Jane Austen museum appeals to public for help deciphering brother’s memoir

Museum officer Rebecca Wood holding the manuscript by Frank Austen. Photograph: Andrew Croft/Solent News & Photo Agency

There may be gems about Jane Austen’s life and times buried in a memoir handwritten by her older brother – but it is proving difficult to decipher his tricky handwriting.

So museum curators at her old cottage in the Hampshire village of Chawton are asking Austen enthusiasts across the world if they can help transcribe the newly acquired 78-page document.