Category: Chawton House

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A Rare Opportunity to Acquire Original Artwork by Juliet McMaster for Jane Austen’s ‘The Beautifull Cassandra’

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Online Auction to
Benefit Chawton House


 

Juliet McMaster, a lifelong Jane Austen scholar and highly regarded illustrator, is selling her original artwork from The Beautifull Cassandra at public auction to benefit Chawton House, an Austen family property previously owned by Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen Knight. Chawton House now operates as a museum, library, and study center for early women’s writing (1630-19th c.).

McMaster, known familiarly to friends and fans alike simply as Juliet, has created her lively illustrations in colored inks. The collection consists of twenty-one original illustrations plus one reproduction that accompany the short juvenilia story, written by Austen when she was about thirteen.

The illustrations are 12 by 9 inches, larger than the images in the book. One, the tortoise  hauling the carriage up Hampstead Hill, is 12 by 18 inches. The art pieces are mounted on sturdy illustration board.  All illustrations will be auctioned together as one set – we felt it incumbent upon us to keep them together.  Each will be signed by Juliet with her customary “Juliet” signature. 
 *

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The online auction begins October 10, 2026, at noon Eastern time (UTC-5) and will be administered by the North American Friends of Chawton House (NAFCH), a U.S. non-profit dedicated to supporting Chawton House and its mission.  All auction proceeds go to Chawton House.

You can see all the details and all the illustrations on the NAFCH website here:
https://www.nafch.org/bcass-art

 All bids will be made online at the 32auctions website:
www.32auctions.com/NAFCH

[You must first log in / create an account to bid]

Bidding closes on Saturday, October 31, 2026,
at 5 p.m. Eastern time(UTC-5)

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Juliet at work in 1993

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Alberta, a founding member of JASNA, and a frequent presenter at JASNA AGMs, Juliet is the author of Jane Austen on Love and Jane Austen, Young Author, co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen and The Child Writer from Austen to Woolf. She has authored books on Thackeray, Trollope, and Dickens, as well. In 1994, she founded Juvenilia Press, which publishes the early writings of well-known authors.

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The origins of the illustrated children’s book The Beautifull Cassandra go back to the 1987 AGM in New York City on the topic “The Juvenilia and Lady Susan.” There, Juliet says, she was “first smitten with Jane Austen’s cheeky tale about the girl Cassandra, who falls in love with a bonnet.” She conceived the idea of making it into a picture book for children, with the characters turned into small animals.*
 
J. David (Jack) Grey, the AGM co-convener, encouraged her pursuit. “He loved the juvenilia,” Juliet recalls. “He used to say that two people produced world-class art before they reached adulthood: Jane Austen and Mozart. (You will know that I agree with him!).” Grey also served as an early reader. “Characteristically, he turned to his five-year-old niece and read her the story and showed her the pictures. What was her verdict? She said, ‘I want a bonnet!’ I couldn’t have had a more authoritative response.”
 
The publisher, Sono Nis Press of Victoria, Canada, couriered a box of freshly printed copies to Lake Louise, Canada, where Juliet was co-convener of the 1993 JASNA AGM. Book sales were brisk there and afterward.  And its history didn’t end there: The Beautifull Cassandra was later set to music for flute and Celtic harp by Joanne Forman. This treatment inspired an original children’s ballet choreographed by Amber Vasquez, director of the Taos, NM, youth ballet, and performed by children in Taos in 2007 and 2008.
 
A plenary session at the 2008 Chicago AGM, “The Beautifull Cassandra: The Pictures, the Music, the Dance,” featured Juliet’s illustrations and voice-over, Forman’s music performed live with still photos from Vasquez’s ballet. Detailed information on the three versions of The Beautifull Cassandra can be found online at: 
https://jasna.org/publications/cassandra/toc.htm
 
Juliet notes that her concentrated work on Austen’s juvenilia taught her how much could be learned from an author’s early writings, and so she “took the idea to the classroom and founded the Juvenilia Press in order to involve students in hands-on experience in textual editing, annotation, and so on.” This effort “has introduced dozens of students, all over the world, to the refinements of scholarly editing.” Juvenilia Press took over publication of The Beautifull Cassandra when the Sono Nis Press’s warehouse burned, destroying the book plates and all remaining inventory.
 
The Lake Louise AGM also brought forth another illustrated work, a Persuasion spin-off called His Cunning or Hers. The epistolary novel, which pertained to the clandestine relations between Mrs. Clay and William Elliot, was written by June Menzies and illustrated by Juliet. Juliet donated her illustrations from that novel to benefit Chawton House. Other sets of her illustrations have been sold to raise money for the Juvenilia Press.

