Unfinished Jane Austen Novel Sells For £993,250 at Sotheby’s

Unfinished Jane Austen Novel The Watsons  Sells At Sotheby's For £993,250

The Watsons is a rare and unfinished novel by acclaimed English author Jane Austen that was originally valued by Sotheby’s auction house at £200,000-£300,000.

However when the hammer fell, the manuscript sold for a staggering £993,250, three times above its estimated value.

English Novelist Jane Austen was born in December 1775.

The talented and imaginative writer made her mark as one of most best read and favoured writers in English Literature from her works, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma.

The unfinished novel is set in 1804 and tells the story of a young woman who is returning to her father’s household after being raised by a wealthy aunt.

Much importance has been placed upon this rare Jane Austen find because so few of her draft work has survived.

“This piece of Austen’s work is particularly informative because it is very much a working draft.

“Every page is littered with crossings out, revisions and additional text between some of the lines.

“We are thrilled by the state of the earliest surviving manuscript for a novel by Jane Austen today”, said Sotheby’s Specialist Gabriel Heaton.

In 1816 the novelist began feeling unwell but ignored her declining health, by the middle of that year her condition began to deteriorate dramatically and led to her death the following year.