THE new £10 note features an image of Jane Austen based on a portrait which can be seen in the Bodleian Library’s exhibition about the life of the author.
The portrait is shown in the frontispiece of A Memoir of Jane Austen, a biography of the novelist published in 1869 by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh.
Prof Kathryn Sutherland, curator of the Which Jane Austen? exhibition, said: “It was a portrait that was commissioned by her nephew 50 years after her death.
“It was published in 1870 and this book really kicked off the craze for Jane Austen.
“It is the first public image ever of the author and it has remained with us as the defining image of her.”
The Bank of England unveiled the new £10 polymer note in Winchester yesterday to mark 200 years since the author’s death and it is due out in September.
The exhibition at the Weston Library in Broad Street runs until October 29.
Visit bodleian.ox.ac.uk
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