[Image: Vintage Postcard]
**
I send you to last year’s post on Jane Austen’s Very Own Scrooge!
[Dinner at Randalls at Chrismologist.blogspot.com]
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Wishing You All a Very Merry Christmas!!
With Love from Deb
at Jane Austen in Vermont
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For those of us on this side of the pond, those who cannot yet see the just broadcast “The Many Lovers of Jane Austen” with Amanda Vickery on BBC Two – here is a short clip from the show about the JASNA AGM in Fort Worth Texas this past October… enjoy, at least until we can see more of the show…
For those with a BBC iplayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018nwtk/The_Many_Lovers_of_Miss_Jane_Austen/
The random drawing for the 2012 Jane Austen Calendar from the JASNA-Wisconsin group has just been done! – Drum Roll Please…and the Winners are…
Felicia, who commented on December 16th and wrote the following:
I would thank Miss Austen for bringing some wonderful people in my life. Because of her books I have met some great friends.
Felicia
And
Cara Dragnev, who commented on December 16th as well:
Happy Birthday to Jane! And what a tribute to her to have this wonderful blog party! If I wrote Jane a letter, I would first of all THANK her. Thank her for all the joy she has brought to me and all who read her. I would love for her to see one of her books as a film and get a reaction. Can you imagine? Thank you for joining in this wonderful party!
~Cara
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Congratulations Felicia and Cara! I will email each of you privately, but if you see this, please send me your mailing address and contact information as soon as possible and I will get the calendar off to you right away. If I don’t hear from you by December 27th, I will draw another name. My email is jasnavermont [at] gmail [dot] com
If you are not one of the lucky winners, and are in desperate need of a Jane Austen calendar [and you should be…], you can order your own copy and more for all your friends at the JASNA-Wisconsin website here.
Thank you all for participating! – I have not answered any of your comments due to the Holiday Season Craziness, but thank each and every one of you for your own delightful letters to Jane Austen and the various gifts you would give her if you could! I encourage everyone with a spare minute in their day [and when might that be one asks?] to read the many comments and see how Austen has touched so many lives across generations and geography…
And a final thank you to JASNA-Vermont’s Michelle Singer for her lovely tribute letter to Jane that started all this !
Wishing you all a Festive and Happy Holiday!
Danforth, Handcrafted Pewter, Middlebury Vermont
Deb, at Jane Austen in Vermont
Day 4: Thursday 22 December 2011
For Your Enjoyment
A plug for the Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine – if you don’t already subscribe, time to treat yourself by asking for it for Christmas; or a perfect gift for your best Jane Austen fan friend…
The next issue, Jan/Feb 2012, Issue 55 will be on sale January 1, 2012!
Contents:
And of course all the regular columns from JAS, JASNA, the topical news from contemporary papers, the quiz, and so much more – even the advertisements are interesting!
You can visit the magazine’s website here.
You can subscribe online here:
http://www.janeaustenmagazine.co.uk/subscriptions.html
…and worth every penny!
Just a reminder ~ tonight at midnight is the deadline for the Birthday Soiree Giveaway : the 2012 Jane Austen Calendar from Wisconsin JASNA – two copies will be sent to two winners of the random drawing – all you need to do is comment on this post here – worldwide eligibility, winners will be announced tomorrow. Good Luck one and all!
Day 3: Wednesday, 21 December 2011
For Your Wardrobe
Well, I bought this for myself a bit ago, thinking no one would ever find this to even know I wanted it – so here is the link to a very cool t-shirt company, Out of Print Clothing.com – they make clothing and various accessories featuring the world’s greatest literature, and Pride & Prejudice, as one would expect, has a good number of items:
P&P greeting card
You can find all the P&P items here:
http://outofprintclothing.com/shop/gift-ideas/book-families/pride-and-prejudice/
And check out the other authors, such as Poe:
or Bronte:
There are a myriad of Jane Austen items in all imaginable formats everywhere it seems – just visit the shops at Esty for a veritable feast ~ here is one example from prettygirlpostcards:
You can also find the Pride and Prejudice t-shirt in one of my favorite book catalogues – Bas Bleu [as we are all such bluestockings!] – there are other Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice must-have items to add to your collection, including these earrings:
Happy shopping! ~ what is your favorite Jane Austen accessory??
All I Want for Christmas, Day II
For Your Bookshelf
English Country House Interiors, by Jeremy Musson. Foreword by Sir Roy Strong; Photography by Paul Barker. New York: Rizzoli, 2011.