 

We are pleased to say that Juliet will be attending and presenting at the Tucson JASNA AGM where the online auction will reach its conclusion.  She may be found at her Juvenilia Press table in the Emporium or at the NAFCH tables just outside the Emporium to talk about the illustrations and how they came to be.  The North American Friends of Chawton House are very grateful to Juliet for her generous gift of her original illustrations to benefit Chawton House. 
 
Thank you to all the bidders, as you are helping to support Chawton House.  Click here for more information on their mission.  Supporters in the USA and Canada can donate to Chawton House through North American Friends of Chawton House (NAFCH), a public 501(c)(3) non-profit.


We wish you luck in bidding on these glorious McMaster illustrations!




October 10, 2026, 12 pm EDT – October 31, 2026, 5 pm EDT

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The “Belly-ache” gargoyle at the Washington National Cathedral

*A little known fun fact about Juliet is that while in graduate school, she submitted a design for one of the gargoyles for the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Her entry, along with 111 others, was accepted, and her very own gargoyle sits there proudly today: “The Belly-ache”
– you can read all about it here.


[Images: ©Juvenilia Press and are not to be
reproduced or transmitted in any form.]
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North American Friends of Chawton House Board of Directors
Linda Troost, President
Erna Arnesen, Deborah Barnum, Pam Braak, Isobel Grundy,
Collins Hemingway, Joy Prevost, Laura Rocklyn, Carole Stokes,
Jeanne Talbot, Catherine Windels

Copyright © 2026
North American Friends of Chawton House
All rights reserved.

Chawton House · Godmersham Park Library · Jane Austen Circle · NAFCH - North American Friends of Chawton House · Rare Books

Godmersham Park Library Finds!

BookLady DebLeave a comment

I haven’t been posting recently, so just want to link to this post on the “Reading with Austen” blog that I write – about three new titles returned to Chawton House that were originally in Edward Austen’s library at Godmersham Park.

Our team at the Godmersham Lost Sheep Society found and was able to purchase two titles; the third was actually found hiding in plain sight in the Knight Collection.

You can read all about it here:

Three New Finds Returned to Chawton House!

If you have interest in the Reading with Austen project, spearheaded by Professor Peter Sabor, please visit the website here and the blog noted above with posts on what’s been found, how to become part of the team, etc. We fundraise through the North American Friends of Chawton House to return books whenever possible.

c2026JaneAustenInVermont

Austen Literary History & Criticism · Chawton House · Decorative Arts · Domestic Arts · Fashion & Costume · Georgian England · Georgian Period · Godmersham Park Library · Great Britain - History · Jane Austen · Jane Austen Circle · Jane Austen Merchandise · Jane Austen Popular Culture · Jane Austen Societies · Jane Austen's Letters · JASNA · Museum Exhibitions · NAFCH - North American Friends of Chawton House · Rare Books · Regency England · Social Life & Customs · Women Writers

Adventures with Jane! Day VIII: The Delights of a Visit to Chawton

BookLady Deb6 Comments

Where oh where do I begin to tell of this joyous day? All places I have been before, but more engaging touring about with a group of like-minded people, and the chance to see so much more behind the scenes…

We are today off from our Winchester hotel to Chawton – and there to see the two most important sites having to do with Jane Austen: Chawton House and the Jane Austen House Museum.

Chawton House is an Elizabethan manor house still in the Knight family, owned by Edward Austen Knight, Jane Austen’s brother. Edward was adopted by the Knight family and he inherited three estates: Steventon, Chawton and Godmersham Park. You can read all this interesting history here – https://chawtonhouse.org/visit/house/

…the main point being that Edward’s ownership of this Chawton estate gave him the ability to offer the steward’s cottage on the property to his mother and two sisters in 1809 [this is now called the Jane Austen House Museum] – and so, like Godmersham Park, Jane would have visited this house often – a short walk up the road – again, giving her the knowledge of life on a gentleman’s country estate. Edward’s stewardship of his land and properties certainly served as a model for her grand land-owning Heroes in her novels: Mr. Darcy, Mr. Knightley, and Col. Brandon.

[If you have any doubts about Edward’s generosity, please read Linda Slothouber’s book: Jane Austen, Edward Knight, & Chawton: Commerce and Community [Woodpigeon Publishing, 2015.]

