chawton House is registered with the Soil Association,[2] and is now certified as an organic producer. Everything grown in the walled garden is for use by the Library, with any surplus being sold locally in aid of the charity. The gardens are being restored using Edward Austen Knight's original planting scheme. The walls of the garden still require repair and re-pointing, and work is being done to restore the glasshouses in the near future.
Visiting the Library
Chawton House from the drivewayThe house and Library can be visited by the public by prior appointment. Tours of the house are undertaken Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 2.30pm.
The Library can be visited at any time, by appointment. However, first-time visitors are required to bring some form of identification.[3]
References
External links
- Chawton House Library
- Hampshire County Council: "Chawton - Jane's literary home"
- Jane Austen Society of North America
- Jane Austen Society of the United Kingdom
- Soil Association
Jane Austen GeneralLife 
Places People Cassandra Austen • Charles Austen • Francis Austen • Eliza Hancock • Catherine Hubback • Thomas Langlois LefroyAnalysis Janeite • Jane Austen in popular culture • Styles and themes of Jane Austen • Georgian society in Jane Austen's novels • Reception history of Jane AustenWorksMajor Sense and Sensibility (1811) • Pride and Prejudice (1813) • Mansfield Park (1814) • Emma (1815) • Northanger Abbey (1817) • Persuasion (1817)
Minor Juvenilia Love and Freindship • The Beautifull Cassandra • The History of EnglandCharacters Elinor Dashwood • Edward Ferrars • Marianne Dashwood • John Willoughby • Elizabeth Bennet • Fitzwilliam Darcy • Jane Bennet • Lydia Bennet • Charles Bingley • Fanny Price • Edmund Bertram • Mary Crawford • Henry Crawford • Tom Bertram • Maria Bertram • Emma Woodhouse • George Knightley • Anne Elliot • Captain Frederick Wentworth • Catherine Morland • Henry TilneyAdaptationsSense and Sensibility 1981 TV miniseries • 1995 film • 2008 TV miniseries • Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (2009 novel) • From Prada to Nada (2011 film)Pride and Prejudice 1940 film • First Impressions (1959 musical) • 1980 TV miniseries • 1995 TV miniseries • Darcy's Story (1995 novel) • Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy (2003 film) • Mr. Darcy's Daughters (2003 novel) • An Assembly Such as This (2003 novel) • Duty and Desire (2004 novel) • These Three Remain (2005 novel) • Bride and Prejudice (2004 film) • 2005 film • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009 parody novel) • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (2010 parody novel)Mansfield Park Emma 1972 TV miniseries • Clueless (1995 film) • 1996 film • 1996 TV miniseries • 2009 TV miniseries • Aisha (2009 film)Northanger Abbey Persuasion Categories:- Museums in Hampshire
- Libraries in Hampshire
- Houses in Hampshire
- Visitor attractions in Hampshire
- Jane Austen
- Organic food
- 2003 establishments
- Literature by women
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