ISBN: 978-0-8478-3569-0
$60. [though Amazon has it for $38., much as I hate to say that…]
This book I should very much like to add to my collection on English architecture and stately homes [loud hint to my family…] – I discovered this at the UVM Library and have brought it home to peruse – extensive commentary and lovely photographs of the interior details of the fourteen houses included – here is the blurb from the publisher, Rizzoli:
A highly detailed look at the English country house interior, offering unprecedented access toEngland’s finest rooms. In this splendid book, renowned historian Jeremy Musson explores the interiors and decoration of the great country houses ofEngland, offering a brilliantly detailed presentation of the epitome of style in each period of the country house, including the great Jacobean manor house, the Georgian mansion, and the Gothic Revival castle. For the first time, houses known worldwide for their exquisite architecture and decoration–includingWilton, Chatsworth, and Castle Howard–are seen in unprecedented detail. With intimate views of fabric, gilding, carving, and furnishings, the book will be a source of inspiration to interior designers, architects, and home owners, and a must-have for anglophiles and historic house enthusiasts.
The fourteen houses included represent the key periods in the history of English country house decoration and cover the major interior fashions and styles. Stunning new color photographs by Paul Barker-who was given unparalleled access to the houses-offer readers new insights into the enduring English country house style. Supplementing these are unique black-and-white images from the archive of the esteemed Country Life magazine.
Among the aspects of these that the book covers are: paneling, textile hangings (silks to cut velvet), mural painting, plasterwork, stone carving, gilding, curtains, pelmets, heraldic decoration, classical imagery, early upholstered furniture, furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale, carved chimney-pieces, lass, use of sculpture, tapestry, carpets, picture hanging, collecting of art and antiques, impact of Grand Tour taste, silver, use of marble, different woods, the importance of mirror glass, boulle work, English Baroque style, Palladian style, neo-Classical style, rooms designed by Robert Adam, Regency, Gothic Revival taste, Baronial style, French 18th century style, and room types such as staircases, libraries, dining rooms, parlors, bedrooms, picture galleries, entrance halls and sculpture galleries.
The range is from the early 17th century to present day, drawn from the authenticated interiors of fourteen great country houses, almost all still in private hands and occupied as private residences still today. The book shows work by twentieth-century designers who have helped evolve the country house look, including Nancy Lancaster, David Hicks, Colefax & Fowler, and David Mlinaric.
The Table of Contents: I’ve added some exterior shots and links for several of the houses – you will have to buy the book for the sumptuous interior adventure!
1. Hatfield House: The Courtly Jacobean Interior
2. Wilton House: The Courtly Caroline Interior
Wilton House
3. Broughton House: The Taste for France
4. Chatsworth: The English Baroque Interior
5. Castle Howard: The Imagination of Vanbrugh
6. Houghton Hall: The Palladian Interior I
Houghton Hall
7. Holkham Hall: The Palladian Interior II
8. Harewood House: The Genius of Robert Adam I
Harewood House
9. Syon House: The Genius of Robert Adam II
Syon House
10. Goodwood House: The Regency Revolution in Taste
11. Regency Reinvention: Some Houses Revisited
12. Arundel Castle: The Gothic Revival Interior
13. Waddesdon Manor: The Inspiration of the Chateau
Waddesdon Manor
14. Berkeley Castle: The Castle of Taste
15. Parham House: The Cult of the Manor House
Parham House
16. Living Interiors: The English Country House Interior Today
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Not included is the house used in Downton Abbey, seen here, and certainly on everyone’s mind as we approach Season 2!:
Highclere Castle
And if you want another book to add to your collection that belongs on your shelf next to the above, you should add this to your list – hopefully Santa is listening, watching, and making his own list, and you have not been naughty but have only been nice the whole year long …
The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life
Written by Mary Miers, Contribution by Jeremy Musson, Tim Richardson, Tim Knox and Marcus Binney. New York: Rizzoli, 2009.
ISBN: 978-0-8478-3057-2 , $85.
And here is one interior bit to whet your appetite all the more:
[Syon House – detail of the ceiling of the Red Drawing Room, p. 148]
What are your favorite English architecture / interior decoration books – ones you have or ones you want?
Don’t forget to comment on the Jane Austen Birthday Soiree post below to be eligible to win the JASNA-Wisconsin 2012 Jane Austen Calendar!
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For the next seven days I will post a daily want of Austen-related items that I think everyone should ask for this Christmas – [some of these things I already have, some I really want, so I hope my family or Santa is paying close attention…] – great ideas for the Austen-lover in your life and / or add these to your own want-list and I promise you will not be disappointed on Christmas morning!
