The author of our favorite Jane Austen biography (and many other books), Elizabeth Jenkins, has died at age 104. If you haven’t had a chance to read her JA bio, try to track down a copy. Other bios may have surpassed it in scholarship (and making-stuff-upship) but we can’t think of one that tops it in sheer readability and just plain good writing. It’s not in print, but it’s easy to track down a used copy or find it at your library via inter-library loan.
Miss Jenkins also was one of the founders of the Jane Austen Society and very much involved in the early work of securing Chawton Cottage and converting it into a museum and a place of pilgrimage for all Janeites.
AustenBlog 
Sad to hear it. I own The Princes in The Tower by Elizabeth Jenkins (1992) and her biography titled Elizabeth the Great. I’ll have to look for the Jane Austen bio as well, for soem reason it has previously been off my radar.
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This is sad news. I agree with you that hers was one of the best JA biographies I have read. I also remember her from the 1995 BBC documentary on JA titled Presumption, which sadly has not been released in DVD region 1 (only the E4 DVD region 2 in Spain has it).
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As far as my knowledge goes, she lived a modest quiet life of a novelist, historian and biographer.
Works by Elizabeth Jenkins:
“Elizabeth the Great”
26 editions published between 1958 and 2000 in English and German and held by 3,017 libraries worldwide.
“Elizabeth and Leicester”
3 editions published between 1961 and 1972 in English and held by 1,495 libraries worldwide.
“The mystery of King Arthur”
8 editions published between 1975 and 1996 in English and held by 1,251 libraries worldwide.
“Jane Austen” by Elizabeth Jenkins
12 editions published between 1949 and 1986 in English and held by 1,107 libraries worldwide.
“The princes in the Tower”
5 editions published between 1978 and 1992 in English and held by 1,078 libraries worldwide.
“Dr. Gully’s story”
3 editions published between 1971 and 1973 in English and held by 711 libraries worldwide.
“Henry Fielding”
9 editions published between 1947 and 1977 in English and held by 700 libraries worldwide.
“Ten fascinating women”
4 editions published between 1955 and 1968 in English and held by 497 libraries worldwide.
“The tortoise and the hare” by Elizabeth Jenkins
8 editions published between 1954 and 2008 in English and held by 340 libraries worldwide.
“Brightness”
3 editions published between 1963 and 1965 in English and held by 289 libraries worldwide.
“Honey”
4 editions published between 1968 and 1973 in English and Undetermined and held by 279 libraries worldwide.
“Lady Caroline Lamb”
5 editions published between 1932 and 1974 in English and held by 270 libraries worldwide.
“Six criminal women”
4 editions published between 1949 and 1971 in English and held by 261 libraries worldwide.
“The shadow and the light: a defence of Daniel Dunglas Home, the medium”
1 edition published in 1982 in English and held by 190 libraries worldwide.
“Dr. Gully’s story”
1 edition published in 1972 in English and held by 161 libraries worldwide.
“Tennyson and Dr. Gully”
2 editions published between 1974 and 1986 in English and held by 118 libraries worldwide.
“Harriet”
7 editions published between 1934 and 1980 in English and held by 66 libraries worldwide.
“Dr. Gully”
2 editions published between 1972 and 1974 in English and held by 66 libraries worldwide.
“The view from Downshire Hill: a memoir”
2 editions published in 2004 in English and held by 54 libraries worldwide.
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The New York Times also has a nice obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/books/09jenkins.html?_r=1&ref=arts. It’s interesting to see the variety of work she did.
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Feel sorry at the loss of a genuine JA supporter.
I didn’t know about JA’s biography written by Elizabeth Jenkins.
Only after reading here did I immediately go to ebay and found one going right then.
I’m happy to say I was able to outbid and now have it (or when I get it by post).
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