Object of the Week: The score for Deck the Halls copied by Jane Austen in her family music book

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Jane Austen played the piano and sang throughout her life. She and her family carefully copied music by hand into personal albums, and collected the sheet music that poured from London presses.

These albums of individually copied or purchased sheet music items, bound together, show the personal tastes of their owners – just as a digital music collection on a mobile phone or MP3 device would today.

In addition to Austen herself, other women in the Austen family, including her sisters-in-law and nieces, all contributed material to the collection.

This copy of a section of Deck the Halls, in Austen's hand, is part of an impressive collection of 18 albums of music containing around 600 pieces that belonged to the 19th century writer and her relations.

See the collection online at https://archive.org/details/austenfamilymusicbooks

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/literary-history/art543466-object-of-the-week-the-score-for-deck-the-halls-written-by-jane-austen