Sotheby’s is auctioning a fake portrait of Jane Austen

Once again the Janeite world (and the Muggle press that insists on blowing these things all out of proportion) are creating a controversy out of nothing over images of Jane Austen.
Sotheby’s is auctioning a fake portrait of Jane Austen next month. As fake portraits go, this one is probably slightly less fake than some others. It was commissioned by James Edward Austen-Leigh to be used to create an engraving as a frontispiece to Austen-Leigh’s 1869 Memoir of his aunt. The painting was done by James Andrews of Maidenhead by tracing Cassandra Austen’s watercolor portrait of her sister. The engraving was later used as the basis of perhaps the best-known image of Austen, the infamous “wedding ring portrait” included in a book of eminent persons.
There has been some concern expressed by our own correspondents over this sale, as it is feared it will share the near-fate of Jane Austen’s turquoise ring, purchased and taken out of the country rather than added to a public collection; it would probably be nearly impossible to mount a second rescue mission by Janeites and the museum at Chawton as was done for the ring. However, we find it difficult to get very upset about the fate of this portrait. It is a nice little painting, and that’s it. It wasn’t taken from life, thought it was traced from a portrait that was so taken. However, in the dearth of such images taken from life, Janeites have created new icons of our favorite author. The painting certainly deserves to be part of a museum collection dedicated to Austen. It is to be hoped that whoever purchases it can preserve and display it for all to enjoy. austenblog

Het beroemde Jane Austen portret dat neefje James Edward Austen-Leigh liet maken van zijn geliefde schrijvende tante wordt geveild. Op 10 december is het een van de topstukken van de English literature and history sale van Sotheby’s in Londen. Geschatte waarde is £150.000-£200.000.

James Andrews
Het portret is in 1868, lang na Janes dood, geschilderd door James Andrews. Hij baseerde het op de schets die Cassandra Austen maakte van haar zus en op de beschrijving van James Edward. Die liet er later weer een gravure van maken om te gebruiken als frontispiece van zijn Jane Austen memoires.
janeausten.nl

SOLD. 152,450 GBP

ESTIMATE:  20,000 - 30,000 GBP  LOT SOLD. 152,450 GBP  (Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium) set with a cabochon blue stone, natural turquoise, size K½ with sizing band,once belonging to Jane Austen, in a contemporary jeweller's box ("T. West | Goldsmith | Ludgate Street | near St Paul's")

Autograph note signed by Eleanor Austen, to her niece Caroline Austen, "My dear Caroline. The enclosed Ring once belonged to your Aunt Jane. It was given to me by your Aunt Cassandra as soon as she knew that I was engaged to your Uncle. I bequeath it to you. God bless you!", 1 page, November 1863, with address panel on verso and remains of black wax seal impression, fold tears; also with three further notes by Mary Dorothy Austen-Leigh detailing the ring's later provenance, 5 pages, 1935-1962

sothebys/auctions

jane austen in vermont

Bodleian acquires Jane Austen manuscript

The Bodleian Libraries have acquired at auction the autograph draft manuscript of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel The Watsons. The last major Austen manuscript to have been in private hands, The Watsons is the most significant Austen item to have come to the market in over twenty years.

The acquisition which cost in excess of £1 million was made possible with a substantial grant (£894,700) from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF). Other generous funders are the Friends of the National Libraries, the Friends of the Bodleian, Jane Austen's House Museum (Jane Austen Memorial Trust) as well as other supporters.

The Watsons is Jane Austen’s first extant draft of a novel in process of development and one of the earliest examples of an English novel to survive in its formative state. Only seven manuscripts of fiction by Austen are known to survive. The Watsons manuscript is extensively revised and corrected throughout, with crossings out and interlinear additions. It is a testimony of Jane Austen’s efforts to give shape to the earliest ideas as they pour onto paper, as she reviews, revises, deletes and underscores. The Watsons is the very genesis of fiction from one of the Britain’s greatest and best-loved writers.

http://www.bodleian/news/2011-jul-14

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts Here you can see a video with pictures of the manuscript.

Jane Austen Manuscript Sold for $1.6 Million

A heavily corrected unfinished draft of an early Jane Austen manuscript sold at auction at Sotheby’s in London on Thursday for almost 1 million pounds ($1.6 million), three times the estimated presale price, The Associated Press reported. The draft of “The Watsons” went to an unidentified buyer; Sotheby’s said it is the only major manuscript by Austen still in private hands.
Austen wrote “The Watsons,” an unfinished and unpublished novel, in 1804. It is the story of a poverty-stricken young woman whose only friend is her ailing clergyman father. A Sotheby’s book specialist, Gabriel Heaton, said the draft “has afforded an extremely broad audience an insight into the author’s process and reworkings.”

One of the few Austen manuscripts to survive, “The Watsons” was revised and corrected in Austen’s tiny, precise handwriting. The manuscript shows, for example that after describing a character named Lord Osborne as exhibiting “carelessness” and “awkwardness” she went back and added “coldness.”

Austen, who died in 1817 at age 41, published six novels. They include “Sense and Sensibility” and “Pride and Prejudice.” She wrote “The Watsons” the year before her father died and after the early versions of what eventually became “Sense and Sensibility,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Northanger Abbey.”

The first part of the manuscript, some 12 pages, was sold during World War I to benefit the Red Cross and now belongs to the Morgan Library & Museum. The other 68 pages had been in private hands in Britain.

/Jane-austen-manuscript-sold-for-1-6-million/

325.000 pond.

Een door Jane Austen gesigneerde eerste druk van het boek Emma is onlangs verkocht voor maar liefst 325.000 pond. Een boekverkoper in Henley, Engeland, verkocht het voor deze prijs aan een Britse verzamelaar. Dat meldt The Henley Standard.


Het boek werd in 1816 door Jane Austen gepresenteerd aan haar vriend Anne Sharp, die model stond voor Mrs. Weston in het boek. Het heeft een handgeschreven opdracht. Boekhandelaar Christiaan Jonkers kocht het boek in 2008 op een veiling. Het is de afgelopen jaren tentoongesteld in onder andere Hong Kong, New York en San Francisco. Jonkers zegt dat er meerdere belangstellenden voor het boek waren, van over de hele wereld. “Het is prettig dat het nu in dit land (Engeland) blijft”, zei hij tegen de Henley Standard.

Een ongesigneerde eerste druk van ‘Emma’ brengt doorgaans zo’n 20.000 pond op