Jane Austen: A Woman of Letters
The post-office has a great charm at one period of our lives. When you have lived to my age, you will begin to think letters are never worth going through the rain for."
There was a little blush, and then this answer, "I must not hope to be ever situated as you are, in the midst of every dearest connexion, and therefore I cannot expect that simply growing older should make me indifferent about letters."
"Indifferent! Oh! no—I never conceived you could become indifferent. Letters are no matter of indifference; they are generally a very positive curse."
"You are speaking of letters of business; mine are letters of friendship."
"I have often thought them the worst of the two," replied he coolly. "Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does."
-Conversation between Jane Fairfax and John Knightley in Emma by Jane Austen
Throughout the 18th century letter-writing was intertwined with many societal changes. From improvement of the Royal Mail and growth of literacy to empire expanding and people migrating further from home, letter-writing became an integral part of English culture. What was once mostly confined to the upper classes filtered through the growing middle class and beyond. Letter-writing became the hallmark of an informed and connected culture.
Just as there are customs that have developed with texting or sending emails today, during Jane Austen’s life, there were particular rules and expectations for writing and receiving letters. To this point, there were over 250 editions of letter-writing manuals in the 18th century alone, which speaks to the great interest people had in writing a good letter. Notable among these was The Ladies Complete Letter-Writer. Released in 1763, it was the first manual marketed exclusively towards women. Other manuals with amusing titles include The Entertaining Correspondent (1759) and The Lover’s Instructor (1770). By the 19th century, there was endless advice on how to avoid social faux pas or being a tiresome bore when it came to letter-writing..
From the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University
Etiquette and style were one thing, but there were practical considerations as well. Postage was no insignificant matter, and since the recipient was responsible for payment, it was expected that the paper be filled (as postage was partly calculated based on number and size of sheets). In 1813, Jane Austen is believed to have received twenty letters which would have cost her around £12. That would have been over ten percent of her income that year! Size of the letter and distance traveled meant that a letter she received from her brother Frank that year when he wrote from the Baltic Coast, cost her a full two shillings and three pence. Most of the letters she received would have cost her around six pence, but of course, she would not have thought twice about paying for a such a letter from a faraway loved one. The willingness to pay a significant portion of your income towards receiving letters speaks to their incredible importance in the life of an early 19th century woman.
Thus, often letters were packed tightly with information because, in addition to the postage, the paper itself was quite an expense. Austen wrote most of her letters on 'quarto’ size paper. There were a large variety of paper sizes and qualities, but letter-writing manuals would have recommended that very size of paper and that it be of a "fine gilt". Beyond this, letters were also expected to be written in an elegant hand. Jane used English ‘round hand’ which was taught in schools from the late 17th to the early 20th century.
Paper sizes were based on how many times a full sheet was folded to make that size. Thus, a 'quarto' had been folded four times. The quarto size would be about 7 3/4″ wide by 9 5/8″ high.
She would have written her letters with goose quills, which were rather inconsistent in quality and finicky in nature. They broke easily and needed constant recutting. Ink was also of variable quality. Jane’s ink was often a homemade iron gall recipe, which has held up rather well over the years. Once written, rather than slipping one's precious letter in an envelope, it was far more common to fold the letter, leaving a window for the address. Finally, it would be sealed with the use of wafers that were placed under the flap which adhered by moistening and using pressure. However, seals were more official and were used when writing to superiors. They ensured privacy and authenticity.
Letter showing how the writing filled the page around the address window from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, May 5, 1801.
In reality, privacy was limited when writing and receiving letters. They were read aloud to family and friends, just as Emma's "great talker upon little matters", Miss Bates, read and reread the letters of Jane Fairfax to anyone who would listen. Besides, a well-bred young woman should not have secrets. Their male counterparts did write letters of course, however, it was more thought of as a woman’s responsibility to keep up correspondence with relations, friends, and acquaintances. So, letter-writing was also believed to be a feminine way of expressing oneself. Emma was sure that Robert Martin did not write the letter in which he proposed to Harriet Smith. When asked by Harriet if she considered it a good letter, Emma says, "so good a letter, Harriet, that every thing considered, I think one of his sisters must have helped him." Below, is another literary example relating to letter-writing being "peculiarly female".
Conversation between Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland about letter-writing in Northanger Abbey.
For a woman’s part, letter-writing gave her agency in a male-dominated world, giving and receiving information when often confined to a restricted domestic existence. Letter-writing was important in Jane Austen’s development as a writer, but it was, of course, very much an integral part of her day to day life. Whether she was writing to a brother away in his naval duties, her dear sister whenever they were apart, or in matters of business with a publisher, letters were essential. In fact, her brother Henry connected her talents as a novelist to her aptitude for writing a good letter.
