Jane Austen's holograph fiction manuscripts: a digital and print resource

Jane Austen's fiction manuscripts are the first significant body of holograph evidence for any British novelist. They represent every stage of her writing career and a variety of physical states: working drafts, fair copies, and handwritten publications for private circulation. The manuscripts were held in a single collection until 1845, when at her sister Cassandra's death they were dispersed. Digitization will enable their virtual reunification and provide the first opportunity to make simultaneous comparison of their different physical and conceptual states; it will facilitate systematic study of Austen's working practices across her career, a remarkably neglected area of scholarship.

The project will digitise all images from the surviving holographic manuscripts, sided by a diplomatic, interactive and fully searchable transcription.