Jane Austen Christmas gift books

Two of the books I received for Christmas were Jane Austen-related: this gorgeous edition of Persuasion, with real letters and paper items from the story, and a lovely edition of some of Jane Austen's letters with illustrations from the period. I read them both during winter break. Ah, winter break; how I miss thee. All I did was sit around and read books.

 

Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen book, and the letters and calling cards etc. are done up in the most beautiful calligraphy. They are all printed/written on paper that really looks like it came from the 1800s, spots and all. Each item is held in a somewhat sheer vellum? slip cover/envelope thing that is bound into the book right after the pertinent page, and it's fun to pull out and unfold each item to read it. Despite being cursive, each letter was easy to read; the font size is bigger than extant letters of the period precisely for this reason (legibility). I would be completely unable to read one of those tiny handwriting, crisscrossing letters. A map of Bath is included, so you can find the places mentioned in the book if you want. I love the cover, with its gilt handwriting from Wentworth's letter. They are quite expensive, and understandably so. Highly recommended for Austen fans! 4.5 stars. Trigger warnings: a character jumps from a height and hits her head, incurring head trauma; said character is in a coma for a while, implied ableism, poverty, implied parental emotional neglect, a disabled character has her rights and property withheld, man in his 30s dates 19 and 20 year old girls, classism, implied ageism, lookism, past off-page deaths

The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen includes some of Jane's letters along with illustrations from books, newspapers, and magazines etc. of the Regency period. You'll read a letter from Jane when she was staying in a certain village, and a drawing or painting of the village by somebody, maybe even someone known by Jane, will be included. A letter where Jane mentions what she's wearing  to a ball is  accompanied by a fashion illustration of the style of dress, etc. The letters are split up according to seasons in her life, with an essay at the beginning of each section that talks about what was going on in her life then. After each letter, a short explanation of who Jane is talking about is given. This was fun to read, but still a bit of work due to all the essays. Jane was hilarious. My only quibble: in one letter, Jane told her sister about a gallery she visited and saw a painting of "Mrs. Bingley" aka Jane from Pride & Prejudice, and the painting was not included. Okay, so it's only "assumed to be" the painting Jane was talking about, but it wouldn't have hurt to include it. Here it is, in case you're wondering. I recommend this book for Jane Austen fans as well. 4 stars. Trigger warnings: stillbirth mention, Jane makes a mean joke at the bereaved parents' expense; corpse mentions, death, illness. That's all I can think of