And help us to promote even more research on early women writers.

Chawton House Library Reading Room

The Lower Reading Room at Chawton House

Adopt a book, and you will be directly supporting the work of Chawton House and helping take care of more than 15,000 volumes – all accessible to use for research – in the library’s unique collection.

Adopting a book also makes a perfect gift for your bibliophile friends and family.

1. Adopt a book for £25 ($40)

Adopt a book for £25 ($40) by choosing a book from our Librarian’s Selection and receive:

  • A delightful gift card as a keepsake, or to send to the recipient of your gift and showing your adopted book choice
  • A Chawton House bookmark
  • Our thanks for adding one ‘book’ to our target of 2,017 ‘books’.

Adopt a book for £100 ($150) by choosing a book from our Librarian’s Selection And you will also receive:

  • An adoption certificate signed by our Librarian
  • Acknowledgment in The Female Spectator
  • Our thanks for adding five ‘books’ to our ‘target’ of 2,017.

To make a truly lasting contribution to our work, you can choose to make a bespoke adoption for £2,500 ($3,750):

A bespoke adoption allows you to choose your preferred title from across our collection of more than 15,000 volumes – you are not limited to the titles in our Librarian’s Selection.

If you make a bespoke adoption, you will also receive:

  • A record of the adoption in a Journal held in a Reading Room at Chawton House in perpetuity
  • Acknowledgment whenever the book is displayed in the House for 2 years
  • Acknowledgment in our online catalogue for 2 years
  • An invitation from our Librarian for a personal behind the scenes tour for two
  • Our thanks for adding one hundred and fifty ‘books’ to our target of 2,017 books.

Buy as a Gift

Adopting a book also makes a perfect gift for your bibliophile friends and family. By clicking on the ‘Buy as a Gift’ button at the top of the page you can choose a title, provide us with the recipient’s details and the option of including a personal message. If you require further assistance please call us on 01420 541010

Gift Aid your Friendship at no extra cost to you

Chawton House is a registered charity, and Gift Aid is a great way to support us even further. For every £1 you give through your Friendship, we can claim 25p in addition from HM Revenue and Customs at no extra cost to you. Consent to Gift Aid and you will be giving Chawton House at least an extra £9 a year through your Friendship.

You can do this simply by ticking the Gift Aid declaration when you fill out the form to Adopt a Book or by telling us you wish to make a Gift Aid declaration over the phone.

Registered Charity Number 1026921
Registered Company Number 2851718

How to adopt a book

For Options 1 and 2, simply choose your book from our Librarian’s Selection, print and complete the application form, and enclose your donation.

For Option 3, to make a bespoke adoption, please see our online catalogue or contact our Curator, Emma Yandle, on curator@chawtonhouse.org to choose your book.

For any other enquiries about our Adopt A Book scheme, please email info@chawtonhouse.org

Please follow the links to print a form:

Adopt A Book – UK and rest of world [PDF, 209KB]

Adopt A Book – North America  [PDF, 244KB]

‘Let me thank you again and again’

Jane Austen (1775 – 1817), Pride & Prejudice, 1813