DAY I: 19 December 2011
A Membership in
North American Friends of Chawton House Library
A terrific cause supporting early women writers, housed at the home of Jane Austen’s brother Edward Austen Knight…
You also receive their lovely newsletter 4 times a year: The Female Spectator – herewith the latest to grace my mailbox: Volume 15, No. 4, received this past week:
Starting with the “Chawton Chronicles” the column from Stephen Lawrence, CEO, is always a great summary of happenings in JA’s world both in and out of the CHL doors: this issue Steve recounts his attendance at JASNA’s AGM in Fort Worth.
Other essays:
1. The Diverse Women of Chawton House Library” – by Gillian Dow
On the portrait of Mary Robinson which CHL has loaned to the National Portrait Gallery’s for the exhibition The First Actresses: Nell Gwynn to Sarah Siddons, along with Robinson’s 1801 Memoirs.
Mary Robinsion as Perdita - John Hoppner
[Image from The Guardian UK – image copyright CHL; exhibit runs through January 12, 2012]
Dow also references the several lectures offered at CHL, with links to the podcasts of two of them [scroll down for the links]: Dr. Mark Towsey on Elizabeth Rose of Kilravock; and Dr. Debbie Welham on the life of Penelope Aubin.
2. “The Contradictory Rhetoric of Needlework in Jane Austen’s Letters and Novels,” by Ellen Kennedy Johnson, author of the dissertation [and forthcoming book? ] Alterations: Gender and Needlework in Late Georgian Arts and Letters. [available now in dissertation format – you can add this to my want-list]
3. “Fiction in The Hampshire Chronicle, 1772-1829,” by Ruth Facer, author of the lately published Mary Bacon’s World: A Farmer’s Wife in Eighteenth-Century Hampshire.
[you can purchase this book at the CHL online shop here: http://chawton.org/shop/index.html [I would like this also!]
You can read more about the The Hampshire Chronicle here.
4. “Edward Austen’s Suit” – by Sarah Parry, tells of the portrait recently returned to CHL, and the suit as worn by Edward now on display [though not the same suit as in the portrait]
Edward Austen Knight portrait, with Steve Lawrence, Sandy Lerner,
and Richard Knight [image: JAS Society]
5. “Jane Austen and Chawton House Library: A New Patron’s View” by Deirdre Le Faye. Ms. Le Faye shares her thoughts on new areas of study in Austen’s world. She wrote of this also here in the Spring 2010 Persuasions On-Line and well-worth the read: http://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol30no2/lefaye.html
6. “Literary and Literal Landscapes” by Eleanor Marsden, wherein you are reminded to help CHL in whatever way you can…
7. “North Meets South: Women’s Travel Narratives at Chawton House Library” by Isabelle Baudino, a Visiting Fellow at CHL in 2010, on her use of the CHLibrary for her research on women travel writers, such as Anne Plumptre.
Anne Plumptre (LibraryThing)
8. The quarterly column “Faces of Chawton” is in this issue about Ray Moseley, the Information Officer, and the man behind the various PR postings, the facebook and twitter pages, membership databases, and the CHL shop! – a feast of a job!
The Calendar of upcoming events is the only column that leaves me in quite a melancholic mood: so much going on with lectures, balls and gatherings, I am sick at being so far away…
You can visit Chawton House Library on the web here: http://www.chawton.org
You can shop here: http://www.shopcreator.com/mall/chawtonhouselibrary/
You can subscribe in the UK here [£30.+]: http://www.chawton.org/support/friends.html
And in the US here [$50. and up]: http://www.chawton.org/support/nafchl.html
Treat yourself [you desesrve it] or a friend and help out CHL at the same time!
Austen - Grandison MS - CHL
Please note: JASNA’s gift to us all today is the publication of volume 32 of Persuasions On-Line!
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Today I welcome JASNA-Vermont member Michelle Singer, whose love of Jane Austen has inspired her to rally several of her literary neighbors to form our new co-ed literary / quizzing book group . Michelle originally wrote this letter for the newsletter of a Montpelier, Vermont parent group called Mama Says – in it she shares the sheer joy in her discovery of Jane Austen… and I wanted to share it with you today, in celebration of Jane Austen’s 236th birthday as part of the December 16th Soiree. Please see below for instructions on commenting and the prize drawing.
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Dear Miss Austen,
I am tempted to begin this letter with “My Dearest Jane” because you
are dear to me although we don’t know each other and I suspect that if
we did, I would be your social inferior by quite a bit (what I wouldn’t
give for a couple of good servants)!
