Three evening prayers

de Jane Austen

These are 2 editions of 3 prayers said to be composed by Jane Austen. The following details come from this website: http://www.mirror.org/ken.roberts/austen.prayer1.html: "This is one of three evening prayers known to have been written by Jane Austen. The capitalization shown above is taken from a little booklet "Three Evening Prayers 'composed by my ever dear Sister Jane' and in the Handwriting of Cassandra, Henry and Jane Austen". This booklet was distributed at the 1994 annual general meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America. The introduction says the manuscripts of these prayers were owned by the descendants of Jane Austen's brother Charles Austen. "Each prayer was probably meant to be read or spoken by one person and followed by the 'Our Father' recited by all." The text of the Lord's Prayer shown above is taken from the King James Version of the Bible. The three evening prayers by Jane Austen are reprinted in "Volume VI: Minor Works" (pp. 453-457) of R.W. Chapman's edition of "The Works of Jane Austen" (Oxford, 1954). Another source is "Jane Austen: Catharine and Other Writings", edited by Margaret Anne Doody and Douglas Murray (Oxford World's Classics, Oxford, 1993), an excellent paperback edition of Jane Austen's shorter works." Regarding the Colt Library Edition, this description is from a sale of this book on eBay 06232010 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310227218144: "Colt Press, San Francisco, 1940. First edition. Pictured (see scans) original beige cloth with overall floral-patterned brocade in shades of red, green, and blue; octavo; unpaginated (34)pp. Facsimile of the original letter containing the third prayer at rear. The 3 prayers printed here were put up at auction in 1927 by the Austen family and eventually found their way to the possession of Jane Grabhorn's Colt Press. The first prayer, written on paper with an 1818 watermark and believed to be in the hand of Jane's sister Cassandra bore the inscription "Prayers composed by my ever dear sister Jane;" the second prayer is in the hand of Jane's brother Henry; the third prayer begins in Henry's hand, but is taken over by another hand which has been determined to be that of Jane Austen."