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Chawton House is far more than a visit to a grand manor – complete with a tea room, numerous indoor and outdoor events throughout the year, a splendid garden and a place to wander, an Airbnb stay, and a wedding venue – it is most importantly a Library and Centre for the study of early women writers, 1600-1830. https://chawtonhouse.org/the-library/using-the-library/ – which is exactly what it says, a library of early women writers with many rare and unique titles; they also present changing exhibits on the many aspects of these women writers – right now one on “Sisters of the Pen.” [more on this below] – and do not miss their regular online offerings to us far afield.

The history of this library is novel-worthy itself – the American Sandy Lerner, taking on the lease of the property and keeping it from becoming a golf course [!] – the renovations to the house and outlying buildings, the housing of her book collection of these mostly forgotten women writers, and the creation of the now self-sustaining manor we can visit and study at today.

[Become a Friend! The House counts on your support to continue their mission; you can become a Friend of the library directly – https://chawtonhouse.org/get-involved/support-us/become-a-friend/

or if you are in the US or Canada, you can join the North American Friends of Chawton House here: https://www.nafch.org/ ]

Lots more to say here, but let’s get to our visit and some photos!

Katie Childs with Edward Austen Knight

We were first greeted by Katie Childs – the Chief Executive [if you have been paying attention, we also met Katie at Godmersham Park!] – who gave us some of the history of the house, the library, current plans and exhibitions. We were able to tour the house on our own [ascending the grand staircase such an experience!] – seeing all the portraits of Knight family members, hung along with some of the famous women writers, actresses, manor house owners – and admiring the heraldic windows that I have posted about before.

Elizabeth Knight – Edward Knight Jr – Montagu George Knight

George Sand – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu – Mary Robinson

and what manor would be complete without an image of the Duchess of Devonshire:

Roomies at rest ….

Roomies at rest surrounded in Austen novels…

The Tea Room

the Knight Family china – a Wedgwood pattern

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Exhibition: Sisters of the Pen: Jane Austen, Influence, Legacy

The current exhibition is quite eye-opening, especially if you were not previously aware of the numerous women writers before and during Jane Austen’s time [spoiler alert: Jane Austen did not invent the novel as we know it, nor was she the only woman writing in the late 18th / early 19th century!] – it is called “The Great Forgetting” – the removal of 100s of women writers from the canon, now subject to the ongoing process of being recovered – this exhibition “Sisters of the Pen: Jane Austen, Influence, Legacy” tells this history with both signboards, objects and books – it is beautifully done and no way to quite capture it with random photos – here are a few to give you a sense:

[and for the rest, you just must visit yourself!]

It was nice to see the display on the Godmersham Park library and the Reading with Austen website and the blog which tells of the GLOSS finds: “Bulstrode Peachey”, one of the volunteers, was very happy to tell me all about it, and even happier to learn I worked with Peter Sabor in returning the “Lost Sheep” to Chawton House:

It was grand to meet a number of the Chawton House volunteers – those that keep it all going and preserving and sharing the grand history here to visitors like us.

Katie invited us to see some of the recent acquisitions from the Deirdre Le Faye Archive: here is a Mary Robinson print:

and here an example of Le Faye’s numerous fashion prints:

and one of Le Faye’s carriage prints:

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Then a delightful lunch:

….and of course a chance to SHOP and then to wander about the grounds – I did visit the marker at the Upper Terrace, donated to NAFCH by the Vermont Region:

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A short walk down the drive takes us to the Church on the grounds – do I dare say it is a St. Nicholas??! – where Jane and family would have worshipped and where we will find the graves of Mrs. Austen and Cassandra:

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We were then off down the road to the “Chawton Cottage” – now called the JAHM: https://janeaustens.house/ – a short trek in Jane Austen’s footsteps, nothing much changed from her own time here, excepting macadam and sidewalks, and cars roaming about rather than horses and carriages and stagecoaches rumbling by their front window….

Warmly welcomed by house Director Lizzie Dunford, we could tour the house on our own, a living monument to seeing how Jane and her sister Cassandra and her mother lived in this “cottage” but actually quite a large home:

The rooms decorated with the newly minted wallpaper, recreated from the existing fragments, it all feels as though Jane herself is just around the corner…

As there was a concert scheduled for that evening, we were fortunate to be there when the pianist and singer were rehearsing – a Jane Faifax / Frank Churchill moment for sure!

