New 'Beautiful Books' Exhibition Showcases 200 Years of Jane Austen Publishing History

A new permanent exhibition charting more than 200 years of Jane Austen publishing history has opened at Jane Austen's House in Chawton.

The Hampshire musuem's 'Beautiful Books' showcases a range of early editions, illustrations, letters, and special editions from the museum collection in an upstairs bedroom. It follows the House's first permanent exhibition ‘Jane Austen and the Art of Writing’ which opened in October 2024.

Featured editions include the first American edition of Mansfield Park (Philadelphia, Carey, Lea and Blanchard, 1832) to the first fully illustrated edition of any Austen novel, Mansfield Park (Groombridge, 1875), the iconic ‘Peacock Edition’ of Pride and Prejudice (George Allen, 1894) illustrated by Hugh Thomson, and the first illustrations by a woman, those by Chris (Christiana) Hammond for Sense and Sensibility, published by George Allen in 1899.

It also includes notable artworks relating to her novels, including original illustrations by Hugh Thomson, Charles Brock, Chris Hammond and Joan Hassall. The exhibition finishes with three original woodcut colour prints by Sarah Young produced for The Folio Society edition in 2025, and a set of Pride and Prejudice The Novel Magazine, published by The Novel Magazine Company in 2025 which displays the first use of AI illustrations in an Austen novel. 

Tickets are also on sale for the House's weekend Persuasion Festival running September 17-20 to mark Austen's last completed novel. The programme includes:

• a virtual talk by curators of the National Maritime Museum exploring maritime history and Jane Austen’s sailor brothers
• a Jane Austen Study Afternoon using the House's extensive Reference Library
• art historian Emma Rutherford on the world of portrait miniatures focusing on the miniatures in the House's own collection