Comparing it to a science project, the museum initially invited anyone interested in helping to email a request for a single page to transcribe, but despite being dead for over 200 years, the response from Austen fans was simply extraordinary, as the numbers who stepped up to help nearly broke the museum’s email server.

Credits: Unsplash; Author: @aaronburden;

Sir Francis Austen had a long career in the Royal Navy, and a manuscript biography of his life and a book of watercolour paintings he made were both acquired at auction by the Jane Austen House Museum with financial backing from a national non-profit.