Here is a slideshow of various spots and objects in the house, starting with the infamous writing table where Austen “scribbled” her letters and novels: [scroll right to see all the photos]

The exhibit here at the Jane Austen House, celebrating like everywhere else the 250th anniversary, is on “Jane Austen and the Art of Writing”  https://janeaustens.house/display/jane-austen-and-the-art-of-writing/

And were incredibly lucky again to see the exhibit on “The Art of Cassandra” on view til Sept 7, 2025, and curated by Professor Janine Barchas – a first-time ever display of 10 works by Austen’s sister:

This seemingly modest exhibition of ten artworks is the largest-ever public display of the confirmed works of Cassandra Austen.  Not since Cassandra’s creative years in this very cottage have so many of her surviving artworks been gathered together in one place. Four of these were only recently discovered to exist among the possessions of Austen descendants. I’m thrilled that they will once again be displayed in the home where the Austen women lived and worked.’

– Janine Barchas, 2025

[Sorry! I did not take any more photos of Cassandra’s drawings, I was so enchanted by them – this link takes you to the online exhibition!]

The shop here at JAHM is yet another treasure trove as well as a danger to one’s wallet – I regret not buying the ring – I rarely wear gold, and somehow the silver one just doesn’t feel like the real thing…so I shall get through my disappointment by looking at the photo [image from JAHM]:

The garden at JAHM is a delight and you can imagine Jane and Cassandra working in it, enjoying it every day:

Our young Piony [sic] at the foot of the Fir tree has just blown & looks very handsome; & the whole of the Shrubbery Border will soon be very gay with Pinks & Sweet Williams, in addition to the Columbines already in bloom. The Syringes too are coming out. – We are likely to have a great crop of Orleans plumbs…

Jane Austen, 29 May 1811 from Chawton
to Cassandra at Godmersham Park

These tulips will have to do!

Time for afternoon tea! [we did not want for food on this tour!]

And then back to the hotel…the evening on our own… a glorious day!!

c2025JaneAustenInVermont

…cannot have a day without wisteria!

Austen Literary History & Criticism · Chawton House · Holidays · Jane Austen · JASNA · NAFCH - North American Friends of Chawton House

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

BookLady Deb3 Comments

Today is Jane Austen’s birthday, 248 years ago! 

To quote her father George Austen in a letter to his sister Mrs. Walter on Dec 17, 1775:

“You have doubtless been for some time in expectation of hearing from Hampshire, and perhaps wondered a little we were in our old age grown such bad reckoners but so it was, for Cassey certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago: however last night the time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over. We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion. She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy. Your sister thank God is pure well after it, and sends her love to you and my brother…” (Austen Papers, 32-3)

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And looking ahead to 2025 and Austen’s 250th birthday celebrations, here is an interesting article from Winchester Cathedral about a proposed Jane Austen statue by sculptor Martin Jennings [they want your feedback!]: https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/news/hampshire-celebrates-250-years-of-jane-austen/

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In honor of Austen’s birthday, think about donating to JASNA and / or renew your membership – you can find information here: https://jasna.org/join/

A usual every year on Jane’s birthday, JASNA publishes Persuasions-OnLine – you can see the latest edition [Vol. 44, No. 1], filled with several essays from the Pride and Prejudice AGM in Denver, along with other goodies, here: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-44-no-1/

It is also a perfect time to donate to Chawton House, via the North American Friends of Chawton House: Please visit the website at https://www.nafch.org/ and read about their endeavors. You can donate here: https://www.nafch.org/give-join

What better way to honor Jane Austen on her birthday than to give a little something in support of the “Great House” she visited often:

‘Let me thank you again and again’

Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice (1813)

2023, Jane Austen in Vermont
Austen Literary History & Criticism · Chawton House · Holidays · Jane Austen · JASNA · NAFCH - North American Friends of Chawton House

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Today is Jane Austen’s birthday, 247 years ago! 

To quote her father George Austen in a letter to his sister Mrs. Walter on Dec 17, 1775:

“You have doubtless been for some time in expectation of hearing from Hampshire, and perhaps wondered a little we were in our old age grown such bad reckoners but so it was, for Cassey certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago: however last night the time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over. We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion. She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy. Your sister thank God is pure well after it, and sends her love to you and my brother…” (Austen Papers, 32-3)

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In celebration of Austen’s birthday, JASNA has published it’s Persuasions On-Line vol. 43, No. 1, which features a selection of the AGM presentations on Sense and Sensibility, the theme of the 2022 JASNA AGM in Victoria, as well as other interesting essays on all things Jane.

