ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

The Lost Books of Jane Austen is the title of a book by an American, Janine Barchas. How exciting it sounds! What are these lost books of Jane Austen, and is she about to unveil some undiscovered, unpublished manuscripts to the world? A couple of years ago a book that is possibly an unknown early work by Austen was reprinted: Two Girls of Eighteen, edited by P.J. Allen.    Sadly, there are no such revelations in Barchas's book. The title merely refers to the many different editions of Austen's novels which have appeared over the two centuries since she wrote them, and which Barchas apparently collects.    This is an amusing hobby if you have got the space, and Barchas reproduces countless cover designs and title pages in different styles, typefaces and formats, with or without illustrations, according to shifting tastes, and the sort of readership the edition was aimed at. Some are meant to impress, others to lure the reader with promises of excitement or gooey rom...

These poems are transcribed from a manuscript volume in the possession of one of Elizabeth Craven's direct descendants.  The spine says  in gold leaf “Poems Lady Craven”. The leather-bound volume was given by Craven to her friend Lord Macartney, whose bookplate survives inside the front cover.  Though the  cover is damaged, the handwritten pages are in good condition and perfectly legible. It was  mentioned by Broadley in 1914, when he said it was in the possession of  another member of the family, Lady Helen Forbes née Craven. She had bought it, from a dealer, as there is a price and brief description pencilled inside:  " Most of the poems are unpublished. £5 5s”. From her it was handed down to the present owner. On the first page we find a Dedicatory “Sonnet to the Right Hon Lady Craven, on her Poetical Works, by the Revd Mr Jenner”. I saw fair Craven sit in state... This poem is not a sonnet in the true sense, having 16 lines mostly shor...