Jane Austen, Riddle Books, and Family Charades with Francesca Kavanagh

Saturday 25 Oct 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Early in Jane Austen’s Emma, Harriet Smith begins to collect and transcribe “all the riddles of every sort that she could meet with into a thin quarto of hot-pressed paper, made up by her friend”. Her friend is the titular heroine, Emma Woodhouse. Together, these young ladies begin to compile all the riddles they can find into a bound volume for personal use.

Collecting excerpts and riddles was a popular practice in the first decades of the nineteenth century and there are examples of similar riddle books belonging to the Austen family.This lecture analyses these riddle books (real and fictional) as representations of the relationships between the collectors.

Francesca Kavanagh is a Lecturer in English at La Trobe University. Her current research focuses on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women’s reading and writing practices with a particular interest in material culture. Her other research interests include the Gothic, and cultures of fandom from Romanticism to the present. Her work on Jane Austen’s nieces has been published in The Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies. Her other work has been published in The EighteenthCentury: Theory and Interpretation (online supplement) and European Romantic Review. She has previously lectured at The Johnston Collection on the library of Jane Austen’s extended family.

This program is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the lecture, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This lecture is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our exhibition-house, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

Image: Thomson, Hugh (1860-1920). "Able to take an interest in their employment." Illustration to Emma, by Jane Austen, Macmillan, 1896.

Book Tickets

Adult $25

$ 25.00 ea

Student/Concession $23.00

$ 23.00 ea