Today, your 236th birthday, I’m wearing a white t-shirt with Mrs. Darcy in glitter iron-on letters that I made myself complete with rhinestone embellishments. What?! Exactly. Skipping the necessary explanations—rhinestone, iron-on, and even t-shirt—and the complete wonder of the world as it is now, is the line I’ve crossed by making (and wearing) this shirt—not just a reader who loves your novels, but a fan. Maybe even an embarrassing fan. But I’m willing to risk it because of my love.
It’s the novels, yes. It’s the mastery of the language and structure, wit,
satire, characterizations—all those words we learned to describe the joy
of reading your work. But you know what it really is? It’s the hours
spent in your “company”: The pale mornings when I held a newborn
baby in my lap and read Emma, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park while
they slept; The way entering the world of your novels has lifted me up
as a mother and a woman, fanning tiny pieces of myself and my sanity
back to life when they were burning low.
Thank you for telling a story so well that I could get lost in it. For
showing the possibilities of language, beautifully wrought. Thank you
for the laughs! For Pride & Prejudice and Mr. Darcy (oh how I wish you
could see Colin Firth)! For Emma and Mr. Knightley andMiss. Bates!
Thank you for your “own darling children” which have grown up to
make me a better mother. Two hundred years after Sense & Sensibility
was published, for all the times you sat down, pen and ink, despite everything else that might have claimed you, I am eternally grateful.
Your friend and fan,
Michelle A. L. Singer
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Thank you Michelle for that beautiful tribute to Austen!
As part of Austen’s birthday celebration, I entreat you all to cancel all other commitments today and visit these thirty other Austen-related blogs [see below for the list and links – it will take all day!] – there are prizes awaiting at each! – all you have to do is comment on any and all to be entered into the various random drawings.
At Jane Austen in Vermont, please comment with a few words on what you would say in a love letter to Jane Austen, thanking her for whatever her works have done to inspire you in your daily life, or what you would like to give her as a birthday gift. All comments will be entered into the drawing for the 2012 JASNA Calendar from the JASNA-Wisconsin group [I will be giving away two calendars – and the giveaway is worldwide]. Deadline is midnight December 23rd – I will announce the winners that morning of the 23rd! 
This calendar is a must have addition to your Austen collection! – there is a tidbit for almost every day of the year as to some aspect of Austen’s life and fiction. Today’s entry in my 2011 calendar says:
December 16.
1775 – Jane Austen is born
1810 – Charles Musgrove marries Mary Elliot
[one does wonder why she chose to have them marry on her birthday?! – any comments??]
The 2012 Jane Austen Wall Calendar is an updated edition with beautiful illustrations by C.E. and H.M. Brock, new quotations from Austen’s novels and letters, with an entry on each date. The calendar measures 11 inches by 17 inches and is printed in color. Each page features a Brock color tinted drawing from one of the six novels, suggested by an entry for that month. Based upon biographies, R.W. Chapman’s chronologies of the stories, and Jane Austen’s letters, the calendar is a year-long reminder of Austen’s life and novels.
And if you don’t win, you can purchase the calendar at the JASNA website here.
And finally – what would I give Jane Austen for her birthday? Last year I compiled a veritable treasure trove of gifts for Jane – I send you back to that link [please note that some of the links are no longer working – a tribute to the illusive nature of the blogsphere…] – you can also comment there to be entered into this drawing!
So for this year I would add the following: Jane Austen’s own very best love letter, that from Captain Wentworth to Anne:
a Letterpress Broadside from the Bowler Press; you can also order it from their Esty shop.
[they also have on offer Mr. Darcy’s letter, all five pages of it in an envelope!
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The December 16 Birthday Soiree Participants:
1. Sharon Lathan – Blog: Sharon Lathan
Giveaway : Miss Darcy Falls in Love
2. Emily Snyder – Blog: O! Beauty Unattempted
Giveaway: Letters of Love & Deception
3. Laurel Ann Nattress – Blog: Austenprose
Giveaway: signed copy of Jane Austen Made Me Do It
4. C. Allyn Pierson – Blog: SemiTrue Stories
Giveaway: Mr Darcy Little Sister (open worldwide)
5. Cindy Jones – Blog: First Draft
Giveaway: a signed copy of My Jane Austen Summer”and a package of Lily Berry’s Pink Rose Tea by Bingley’s, Ltd.
6. Farida Mestek – Blog: Regency stories set against the backdrop of Regency England
Giveaway: I was Jane Austen Best Friend by Cora Harrison
7. Marilyn Brant – Blog: Brant Flakes
Giveaway : A canvas ACCORDING TO JANE tote bag and a pair of A SUMMER IN EUROPE luggage tags.
