The world is celebrating the 250th birthday of Jane Austen (1775-1817) on December 16th. To mark this anniversary, Duke University Libraries is displaying materials related to her life and her world. The texts on display here are from both our general collection and the holdings of the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
While Jane Austen is one of the most famous authors in the English-speaking world with numerous film adaptations of her novels, she lived during a unique period in English history. The Regency Period officially only lasted from 1811 to 1820, but it was a unique time in terms of fashions, historical events, and cultural changes. This period saw the Battle of Waterloo, the rise of Romanticism, and a continued discussion around abolition due to the passage of the Slave Trade Act shortly before in 1807. This exhibit aims to provide a small taste of Jane Austen’s life by highlighting not just her writing, but her family life and the material culture of the Regency period.
