Jane Porter (1775–1850) and Anna Maria Porter (1778–1832) were well-known novelists, popular during the time when Jane Austen was first being published.  In fact, they penned fiction that was no less widely read than Austen’s was during her lifetime.  ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library holds a hitherto unremarked cache of Porter books—seven books written by two sons and these two daughters of William Porter (1735–1779), an army surgeon of Irish descent, whose five children, all in some way distinguished, were born during the 1770s in the city of Durham.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, NB.66.3–7

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford