Jane Austen's Writing Slope
An iconic literary artefact
Jane Austen's writing slope is one of my favourite artefacts.
As the last of Jane’s nieces to grow up in Chawton, my family’s ancestral home where Jane herself lived and wrote, I have been up close and personal with Jane Austen and family artefacts from as young as I can remember, but nothing compares to Jane’s writing slope.
Jane Austen's writing slope witnessed her creativity, frustrations and triumphs. It kept her secrets, absorbed the vibrations from her voice and laughter and was her trusted companion for 22 years.
It is the writing surface where she created characters and stories that have endured for over 200 years. It is where she wrote about Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.
What could be more precious than that?
Given to Jane when she was nineteen by her father, George Austen, in December 1794, when the Austen's were living in Steventon, the slope was one of Jane's most precious possessions.
Jane took her writing box (as she called it) whenever and wherever she travelled. It was her portable office, a forerunner to the modern-day laptop. She kept her paper, her drafts, her manuscripts in the lockable draw under the slope, with quills and ink kept in the compartments at the top of the slope.
In a letter to her sister Cassandra on Wednesday, 24 October 1798, it is clear how important it is to Jane:
"I should have begun my letter soon after our arrival but for a little adventure which prevented me. After we had been here a quarter of an hour it was discovered that my writing and dressing boxes had been by accident put into a chaise which was just packing off as we came in, and were driven away towards Gravesend in their way to the West Indies. No part of my property could have been such a prize before, for in my writing-box was all my worldly wealth…Mr Nottley immediately despatched a man and horse after the chaise, and in half an hour’s time I had the pleasure of being as rich as ever; they were got about two or three miles off.”
I can only imagine what a worrying half an hour that must have been for Jane!
Jane Austen’s writing box, or writing slope as it is most commonly called, is now housed at The British Library. It is a ‘must see’ for any Austen admirer but is not always on display - check before you make a visit.
© Caroline Jane Knight
Oh how I would love to own a writing slope like this! Interesting post. Thank you.
Hi Caroline, thank you for sharing Jane Austen's writing artefact. Even across the centuries I can empathise with her shock when she realised it was missing. Although I write mostly on a keyboard, I'm unsettled if I misplace one of the fountain pens next to my laptop, and can't get started until they're back in their place. Writing flows when a writer's objects are in place.