During the 18th century, letters were the primary source of written narrative and were the basis for the rise of the novel. In Austen's youth, epistolary novels were in their heyday, and mimicking her favorites is how she began as an author of novels. Works from her juvenilia and Lady Susan were in this form, and what is more, it is believed that both Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice were originally written as epistolary novels.
Although she pivoted away from the epistolary form to the third-person narrative in her novels, letters remained a key part of her story-telling, reflecting how indispensable a role they played in day to day life and the transmission of news. In Sense and Sensibility, forty-three notes are mentioned, twenty-six letters appear, and six letters are given in full. The ghost of the epistolary form remained.
With great effect, Jane Austen could relinquish the power of the narrator to the point of view of a character and allow the audience to immerse themselves in the experience of the reader. For example, the we may experience Elinor’s shock and anger as Willoughby’s letter is presented in full. It is as if the reader is there in Elinor’s place directly experiencing the moment. In Austen's novels full letters such as this are pivotal in plot or establishing character, friendly letters are usually summarized or merely mentioned, and rarely are the heroine’s letters spoken of in detail, if mentioned at all. The only letters we see from Jane Austen’s heroines are one short letter from Elizabeth Bennet to her Aunt Gardiner and one short letter from Fanny Price to Mary Crawford.
Two of the most significant letters in her novels give characters a chance for an uninterrupted long monologue. This includes Mr. Darcy’s letter that works as a confessional and provides much needed background information when he writes to Elizabeth explaining his history with Wickham, his hesitation to propose, and his interference in Bingley’s courtship of Jane. Then there is, in my opinion, the ultimate Austen letter, which is Wentworth’s letter to Anne. It also functions as a confessional, finally revealing his feelings and his struggles. In reading the letter, one can understand the process of Wentworth overcoming his pride, hurt, and anger to finally realize that he was still in love with Anne. Many readers feel as Anne Elliot herself when she said that there was no recovering from such a letter.
Biographically, we have been left with scant knowledge of Jane Austen as a person. Having only moderate success in her short lifetime (and being an anonymous woman author), most of what we know came later from Henry Austen’s biographical notice in the posthumous publishing of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, memories from nieces and nephews, and a portion of the letters that she wrote. Most of these letters were written to her sister, Cassandra, her closest companion, who committed the ultimate sin (according to would-be biographers) by burning most of her letters in the 1840s. Many have bemoaned that the remaining letters are not the windows into Jane Austen’s soul that would expound on her deepest thoughts or her literary genius. What exists is a modest collection of about 160 letters, with 94 of them being to Cassandra. They are full of the mundane, but sprinkled with wit. If nothing else, Jane’s letters to Cassandra remind us that she was human, while the iconic letters she included in her novels remind us that she was extraordinary.
Sources:
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Leduc, G. (2015). Letters and Letter-Writing in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1811) Études anglaises, . 68(3), 296-315.
Devine, J. A. (2021). The Historical and Cultural Aspects of Jane Austen’s Letters. In The Routledge Companion to Jane Austen (1st ed., pp. 95–105). Routledge.
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Whyman, S. (2009). The Pen and the People: English Letter Writers 1660-1800 (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I. (2014). In search of Jane Austen : the language of the letters / Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade. Oxford University Press.
Ford, S. A. (2008). “To be above vulgar economy”: thrifty measures in Jane Austen’s letters. Persuasions : The Jane Austen Journal (Print Version), 30(30), 216-.
Matassa, Susan E. 2022. “Reading Character in Correspondence: Revelatory Narratives in the Letters of Persuasion.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal 44 (January): 247.
Knoepflmacher, U. C. (1967). The Importance of Being Frank: Character and Letter-Writing in Emma. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 7(4), 639–658.
Kerhervé, A., Alain Kerhervé, & Valérie Capdeville. (2019). A theory of British epistolary sociability? In British Sociability in the Long Eighteenth Century (NED-New edition, pp. 145–162). Boydell & Brewer.
The Ladies Complete Letter-Writer (1763) - Cambridge Scholars Publishing. (2025).
Cambridgescholars.com.
Images:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Letter from Jane Austen, 5th May 1801" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-1100322205 Accessed: 2025-04-16 18:59:49
km55. (2022, November 3). The ladies complete letter-writer | Recent Antiquarian Acquisitions. Yale.edu.
https://campuspress.yale.edu/lewiswalpole/the-ladies-complete-letter-writer/
Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering. By Edward Johnston; a Project Gutenberg eBook. (2024). Gutenberg.org. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47089/47089-h/47089-h.htm
