Jane Austen the new face of Britain's tenner
'Ten pounds would have meant a lot to Jane Austen, about the same as 1,000 pounds would mean to us today'
The Bank of England unveiled its first plastic 10 pound note on Tuesday, which features 19th century British novelist Jane Austen and will be available to the public from September. The central bank has printed an initial run of a billion of the new notes, which are known in Britain as "tenners", after last year's launch of a five pound note made from a polymer film that the BoE said is more durable and harder to forge. Tuesday marks the 200th anniversary of Austen's death. The writer was buried in Winchester Cathedral in 1817 and completed many of her best-known works such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma" in the nearby village of Chawton. "Ten pounds would have meant a lot to Jane Austen, about the same as 1,000 pounds would mean to us today," BoE Governor Mark Carney said at the launch of the new note in Winchester. Austen received a 10 pound publisher's advance for her first novel and the new banknote bears a quotation "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!" ...
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