Skip to main content

Primary sourceDocument1817

Signature of Jane Austen

Jane Austen · 1817

Jane Austen's own signature, taken from her will of 1817, a direct trace of her handwriting.

Austen's own handwritten signature, a direct physical trace of her from the last year of her life.

Ask Jane Austen about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Black handwritten cursive signature on a white background reading 'Jane Austen', with the J and A in large looping strokes and a period after 'Jane'.
Signature of Jane Austen, from her will, 1817.

About this source

What it is

This is the signature of Jane Austen, taken from her will, which she made in 1817. It shows her name written in her own hand.

Why it matters

A signature is a small but direct physical trace of a historical person, written by their own hand at a real moment in their life. This one connects to the end of Austen's life, when she was settling her affairs.

Look closer

  • What can handwriting tell us about a person that printed text cannot?
  • Why do legal documents like wills require a signature?
  • What does the survival of this document tell us about how Austen's family preserved her memory?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jane Austen on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Jane Austen sources

Meet the AI Jane Austen →
Scan of the title page of the first edition, volume one, of Pride and Prejudice: A Novel, in three volumes, by the author of Sense and Sensibility. London, printed for T. Egerton, Military Library, Whitehall, 1813.Book

Primary source

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen · 1813

A printed portrait illustration of a woman, used as a frontispiece in a book of Jane Austen's novels.Painting

Secondary source

Portrait of Jane Austen, Winchester Edition

1898

Title page of the first edition of Emma, Vol. I. Text reads: EMMA: A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY THE AUTHOR OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, &c. &c. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, 1816. Cream-colored paper with black serif type.Book

Primary source

Emma

Jane Austen · 1815

Title page of the 1818 first edition of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, printed in London by John Murray, Albemarle-Street. Text reads: Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion. By the author of Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield-Park, &c. With a biographical notice of the author. In four volumes. Vol. I.Book

Primary source

Persuasion

Jane Austen · 1817 (title page dated 1818)

Title page of the first edition of Sense and Sensibility, a novel in three volumes, by a Lady, Vol. I, London, printed for the author and published by T. Egerton, Whitehall, 1811.Book

Primary source

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen · 1811

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Jane Austen now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions