The Library

This page contains lists of what I consider to be useful, helpful and recently published books about Jane Austen or her era. Links to reviews I  have written of the books are accessible from this page by clicking on the book’s title, which will be highlighted in blue. This page will be updated from time to time, especially when new publications are issued, or old books are purchased.

The lists of books here are by no means exhaustive : these are books I simply recommend and own. I will not recommend a book to you that I do not also consider is useful. All the books in the Antiquarian Section are from my own library: these will be added to gradually. The frontispieces can all be enlarged by clicking on them.

Do note there are no affiliation links to sites selling books here – new or old- as this site does not make money via any affiliations. Links to booksites that do exist here do not accrue any income at all to the author of this site.

Jane Austen’s Life

Jane Austen : A Family Record by Deirdre Le Faye  (Second Edition 2004), Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 0 521 82691 8 (Hardback)

ISBN 0 521 53417 8 (Paperback)

Jane Austen’s Letters edited by Deirdre Le Faye (1995 Third Edition, Oxford University Press)

ISBN 0 19 283297 7( Paperback)

The Letters of Jane Austen (Vol I ) Edited by Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen,Lord Brabourne Cambridge University Press,Cambridge Literary Collection 2009

ISBN 978-1-108-00339-1

The Letters of Jane Ausen (Vol II) Edited by Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen,Lord Brabourne Cambridge University Press,Cambridge Literary Collection 2009

ISBN 978-1-108-00340-7

A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family 1700-2000.(Cambridge University Press, 2006)

ISBN-10: 0521810647

ISBN-13: 978-0521810647

Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels by Deirdre Le Faye (Frances Lincoln 2003)

ISBN-10: 0711222789

ISBN-13: 978-0711222786

The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen,  Second Edition

ISBN-10: 0521763088

ISBN-13: 978-0521763080

18th/19th Century Social History

The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England by Amanda Vickery  (1998) Yale University Press

ISBN 0 300 07531 6( Hardback)

Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England by Amanda Vickery (2009) Yale University Press

ISBN-10: 0300154534

ISBN-13: 978-0300154535

Silhouette: The Art of the Shadow by Emma Rutherford (2009) Rizzoli

ISBN-10: 0847830772

ISBN-13: 978-0847830770

Paul Sandby: Picturing Britain Edited by John Bonehill and Stephen Daniels (2009)

ISBN-10: 1905711484

ISBN-13: 978-1905711482

Coke of Norfolk (1754-1842): A Biography by Susanna Wade Martins

ISBN-10: 184383426X

ISBN-13: 978-1843834267

Enterprising Women and Shipping in the Nineteenth Century by Helen Doe

ISBN-10: 1843834723

ISBN-13: 978-1843834724

Birds of Passage: Henrietta Clive’s Travels in South India by Nancy K. Shields,  Eland Publishing Ltd; First Edition edition (30 Nov 2009)

ISBN-10: 1906011370

ISBN-13: 978-1906011376

Mrs Delany and her Circle by Mark Laird and Alicia Wiseberg-Roberts, Yale University Press, 2009.

ISBN-10: 030014279X

ISBN-13: 978-0300142792

Mrs Delany’s Menus, Medicines and Manners by Katherine Cahill, New Island Books, 2005

ISBN-10: 1904301770

ISBN-13: 978-1904301776

Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill edited by Michael Snodin, Yale University Press 2009

ISBN-10: 0300125747

ISBN-13: 978-0300125740

London’s Country Houses by Caroline Knight, The History Press 2009

ISBN-10: 1860775063

ISBN-13: 978-1860775062

The Secret History of Georgian London: How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital by Dan Cruickshank, Random House 2009

ISBN 9781847945372

The English Parsonage in the Early Nineteenth Century by Timothy Brittain-Catlin, Spire Books, 2008.

ISBN-10: 1904965164

ISBN-13: 978-1904965169

State Beds and Throne Canopies: Care and Conservation by Val Davies

ISBN-10: 1873132581

ISBN-13: 978-1873132586

The Town House in Georgian London by Rachel Stewart

ISBN-10: 0300152779

ISBN-13: 978-0300152777

The Catalogue to the Chatsworth Attic Sale at Sothebys

The Wynne Diaries

Thomas Rowlandson: Pleasures and Pursuits in Georgian England edited by Patricia Phagan etc

ISBN-10: 1904832784

ISBN-13: 978-1904832782

The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown by Jane Brown

ISBN-10: 9780701182120

ISBN-13: 978-0701182120

Thomas Rowlandson: His Life, Art and Acquaintance by Matthew and James Payne.

ISBN-10: 0955406358

ISBN-13: 978-0955406355

Pastel Portraits of 18th Century Europe by Katharine Baetjer and Marjorie Shelly

ISBN-10: 0300169817

ISBN-13: 978-0300169812
Books on Bath

The Georgian Buildings of Bath by Walter Ison

ISBN- 10 : 1904965008

ISBN-13 : 978-1904965008

Ralph Allen: Builder of Bath by Diana Winsor

ISBN-10: 0955954169

ISBN-13: 978-0955954160

Servants

Flunkeys and Scullions: Life Below Stairs in Georgian England by Pamela Horn (2004) The History Press

ISBN-10: 0750929553

ISBN-13: 978-0750929554

The Complete Servant by Samuel and Sarah Adams (re print of 1825 edition) Southover Press

ISBN-10: 1870962095

ISBN-13: 978-1870962094

Up and Down Stairs: The History of the Country House Servant by Jeremy Musson (John Murray ,12 Nov 2009)

ISBN-10: 184854300X

ISBN-13: 978-1848543003

The Dress of the People by John Styles Yale University Press(2007)

ISBN-10: 0300121199

ISBN-13: 978-0300121193

Cookery

The British Housewife by Gilly Lehman (Prospect Books 2003)

ISBN-10: 1903018048

ISBN-13: 978-1903018040

The Compleat Housewife by Eliza Smith, Introduction by Elizabeth Koaleski Wallace, (Chawton House Library 2009)

ISBN 978 1 90725 00 0

A New System of Domestic Cookery by Mrs Rundell : facsimile edition of the 1816 edition (Persephone Books 2009)

ISBN 9781903155745

Jellies and their Moulds by Peter Brears (Prospect Books 2010)

ISBN-10: 1903018765

ISBN-13: 978-1903018767

Fashion

Jane Austen Fashion: Fashion and Needlework in the Works of Jane Austen by Penelope Byrde (Moonrise Press 2008)

ISBN-10: 095395613X

ISBN-13: 978-0953956135

The Dress of the People by John Styles Yale University Press (2007)

ISBN-10: 0300121199

ISBN-13: 978-0300121193

Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail 1700-1915 (2010)

ISBN-10: 3791350625

ISBN-13: 978-3791350622