Jane Austen Society of North America Donates Sanditon First Edition to Chawton House

Chawton House has acquired a first edition of Jane Austen's Sanditon, three handwritten letters by bestselling 19th century novelist Jane Porter, and materials from other 19th-century women writers from the Oregon-SW Washington (ORSWWA) region of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA).

“We were delighted to receive the Porter letters and other documents,” said Vonnie Alto, ORSWWA’s regional coordinator, “but we did not have any way to preserve or display the fragile items. We chose Chawton House as their permanent home because of its focus on Jane Austen and early women writers and its existing collection of Porter letters.” The donation was facilitated by the North American Friends of Chawton House.

ORSWWA came into possession of the materials from Linda Hardie of Portland. The collection includes items related to Victorian author Augusta Mary Ward (known professionally as Mrs. Humphry Ward, 1851-1920) and C. M. Yonge (1823-1901), a Victorian era Hampshire writer. Hardie had received them from a longtime Janeite, Susan McGlennan Schwartz, who died after a long illness in November 2025. Susan was a bookstore owner and collector with an interest in women’s writing, and also a JASNA member for over 40 years, serving on both regional and national boards.

The first edition of A Fragment of a Novel, Oxford Clarendon’s 1925 edition of Sanditon, is a review copy inscribed by editor R. W. Chapman to British essayist and politician Augustine Birrell who wrote a review of the novel fragment that is attached within the cover.

The three Jane Porter letters include a three-page letter from 1827 that includes a single-page insert, an 1828 letter to her publisher that contains a copied-out hymn, and an 1839 letter to her publishers regarding a payment and expressing concern over severe weather. Jane Porter and her sister Anna Maria Porter pioneered historical fiction in English.

Other highlights of the donation include:

• a 1775 copy of the play Matilda, believed to be the first play performed by the family at Austen’s family home at Steventon in 1782
• an 1826 copy of the play High Life Below Stairs which was performed at the Steventon rectory in 1788-9
• an 1800 copy of the play Isabella, the final play that we know Jane Austen saw at Covent Garden in 1814
• several contracts, copyright documents, and letters related to the US publication of novels by Victorian novelist Mary Augusta Ward and her daughter, Dorothy

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this generous donation which strengthens Chawton House’s nationally significant collection of pre-20th century women’s writing," said deputy Director Kim Simpson. "The Porter letters are a particularly exciting addition, complementing the Porter correspondence already held in our collections and helping us build an even richer archive of manuscript material by women writers.We look forward to incorporating these acquisitions into future displays. As with all of our collections, these materials will also be made available to researchers, ensuring they continue to inspire new scholarship and deepen our understanding of women’s literary history."