Jane Austen’s portable mahogany desk was bought by her dad The Rev George Austen in Basingstoke at Ring Brothers in Dec 1794 as a present for his daughter born 16th Dec 1775. They lived 7 miles away at Steventon Parsonage where in 1796 she began the 1st draft of Pride and Prejudice. [432 × 603]

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**Jane Austen’s Desk** at the British Library

> A wooden writing desk used by Jane Austen which was given to her by her father in 1794. This portable ‘writing-box’ opens to provide a slope on which to write. It has various compartments, including a space for an ink pot and a lockable drawer for paper and valuables. When Austen died in 1817, aged 41, the desk was inherited by her sister Cassandra. It was later passed down through her eldest brother’s family. In 1999, Joan Austen-Leigh, Jane Austen’s great-great-great-niece, generously presented it to the British Library. […]

More views (Regency camera?): https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100165439119.0x000001

Image Source: British Library

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**The History of Jane Austen’s Writing Desk**

[…]

> I should have begun my letter soon after our arrival but for a little adventure which prevented me. After we had been here a quarter of an hour it was discovered that my writing and dressing boxes had been by accident put into a chaise which was just packing off as we came in, and were driven away towards Gravesend in their way to the West Indies. No part of my property could have been such a prize before, for in my writing-box was all my worldly wealth, 7l., Mr Nottley immediately despatched a man and horse after the chaise, and in half an hour’s time I had the pleasure of being as rich as ever; they were got about two or three miles off.

[…]

> Jane Austen’s desk is nicely fitted with a long drawer, a place for an inkwell, penknife, and quills, and a compartment that can be opened easily with space for correspondence, spectacles and string, manuscripts and sealing wax.

[…]

https://jasna.org/persuasions/printed/number30/welland.pdf

(If you’re interested, I suspect that 7l. was Jane Austen’s shorthand for 7 Pounds and possibly some change. The form was £,s,d from the late 17th Century but more casually the original l,s,d (libra, solidus, denarius) was still used)

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**Jane Austen’s Letters**

https://ia601401.us.archive.org/25/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.198138/2015.198138.Jane-Austens-Letters-To-Her-Sister-Cassandra-And-Others.pdf

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