You can view the Table of Contents here – all essays are fully accessible: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-43-no-1/

This is also a perfect time to donate to JASNA, or certainly to renew your membership – you can find information here: https://jasna.org/join/

It is also a perfect time to donate to Chawton House, via the North American Friends of Chawton House: Please visit the website at https://www.nafch.org/ and read about their endeavors.

Anyone who donates $150 or more will be sent NAFCH’s 3rd annual limited-edition bobblehead “Capability Jane” (while supplies last), though any amount is gratefully received! Our gardening Jane, named after the renowned gardener and landscape designer of Austen’s era, Capability Brown, though we know she was very “capable” in many areas of her life!

You can donate here: https://www.nafch.org/give-join

What better way to honor Jane Austen on her birthday than to give a little something in support of the “Great House” she visited often:

‘Let me thank you again and again’

Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice (1813)

2022, Jane Austen in Vermont
Chawton House · Domestic Arts · Jane Austen · NAFCH - North American Friends of Chawton House · Social Life & Customs

Guest Post: The Snowdrop ~ Harbinger of Spring

BookLady Deb2 Comments

Can there possibly be any signs of Spring with current temperatures what they are?! Even here today in South Carolina we are at 28 degrees [warming up to maybe 53…I live in Hope]! So I happily welcome Pam Braak, NAFCH Treasurer and Tarrant County (TX) Master Gardener, with her thoughts on Chawton House and the Snowdrop:

Chawton House

The Snowdrop ~ Harbinger of Spring

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I wonder if the sap is stirring yet,

If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate,

If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun

And crocus fires are kindling one by one:

Sing, robin, sing:

I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring.

–Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), from “The First Spring Day”

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Chawton House recently announced their participation in the National Garden Scheme’s Snowdrop Sunday, with an event on February 6.  The National Garden Scheme in the UK brings joy to this Texas gardener — and envy that I cannot participate without a transatlantic flight.  I wondered about the snowdrop mania in the UK and if there exists an analogous passion for them in the U.S.

We have Garden Conservancy Open Days in the U.S. but that cannot compare to the immense number of gardens that the NGS organizes each year. Privately owned gardens open each year to visitors, with admission fees donated to health-related charities. In 2020 there were over 3,700 gardens due to open. Imagine the choices!  For the Snowdrop Festival in February, 100 gardens are participating, including Chawton House.

George Plumptre, Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme, says: “Following the restrictions of 2020 and 2021 there has never been a greater need to start the new year with the beautiful freshness of the first blooms of spring. But garden visiting at this time of year is not just for galanthophiles who are looking to discover a rare variety of snowdrop in gardens they may never otherwise find. Snowdrops are the perfect antidote to the winter blues and spending the afternoon at one of our 100 Snowdrop Festival gardens is the ideal opportunity to get outside and enjoy some spectacular scenes at an otherwise gloomy time of year.”

Common Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis

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“Snowdrops: theirs is a fragile but hardy celebration

– in the very teeth of winter”

Louise Beebe Wilde (1878-1938), American gardening writer

Snowdrops enjoy a cult following in the UK where aficionados are known as galanthophiles. No doubt these enthusiasts will be spotted around the Chawton House gardens getting down on their knees and even lying on their bellies to enjoy and photograph these late-winter wonders. Galanthophiles are collectors of much more than common snowdrops. The lure of collecting the 2,500 plus varieties is quite a draw. Galanthophiles look for snowdrops in old gardens, but there are plenty for sale, some at phenomenal prices. Per “Fun facts about Snowdrops – National Garden Scheme” , a single Galanthus plicatus “Golden Fleece” sold for £1,390 on eBay in 2015!  Akin to the tulip craze in seventeenth-century Holland.

There are a plethora of festivals and tours in the UK celebrating the snowdrop. For instance, in Dorset the citizens of Shaftesbury have planted more than 200,000 snowdrop bulbs since 2017 and have an annual festival. Stateside, I did find the Galanthus Gala in Downingtown, PA but I do not think our fondness approaches UK levels. [Here is their facebook page with a virtual event in 2021, nothing yet for 2022 on there.]

Snowdrops are easy to grow, tough, and often push through the snow to bloom. You can find several varieties for sale online in the U.S., but I doubt you’ll locate 2,500 varieties. They are recommended in USDA hardiness zones 3 to 7, growing best in partial sun and partial shade. In the southern zone where I live, the bulbs may decline over time; this is a plant that is most likely best suited to cooler climates. In the meantime, I content myself with growing a relative, summer snowflakes Leucojum aestivum, which bloom in February, contrary to their name.  In my garden, I must be content to just dream of swaths of snowdrops.