8. Prue Batten – Blog: Mesmered’s Blog
Giveaway : Anna Elliot’s Georgiana Darcy (Kindle book)
9. Erin Blakemore – Blog: The Heroine’s Bookshelf
Giveaway : a set of Potter-Style Pride and Prejudice notecards
10. Velvet – Blog: vvb32 reads
Giveaway: Jane Austen’s Little Instruction Book (Charming Petites)
11. Karen Doornebos – Blog: The Fiction vs. Reality Smackdown
Giveaway: 2 Jane Austen Candles and 2 signed DNMD books plus drink coasters and tea!
12. ReginaJeffers – ReginaJeffers’s Blog
Giveaway: An autographed copy of “Christmas at Pemberley
13. Alyssa Goodnight – Blog: Alyssa Goodnight
Giveaway: Jane Austen Action figure
14. Deb Barnum – Blog: Jane Austen in Vermont
Giveaway [open worldwide]: JASNA 2012 calendar from the Wisconsin JASNA Region
15. Laura Hile, Susan Kaye, Pamela Aidan, and Barbara Cornthwaite – Blog: Jane Started It!
Giveaway: One copy of Young Master Darcy: A Lesson in Honour by Pamela Aidan;
One set of Frederick Wentworth, Captain (Books 1 and 2) by Susan Kaye;
Two copies of Mercy’s Embrace: So Rough a Course (Book 1) by Laura Hile;
George Kinghtley, Gentleman (Books 1 and 2) by Barbara Cornthwaite.
16. Juliet Archer – Blog: Choc Lit Authors’ Corner
Giveaway: a copy of “Persuade Me” and one of “The Importance of Being Emma”
17. Jane Greensmith – Blog: Reading, Writing, Working , Playing
Giveaway: a copy of “Intimations of Austen”, and Sense & Sensibility (Marvel Illustrated)
18. Jenny Allworthy – Blog : The Jane Austen Film Club
Giveaway: a copy of Northanger Abbey DVD starring Felicity Jones and JJ Feild (The winner will choose region 1 or 2 DVD)
19. Sitio Jane Austen – Blog: El Salón de Té de Jane
Giveaway: – Spanish edition of Sense and Sensibility for the 200th Anniversary + A DVD package with adaptations of Jane Austen
(It’s only zone 2, but it’s in Spanish and English ) + blu-ray of the BBC’s Emma with Romola Garai
20. Kaitlin Saunders – Blog : Kaitlin Saunders
Giveaway: “A Modern Day Persuasion”
21. Becky Rhodehouse – Blog: One Literature Nut
Giveaway: selection of Austenesque Reads
22. Patrice Sarath – Blog: Patrice Sarath
Giveaway: A copy of The Unexpected Miss Bennet
23. Adriana Zardini – Site: Jane Austen Brasil
Giveaway: DVD – Sense and Sensibility (1995) – English / Portuguese subtitles
24. Jane Odiwe – Blog: Jane Austen Sequels
Giveaway: a mug with one of Jane Odiwe’s illustrations and a copy of her “Mr Darcy’s Secret”
25. Courtney Webb – Stiletto Storytime
Giveaway: Noble Satyr by Lucinda Brant (Regency Romance)
26. Jennifer Becton – Blog: Jennifer W. Becton
Giveaway: An ebook of the Personages of Pride and Prejudice Collection, which contains all of my Austenesque works: Charlotte Collins, “Maria Lucas,” and Caroline Bingley. The giveaway will be open internationally.
27. Vera Nazarian – Blog: Urban Girl Takes Vermont
Giveaway: a copy of Vera Nazarian’s gift hardcover edition of her inspirational calendar and diary, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
28. Abigail Reynolds – Blog: Pemberley Variations
Giveaway: a signed copy of “Mr. Darcy’s Undoing”
29. Blog: AustenAuthors
Giveaway: Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester
30. Katherine Cox – Blog: November’s Autumn
Giveaway :$10 B&N Gift-card (US only)
31. Maria Grazia – Blog: My Jane Austen Book Club
Giveaway : A selection of Austenesque reads
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I welcome your comments! Please do so by midnight December 23rd. May everyone win something!
Happy Birthday Jane!
Two things of interest to Jane Austen fans:
See this Publishers Weekly blog and their list of their “Top 10 Favorite Book Covers for 2011” – A Jane Austen Education comes in at number 8:
8. A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz (Penguin Press)
“The formality of Austen’s novels is contrasted by the cartoonish style and informality of an outfit (and personality) being simply applied adhesively.”
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The photograph of the month at the National Portrait Gallery [UK] is Colin Firth – and on exhibit through December:
Colin Firth by Jillian Edelstein from the NPG Website.
He still looks like Mr. Darcy, doesn’t he?!
Jane Austen in Vermont 