Although there is peril in describing the current attention devoted to English novelist Jane Austen as a mania, that seems like an almost unavoidable conclusion. From the popularity of Jane Austen Regency Balls, Jane Austen Festivals in the UK and the U.S., not to mention a plethora of film and television projects in addition to the literature itself, the author’s fanbase is arguably second only to The Bard in the 21st Century. The fact that 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Ms. Austen’s birth has only added fuel to the fire of that attention.