Did the author of North and South read Pride and Prejudice? Is there a pattern in the Gaskell's reading to be discovered? Let's get into it 👀

TRANSCRIPT:
If you comb through Elizabeth Gaskell’s letters you won’t find Jane Austen mentioned. But where you will find Austen’s name is in the Gaskell family’s Borrowing Record at the Portico Library. The account is in William’s name, and Elizabeth and all her daughters had to borrow on his account. The records date from 1850 and document the family’s borrowing for the last 15 years of Elizabeth’s life, when she published the vast majority of her works.

Four of Austen’s novels are mentioned: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. There were 6 people borrowing on this account so how do we figure out if Elizabeth was the one who was reading Austen? The short answer is, we can't. However, what we do know is that Elizabeth was in charge of her daughter’s education and reading, and that the family regularly discussed what they were reading. And, Austen's name does not stand alone in the borrowing logs. In fact, around borrowing Austen, there's a lot of other titles by women writers who inspired Austen or nineteenth century writers who were inspired by Austen