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Jane Austen exhibition opens in Southampton

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On Friday, November 15, an exhibition dedicated to the popular novelist Jane Austen opened to the public and is currently being held at God’s House Tower (GHT) in Southampton.

Until February 2025, a desk which was gifted to the author around the time of her 18th birthday by her father George Austen, is on loan from the British Library and is being displayed.

The exhibition tells the story of Austen “as a young, ambitious writer at the beginning of her career”.

Personal letters were on the walls giving an insight into the novelist’s life, with some of her works also on show.  

The exhibition also showcases a contemporary art piece called “No Notion of Loving by Halves” by the artist Jocelyn McGregor, which focuses on Austen’s Northanger Abbey.

Daisy Turnbull, the gallery invigilator and volunteer co-ordinator, said: “We are completely overjoyed to have Jane Austen’s writing desk on loan from the British Library.

“Here at God’s House Tower, it’s quite a new thing for us to have such an important piece of British history and important piece of literature heritage on display.”

The portable, mahogany desk that was gifted to Austen by her father is in a case at the centre of the room and has “a secret drawer where Austen stored her most treasured possessions”, said the GHT website.

“I have loved and enjoyed exploring some of the history behind not just the desk itself but there’s a very precious pair of glasses and a case that came with it from the British Library”, Ms Turnbull added.

Lenka Fremerova a volunteer at GHT said: “There are a few letters and they tell the story about how the society evolved and about her writing.

“At that time it wasn’t normal for a woman to write, so the desk came as a gift for her birthday from her father.

“So it was important for her father to persuade her to write, which I think is fantastic.”

The exhibition runs until February 2025.

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