The Austen family’s own shopping practices in the surviving accounts of Ring Brothers in Basingstoke, an emporium where the Austen family shopped regularly in the 1790s.2 Ring Brothers sold mainly furniture, but also yard goods, carpets, wallpaper, lace, tape, tacks, nails, and an abundance of small household hardware, like stove blacking, sash cords for windows, Venetian blinds, lumber, glue, paint, and the like. The firm built furniture to order (including coffins), rented furniture if needed, and even received used furniture from regular customers to be credited to their accounts. It sent out men to hang wallpaper and lay carpets, sempstresses to make curtains and fit out beds, and carpenters to make household repairs as well as to do on-the-spot built-in’s.
In addition to his usual household purchases, Mr. Austen, in 1794, bought at Rings two special made-to-order matching beds, now lost, for Jane and Cassandra, and probably the handsome little writing desk belonging to the author and now in the possession of Joan Austen-Leigh.3 In 1792, Austen’s eldest brother James furnished his entire house from Rings, from soup bowls and nutmeg graters, to chairs, sofa, clock, carpets, beds, linens, and chamber pots.
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