A 1799 letter written by author Jane Austen to her sister is currently on public display for the first time at Torquay Museum in Devon. The letter was left to the museum in Hester Pengelly’s will in the 1930s along with roughly 3,500 other autographs and letters, but was forgotten and sat in a file box until it was discovered in 1989. The museum is considering auctioning off the letter to raise money for an endowment fund that is intended to keep the museum open, despite the sale being contrary to the terms of Pengelly’s bequest. Austen’s letter references an upcoming novel by the author entitled First Impressions, which was later re-titled Pride and Prejudice when it was published 14 years later.
See Stephanie Linning, Previously Unseen Letter by Jane Austen Where She First Writes About Pride and Prejudice Goes on Public Display for the First Time, Daily Mail, Dec. 6, 2014.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
