We’ve known for a while that the new £10 note will feature an image of Jane Austen. On Tuesday, we were given our first glimpse of it.
Launched by the Bank of England at Winchester Cathedral, the novelist’s resting place, one of the main talking points about the new note is the quote which appears on it.
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
On the surface, the quote – taken from Pride and Prejudice – seems a reasonable enough choice. However, as pointed out by many, the quote is in fact spoken by Caroline Bingley, a character who has absolutely no interest whatsoever in reading books.
In actual fact, she says it as a way of impressing Mr Darcy – a man she wishes to marry – having seen him reading a book.
Ah well.
The new tenner follows the recently-released £5 note, which features an image of Winston Churchill. A new £20 note with landscape painter JMW Turner is also set to follow it in three years.
“Our banknotes serve as repositories of the country’s collective memory, promoting awareness of the United Kingdom’s glorious history and highlighting the contributions of its greatest citizens,” said the Bank of England’s governor, Mark Carney.
“Austen’s novels have a universal appeal and speak as powerfully today as they did when they were first published.”
