Jane Austen at the Morgan

Several weeks ago, I heard about a Jane Austen exhibit at the Morgan Library in New York. I booked a train up for a day, and visited earlier this month and it was just lovely! 

I had never been to the Morgan before. Honestly it's very small & expensive, so unless there's an exhibition that's particularly interesting, I'm not sure I would recommend it as a must see. That being said, I was grateful to see the library rooms and the gardens in addition to the exhibition. It will shock no one that I spent a lot of time judging the book selection and picking apart the artwork on the ceiling. 

On to the main event!

A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 is all about Jane's life and works in celebration of the 250th anniversary of her birth. The first half of the exhibit was essentially a biography, charting her family's life, her earliest ventures into writing encouraged by her father, her publishing journey (Sense and Sensibility was originally published without her name, "by a Lady"), and her death. This section was just a delight to meander through. She's been one of my favorite authors for almost 20 years, but I was surprised how much I did not know about her life and family. 

I was most touched by her relationship with her sister, Cassandra. It made the sister relationships in her books even more sweet to me. It all became too much when I came upon a letter that Cassandra wrote after Jane died: 

"I have lost a treasure, such a Sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed, - She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, & it is as if I lost a part of myself."

I cried right there in the gallery, and have teared up every time I've read this quote since. What a gift it is to have a sister.

The second half of the exhibition told about the spread of her popularity throughout the world over time, due in no small part to American readers who latched on to her works during her life and after. I found myself misty-eyed as I thought about Jane, full of self doubt as a young novelist and wholly unaware of the resounding impact she would have. And I was reminded of myself at age 13, reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time for school, and falling in love with Jane's world.

It was more than worth the trip, and I'll always be grateful I got to experience it.