Jane Austen's Wardrobe
By Hilary Davidson
Yale University Press £25
What did Jane Austen wear on a daily basis?
There are two known watercolours by her sister Cassandra. In Jane Austen's Wardrobe, Austen authority Hilary Davidson forensically unpicks Jane's letters to Cassandra to reveal much more. Only 161 of about 3,000 exist, as Cassandra burned most before her death.
Clothes are discussed frequently and familiarly, but often using arcane fabric terms. The author explains these, as
