Want to read what Austen did in Regency England? Or maybe looking for some more sources on reading practices, libraries, and book history? Susan Allen Ford has given us a fantastic bibliography from her presentation on Reading with Jane Austen. Where available, click the links to learn where you can find these great texts near you!
Readings about Jane Austen and her Reading Practices
Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s Letters. Ed. Deirdre Le Faye. 4th ed. Oxford: OUP, 2011.
_____. The Complete Works of Jane Austen.
Fergus, Jan. Jane Austen: A Literary Life. NY: St Martin’s P, 1991.
Gilson, David. A Bibliography of Jane Austen. Rev. ed. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll, 1997. (Section K lists and describes book JA owned.)
Jarvis, W. A. W. “Mr. Jefferson’s Case.” 1989. Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1986-1995. Alton: Jane Austen Society, 1997. 143-46.
Le Faye, Deirdre. “Another Book Owned by Mr. Austen.” 1999. Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1996-2000. Alton: Jane Austen Society, 2005. 230-31.
_____. “Catherine Hubback’s Memoir of Francis Austen.” Report of the Jane Austen Society (2009): 125-28.
_____. “Jane Austen and Mrs. Hunter’s Novel.” Notes and Queries 32.3 [23] (Sept. 1985): 335-36.
_____. “‘Journey, Waterparties & Plays.’” 1986. Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1986-1995. Alton: Jane Austen Society, 1997. 24-30.
_____. “New Marginalia in Jane Austen’s Books.” Book Collector 49.2 (Jan. 2000): 222-26.
Jane Austen Society. “Report for the Period 1st Oct. 1949-31. Dec., 1950.” Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1949-1965. London: Dawson, 1967. 13, 15-17.
_____. “Report for the Year 1975.” Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1966-1975. Alton: Jane Austen Society, 1999. 257.
Vick, Robin. “The Alton Book Society.” 1994. Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1986-1995. Alton: Jane Austen Society, 1997. 353-55.
_____. “The Sale at Steventon Parsonage.” 1993. Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1986-1995. Alton: Jane Austen Society, 1997. 295-98.
Family Narratives and Family information Related to Reading
Austen, Caroline. My Aunt Jane Austen: A Memoir. 1867. A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections. Ed. Kathryn Sutherland. Oxford: OUP, 2002. 163-82.
Austen, Henry. “Biographical Notice of the Author.” A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections. Ed. Kathryn Sutherland. Oxford: OUP, 2002. 135-43.
Austen-Leigh, J. E. A Memoir of Jane Austen. 1871. A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections. Ed. Kathryn Sutherland. Oxford: OUP, 2002. 1-134.
Collins, Irene. Jane Austen and the Clergy. London: Hambledon, 1994.
_____. Jane Austen: The Parson’s Daughter. London: Hambledon, 1998.
Dow, Gillian. “Reading at Godmersham: Edward’s Library and Marianne’s Books.” Persuasions 37 (2015): 152-62.
Hill, Constance. Jane Austen: Her Homes and Her Friends. New York: John Lane, 1902.
Lefroy, Anna. “Anna Lefroy’s Description of Steventon Rectory in the Rev. George Austen’s Time.” 1975. Collected Reports of the Jane Austen Society 1966-1975. Alton: Jane Austen Society, 1977. 245-48.
_____. “Recollections of Aunt Jane.” 1864. A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections. Ed. Kathryn Sutherland. Oxford: OUP, 2002. 155-62.
Material on Libraries in Rectories and Houses
Bax, B. Anthony. The English Parsonage. London: Murray, 1964.
Girouard, Mark. Life in the English Country House. New Haven: Yale UP, 1978.
Murphy, Olivia. Jane Austen the Reader: The Artist as Critic. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Nicolson, Nigel. Godmersham Park, Kent: Before, during and since Jane Austen’s Day. 1996. Chawton: Jane Austen Society, 2003.
Raven, James. “From Promotion to Proscription: Arrangements for Reading and Eighteenth-Century Libraries.” The Practice and Representation of Reading in England. Ed. James Raven, Helen Small, and Naomi Tadmor. Cambridge: CUP, 1996. 175-201.
Reading with Austen. www.readingwithausten.com
Sabor, Peter. “Godmersham Park Library: Jane Austen’s Paradise Regained.” Persuasions 39 (2017): 31-44.
Vickery, Amanda. Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009.
Woodforde, John. Georgian Houses for All. London: Routledge, 1978.
On Circulating Libraries, Reading Societies, and Reading Communities
Alston, Robin. The Library History Database. 2006. Captured by webarchive.org 15 July 2009. 16 June 2020.
Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. New York: Farrar, 1997.
Kaplan, Deborah. Jane Austen among Women. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992.
Pearson, Jacqueline. Women’s Reading in Britain, 1750-1835: A Dangerous Recreation. Cambridge: CUP, 1999.
On Reading Aloud and What to Read
Bray, Joe. The Female Reader in the English Novel: From Burney to Austen. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Fordyce, James. Sermons to Young Women. Introd. Susan Allen Ford. 10th ed. 1786. Southampton: Chawton House P, 2012.
Gisborne, Thomas. An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex. London: Cadell and Davies, 1797.
Michaelson, Patricia Howell. Speaking Volumes: Women, Reading, and Speech in the Age of Austen. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2002.
Sheridan, Thomas. Lectures on the Art of Reading. 2 vols. London: Dodsley, 1775.
Wollstonecraft, Mary, and Moira Ferguson. The Female Reader: A Facsimile Reproduction. Delmar, NY: Scholars’ P, 1980.
Yelland, Cris. Jane Austen: A Style in History. NY: Routledge, 2018.
On All Aspects of Reading
St. Clair, William. The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period. Cambridge: CUP, 2004.
Williams, Abigail. The Social Life of Books: Reading Together in the Eighteenth-Century Home. New Haven: Yale UP, 2017.