MEET

“Genius Jane”

Our fifth annual
limited-edition bobblehead
for anyone who donates $250 or more

Genius Jane is offering you her six novels with pride and hopes you will read them yet again and with even greater pleasure.

You’ll notice that the carpet she stands on is modeled on the diamond coverlet that Jane, Cassandra, and Mrs. Austen hand pieced. She wears a bonnet that seems eerily like one worn by a celebrated actress in a well-known film adaptation. Admit it, she’s adorable.

She will look spectacular on your bookshelf and will be happy to keep you company as you read one of her novels or one by her sister novelists.

Be a Friend to Chawton House

In past years, the North American Friends of Chawton House introduced you to Celebrity Jane, Creative Jane, Capability Jane, and Culinary Jane, and your generous donations helped fund projects in the house, garden, landscape, and library as well as expand Chawton House's online programming.

This year, Chawton House celebrates the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth with Genius Jane, the last of the series. This will be your final chance to acquire a NAFCH bobblehead—once the anniversary year ends, the mold will be broken.

Genius Jane can be had for a donation of $250 or more to the North American Friends, and all proceeds go directly to Chawton House to help with their current large-scale project: cataloging, preserving, and organizing the books, notes, documents, and antique prints collected by eminent Austen scholar Deirdre Le Faye (1933–2020), who chose to leave her astonishing scholarly archive to Chawton House.

These historical and scholarly materials supported Le Faye’s documentary biographies Jane Austen: A Family Record and A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family, 1600-2000 and the authoritative editions she prepared of Austen’s collected letters and those of her outlandish cousin Eliza de Feuillide.

Le Faye’s important collection of books, artworks, and papers is a treasure trove for Austen scholars, and they will join the materials in the Library to help the next generation of both academic researchers and “sisters of the pen.” The North American Friends are happy to be helping support this valuable work.

Invite Genius Jane into your home and help support Chawton House. Jane Austen in all her guises thanks you.