Fanny Palmer Austen and Sense and Sensibility: Artifact and Appreciation

Fig. 1: A first edition of Sense and Sensibility in original boards.[1]

The publication of Sense and Sensibility was an event of huge significance for Jane Austen because it was her first novel to be printed. This occasion was greeted with pride and enthusiasm by her immediate family. Over the winter of 1810 the manuscript had been accepted by the publisher, Thomas Egerton, upon commission at the author’s expense. By November 1811, an initial print run of 750-1000 copies became available. One of these sets of three volumes was received by Fanny Palmer Austen. What were Fanny Austen’s responses to her copy and its contents?

Fig.2: Title page of a first edition. [2]

Authenticating Fanny’s Copy

Fanny Austen’s copy of Sense and Sensibility has been identified as a first edition held in the Houghton Library at Harvard University.[3]  Volume 1 is autographed on the title page with the inscription “Mrs. Charles Austen,” followed (in what looks like a different hand) by the words “given by her Sister in law Miss Jane Austen.” This reference to Jane could well be a later addition, perhaps written by a subsequent member of the Austen family who wanted to identify this copy as an Austen family artefact, once belonging the wife of Jane Austen’s sailor brother, Captain Charles John Austen. The wording “sister in law” has a modern ring. In the 18th-19th centuries the designation “sister,” was commonly used to refer to a brother’s wife. Volume 2 is inscribed “Frances F. Austen.” The “F” stands for “Fitzwilliams,” Fanny’s second forename.     

 Acquiring her Copy

Fanny’s arrival with Charles and their two young daughters in England in mid 1811 allowed her and Jane Austen to meet and get to know each other in person. Fanny was already aware that Sense and Sensibility was being brought to publication. She was also privy to the family secret that Jane was the author, although the title page would state that it was by “A Lady.”  Although Austen might be expected to share copies with her six siblings, she appears to have bypassed her brother, Charles, in favour of his wife, Fanny. Perhaps she knew he would be delighted by this mark of recognition of his beloved wife. Maybe this was an overture of friendship to a sister she was getting to know better. In any case, they would likely enjoy the novel together, perhaps reading it aloud to each other. As the couple would soon establish a home for their family on board HMS Namur (74 guns), maybe they shared Fanny’s copy at sea, in flickering candlelight to the accompanying sound of the wind and the waves. Such a scenario would have particularly pleased the novel’s romantically minded heroine, Marianne Dashwood.

Fanny as an Appreciative Reader

Fig. 3: Marianne and Elinor [5]

There are no records of Fanny’s reaction to Sense and Sensibility, but it is intriguing to speculate about her responses to the novel set against the circumstances of her life. Sometimes themes in a novel resonate with the situation and interests of the reader. Sense and Sensibility is about two very different, but intimately connected sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. The dynamics of sisterly relations were also an important feature of Fanny’s own family life. She had a very strong bond with her eldest sister, Esther, who was her correspondent, confident, supporter and adviser, as well as an empathetic listener when Fanny needed to speak her mind.[4] It would not be surprising if Fanny found the practical and sensible older sister, Elinor, in Sense and Sensibility, reminiscent of her own sister, Esther, who like Elinor, was vitally interested in a younger sister’s happiness, well being and security. Fanny would surely be fascinated by Austen’s sensitive exploration of sisterly relations, and how Austen conveys the range and subtlety of the communications between Elinor and Marianne.  

Fanny came to Sense and Sensibility as a young woman of twenty-one years. Six years earlier, she had met by chance and had fallen deeply in love with a tall, very handsome, and charming naval officer, Charles Austen. He was in command of his first ship, HMS Indian (18 guns) and fortuitously, his assignment to the British Navy’s North American station lasted long enough to allow their courtship and marriage to occur in the idyllic setting of Bermuda. Given this recent romantic history, the theme of courtship and marriage in Sense and Sensibility may also have had a special resonance for Fanny. It would be scarcely surprising if she were drawn to the plight of the novels’ heroines, as they navigated the barriers to finding lasting love and happy marriages.

Fig. 4: St Peter’s Church, St George’s, Bermuda, where Fanny and Charles Austen were married, 18 May 1807.

As a reader, Fanny entered an immensely entertaining fictional world. Sense and Sensibility offered her the delight of reading finely crafted prose and the pleasure of getting to know a cast of cleverly drawn characters. Fanny had a keen eye for human behaviour and foibles. In letters written from Halifax in 1810, she paints a vivid picture of the forceful Lady Warren who delighted in organizing others irrespective of their wishes; she conveys a precise impression of the charming, socially adept, British army officer, Col. Orde. Given that Fanny had an eye for individuality in character, she could be expected to relish the scheming and simpering Lucy Steele as she rivals Elinor Dashwood for Edward Ferrar’s love, and the cruel and selfish, Fanny Dashwood.[6] Fanny Austen could laugh about the activities of the bumbling but well-meaning party planner, Sir John Middleton. She might be temporarily attracted to, but later alarmed, by the smooth talking, handsome cad, John Willoughby.

Fanny received her copy at a propitious moment. She was soon to enter upon a life aboard HMS Namur, bereft of female company and support. Her letters from this period provide articulate and revealing accounts of her predicament. A book of the calibre of Sense and Sensibility must have been a boon indeed. Yet its possession surely had additional importance for Fanny. Owning her own copy, which was also a gift from the author, made her feel particularly welcomed by this talented new sister. The collegial spirit accompanying the gift augured well for the mutually supportive relationship which was to develop between Fanny and Jane.[7] In a sense Fanny’s receipt of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in 1811 was a gift which kept on giving.  

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[1] Courtesy of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Fanny’s copy was later bound in “modern full calf gilt by Bartlett & Co., Boston.” See David Gilson, A Bibliography of Jane Austen (1982),11.

[2] Lilly Library, Indiana University.

[3] It is catalogued as EC8. Au747.811s (B).

[4] Fanny’s letters to Esther are transcribed in Sheila Johnson Kindred, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister, hereafter JATS, MQUP, 2017, 2018. See 52-53; 55-56; 60-61; 62; 64-66; 68-69;102-104; 154-157 as well as Esther’s letter about Fanny, written to Charles in July 1808, 214-15.

[5] Illustration by Hugh Thompson. Marianne has just sighted Willoughby at a London party. Sense and Sensibility, vol.2, chapter 6, 1896 edition. 

[6] Tom Keymer aptly describes Fanny Dashwood as a “one-woman Goneril and Regan show.” See Keymer, Jane Austen, writing, society and politics (2020), 66.

[7] See JATS, 119-121, 134-137, 192-207.