A gift guide
Jane Austen gifts
Seventeen ideas for the Austen reader in your life
The best Jane Austen gifts give a reader more of what they love about her: more of her words, a closer view of her world, or a way to step into the novels themselves. Here are seventeen ideas for Pride and Prejudice fans and every other Janeite, from stocking fillers to a day at the house where she wrote.
A pair of portraits as Elizabeth and Darcy, painted from two photos in the Jane Austen Photo Studio app.
Jane Austen gifts at a glance
| Gift | Best for | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| A Regency portrait of them, or of you both | Couples, sisters, book clubs | Free to a few pounds |
| A beautiful or annotated edition | Readers who reread | Modest to splurge |
| Her letters | Fans who have read all six novels | Modest |
| A day at Chawton or Bath | Anyone in reach of Hampshire or Somerset | Splurge |
| A letter-writing set | Letter writers, Darcy fans | Modest |
| Quote cards, bookmarks, totes | Stocking fillers, Secret Santa | Small |
A Regency portrait: the gift they will not have already
Every Austen reader owns the novels. Almost none of them has a portrait of themselves as Elizabeth Bennet. Jane Austen Photo Studio, our iPhone app, paints a person as any of sixty characters from the six novels, each in their own scene and true Regency dress, from a single photo.
- For a couple: paint one of you as Elizabeth and the other as Darcy, or as Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, and frame the pair for an anniversary or a wedding.
- For sisters: make the Bennet sisters with your own: Jane, Elizabeth and Lydia are all in the app.
- For a book club: give everyone their character, then reveal them over the next meeting.
- For yourself, as a card: sit as their favourite character and send the portrait with a line from the novel.
The first three portraits are free; after that, packs start at £2.99 with no subscription. Only use photos of people who are happy for you to, and the app needs an iPhone with iOS 17 or later.
Books: fine editions, annotations and her letters
- A beautiful edition of their favourite novel. Clothbound and illustrated editions make the most of a book they already love. Look for ones reproducing the 1890s illustrations by Hugh Thomson or C. E. Brock, like those on our site.
- An annotated edition. Annotated editions of Pride and Prejudice and the other novels explain the money, manners, dances and carriages on every page, and transform a reread.
- Her letters. Jane Austen’s Letters, edited by Deirdre Le Faye, collects the roughly 160 that survive: funny, gossipy and sharp. The best gift for someone who has read all six novels.
- The whole set. For a new reader, all six novels together, perhaps with our guide to which to read first tucked inside.
- A first edition facsimile or a vintage copy. Second-hand bookshops often have handsome early twentieth-century editions for less than a new hardback.
Experiences: Chawton, Bath and a Regency ball
- A day at Jane Austen’s House, Chawton. The cottage in Hampshire where she lived from 1809 and wrote or revised all six novels, with her writing table, her letters and the patchwork quilt she made with her mother and sister. Pair it with Chawton House nearby, her brother Edward’s manor.
- A weekend in Bath. She lived there from 1801 to 1806 and set much of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion there. The city holds a Jane Austen Festival each September, with a costumed promenade.
- Winchester. Her grave in the cathedral and the house in College Street where she died make a quiet, moving day out.
- A Regency dance class or ball. Many towns have English country dance groups and costumed balls; a ticket and a lesson make a memorable present for a couple.
Check each venue’s own website for opening times, tickets and this year’s events. For her life story before you go, read our Jane Austen biography.
Bring the Regency home
- A letter-writing set. Good paper, a dip pen or quill, ink and sealing wax. Austen’s novels turn on letters, from Darcy’s at Rosings to Wentworth’s in Persuasion, and her own letters are how we know her.
- Fine tea and a pretty teapot. Tea was the drink of every Austen drawing room. Add a card with Mrs Bennet’s nerves or Mr Collins’s compliments.
- Something to wear. A shawl, a reticule (the small drawstring bag of the period), gloves or a straw bonnet, for costume events or simply for pleasure. Our guide to Regency era fashion explains what was worn.
- A needlework kit. Austen sewed beautifully, and her letters are full of trimmings and gowns. An embroidery or patchwork kit inspired by the period suits a patient fan.
Stocking fillers and Secret Santa
- Quote cards or prints. Choose lines word for word from the novel (our Pride and Prejudice quotes are all checked), not the misquotes on many products.
- A bookmark with the first line. “It is a truth universally acknowledged…” never gets old.
- A tote bag for the library. Practical, and every Austen fan carries books.
Check the quotation on any Austen product before you buy. “You have bewitched me, body and soul” and “I love you. Most ardently” are not in the novel.
A Jane Austen Christmas
Christmas in Austen’s novels is a season of visits rather than presents. The Gardiners come from London “to spend the Christmas at Longbourn” in Pride and Prejudice, bringing Elizabeth her favourite aunt’s good sense. In Emma, Mr Weston announces that “at Christmas every body invites their friends about them”, and Mr Elton chooses the carriage home from the Christmas Eve party to propose to Emma. In Persuasion the Musgroves’ house at Uppercross is full of children, cold pies and “a roaring Christmas fire”.
Her own birthday falls on 16 December, which makes the Christmas season doubly hers: a good moment to give a fan her letters, or a portrait of themselves as her heroine.
Your questions
Questions about Jane Austen gifts
Anything else? Write to us at [email protected].
What is a good gift for a Jane Austen fan?
Something that gives them more of her: a fine or annotated edition, her letters, a visit to her house at Chawton or to Bath, or a Regency portrait of themselves as their favourite character.
What do you buy someone who loves Pride and Prejudice?
An illustrated or annotated edition of the novel, a print of a favourite line checked against the text, a letter-writing set in honour of Darcy’s letter, or a pair of portraits as Elizabeth and Darcy.
Can I give a Jane Austen Photo Studio portrait as a gift?
Yes, by making it yourself in the app from a photo of someone who is happy for you to use it, or by making a pair of you both. The app does not sell gift codes.
Where can I visit Jane Austen’s home?
Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire, is the cottage where she lived from 1809 and wrote or revised all six novels. It is open to visitors as a museum.
What is a Janeite?
A devoted fan of Jane Austen. The word has been used since the late nineteenth century.
Keep reading
More from the novels
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Jane Austen biography
Her life, her family, her six novels and her birthday
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The best Jane Austen book
All six novels, ranked, with the order they were published
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Pride and Prejudice quotes
The best lines, word for word, with the chapter and the scene
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Mr Darcy
Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, the hero of Pride and Prejudice
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Elizabeth Bennet
The quick, laughing heroine of Pride and Prejudice
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Regency era fashion
What women and men wore in Jane Austen’s England
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a person in possession of a good likeness must be in want of a portrait.
Jane Austen Photo Studio is free to download for iPhone, and your first three Regency portraits are on the house.
Download on theApp Store 
On a computer? Scan with your iPhone camera.