We stopped by the Jane Austen Centre at 40 Gay Street. The Centre focuses on the years that Austen spent living in Bath which gave her the most fodder for her later novels. The building where the Centre is located is not actually one of the places Austen lived in while in Bath. It is, however, very similar to the house at 25 Gay Street. Both of the houses were built between 1735 and 1760 by the same architects, John Wood the Elder and John Wood the Younger.
Upon entering the Centre, you are taken upstairs for a brief lecture about Austen's history, her family, and her time in Bath. The tour guide then led us down to the permanent exhibition area. The permanent exhibit is devoted to the time that Austen lived in Bath, 1801 to 1806. I liked that the area and the time of the books were really put into context. For example, there was an explanation about salaries and how much a man would have to be worth in order to have various things like multiple servants or a carriage.
One interesting display was the Mystery Dress. This dress was found in pieces in a bag by an antiques dealer. They were able to painstakingly reconstruct the dress and it looks so beautiful! For more information, click on the picture of the sign to see a bigger picture.
Inside the permanent exhibit, there was a temporary exhibit about the costumes used for a ITV presentation of Persuasion. After seeing all of the costumes, I really wanted to see the show!
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