- Title: Jane Austen letter to be auctioned for first time in London
- Date: 10th July 2017
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 10, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOTHEBY'S DIRECTOR OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS, GABRIEL HEATON, TAKING JANE AUSTEN'S LETTER FROM DISPLAY CABINET HEATON / LETTER WRITING ON LETTER READING (English): "JANE AUSTEN" (JANE AUSTEN REFERRED TO HERSELF IN THIRD PERSON IN LETTER) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOTHEBY'S DIRECTOR OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS, GABRIEL HEATON, SAYING: "We're very privileged to have in our sale tomorrow an autographed letter by Jane Austen to her niece Anna Austen, who becomes Anna Lefroy, and it's written about a book that they've been reading together, a popular work of gothic fiction, a cliched work full of adventure and mystery, the kind that Austen had famously parodied in Northanger Abbey. And here she is writing to her niece talking about a novel of exactly that genre and joking about it and imagining herself visiting the places in a novel and parodying the conventions and cliches of the genre." LETTER ON DISPLAY WRITING ON LETTER READING (English): "JANE AUSTEN" LETTER HEATON TURNING LETTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOTHEBY'S DIRECTOR OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS, GABRIEL HEATON, SAYING: "Well it's very interesting to have a letter by Jane Austen talking about writing, talking about novels, talking about someone else's novels because there are not many instances in Jane Austen's writing where we get that, that sense of how she understood the novel making process, how she understood the practices of other writers, So it's a very, very insightful letter in that way. And of course she's writing in a very friendly kind of jokey way to a young woman to whom she was very close, who was - Anna herself - was a writer and Jane always encouraged her to write her own novels and in later years Anna became one of the custodians of Jane's literary legacy. So it's an example of a very important relationship both for Jane and for Anna, the niece." LETTER ON DISPLAY (LEFT) WITH TWO FRAGMENTS OF OTHER LETTERS WRITTEN BY JANE AUSTEN THAT WILL ALSO BE AUCTIONED ON SAME DAY SECOND FRAGMENT OF LETTER WRITING ON LETTER THREE LETTERS THAT WILL BE AUCTIONED ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOTHEBY'S DIRECTOR OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS, GABRIEL HEATON, SAYING: "It is quite something to have both this letter and we have two fragments of another letter also written to the same niece coming up in this same sale - and to have this just a week before the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death is really quite a special moment for us and is a reminder of just how deep in our culture Jane Austen is. And the estimate we have on the main letter of 80,000 to 100,000 pounds shows just how wide and how highly people regard Jane Austen today." EXTERIOR OF SOTHEBY'S AUCTION HOUSE VARIOUS OF SIGN AND FLAG READING (English): "SOTHEBY'S" PEOPLE WALKING PAST SOTHEBY'S BUILDING
- Embargoed: 24th July 2017 16:03
- Keywords: Jane Austen letter anniversary auction house sale Sotherby's letter letter to niece
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News
- Reuters ID: LVA0016P4XS2H
- Story Text:
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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