Various varieties of Galanthus

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Thank you Pam for bringing us a little joy into our climate-stressed, virus-ridden world – I think even Jane Austen would be smiling! [Does she mention snowdrops anywhere??]

For more information on Chawton House, their current exhibition on Botanical Women, and their other interesting goings-on, please visit ChawtonHouse.org. You can also help with their ongoing efforts for their Library and estate by becoming a Friend – donate whatever you can on the North American Friends of Chawton House donation page – we appreciate your support!

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Jane Austen on 7 March 7 1814, from London to Cassandra in Chawton:

Monday.  Here’s a day! – The Ground covered with snow!  What is to become of us? – We were to have walked out early to near Shops, & had the Carriage for the more distant. – Mr. Richard Snow* is dreadfuly fond of us.  I dare say he has stretched himself out at Chawton too.

Ltr. 98, 5-8 March 1814, p. 270 [Le Faye, 4th ed.]

The Brighton Mail, Sunday, December 25th 1836 (R. Havell)
[F. Gordon Roe, Sporting Prints of the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries.  NY: Payson & Clarke, 1927.]
©2022, Jane Austen in Vermont
Chawton House · Holidays · Jane Austen · JASNA · NAFCH - North American Friends of Chawton House

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Today is Jane Austen’s birthday, 246 years ago! 

To quote her father George Austen in a letter to his sister Mrs. Walter on Dec 17, 1775:

“You have doubtless been for some time in expectation of hearing from Hampshire, and perhaps wondered a little we were in our old age grown such bad reckoners but so it was, for Cassey certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago: however last night the time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over. We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion. She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy. Your sister thank God is pure well after it, and sends her love to you and my brother…” (Austen Papers, 32-3)

*******************  

In celebration of Austen’s birthday, JASNA has published it’s Persuasions On-Line vol. 42, No. 1, which features a selection of the AGM presentations on Jane Austen and the Arts, the theme of the 2021 JASNA AGM in Chicago. You can view the Table of Contents here – all essays are fully accessible: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol-42-no-1/

It is also a perfect time to donate to Chawton House, via the North American Friends of Chawton House: Please visit the website at https://www.nafch.org/ and read about their endeavors. Anyone who donates $150 or more will be sent NAFCH’s 2nd annual limited-edition bobblehead “Creative Jane” (while supplies last), though any amount is gratefully received!:

You can donate here: https://www.nafch.org/give-join

What better way to honor Jane Austen on her birthday than to give a little something in support of the “Great House” she visited often:

‘Let me thank you again and again’

Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice (1813)

2021, Jane Austen in Vermont
Auctions · Chawton House · Fashion & Costume · Jane Austen · NAFCH - North American Friends of Chawton House · Rare Books

Let’s Go Shopping!! Auction to Support Chawton House!

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Please visit this Auction site to see what’s on offer from the North American Friends of Chawton House   – their annual auction that coincides with the JASNA AGM (just completed): https://www.nafch.org/agm-2021-auction

The auction goes until this Friday October 22, 2021 at 12:00 pm EDT

1. Late nineteenth-century, wooden writing slope with mother-of-pearl detail.  English. When closed: 8½ x 12 x 4¾ inches. (Est. $250)

2. Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, in Richard Bentley’s “Standard Novels and Romances” series (London, 1846).  In original trade binding, stamped with “2/6” on spine.  Extremely rare. (Est. $650-1000)

3. Antique gold chainmail coin purse.  3¼ inches. Edwardian, circa 1902.  (Est. $100-250+)

4. Victorian sterling silver jewelry dish, with another of silver plate in a later design (c. 1920s).  Each are 2 ¾ inch diameter. Victorian, circa 1890s.  (Est. $50+)

5. Two 14K gold miniature portrait pendants, with diamond chips.  3 cm and 2½ cm.  Early 20th century.  English. ($100-120 for the pair)

6. Two costume jewelry pendants of painted ladies.  4½ cm and 2½ cm.  Timeless.  ($50 for the pair)

7. Late 18th century silver-mounted horn & tortoise snuff box. Top lid is 3.5 cm x 7.5 cm. Marked on the bottom with a tag from over a decade ago, at last purchase: $260.

8. Champleve enamel, bronze carriage clock with decorated panels. 19th century, French.  18 cm high. ($400)

9. Artist book, by Linda Dennery: R. W. Chapman, Jane Austen: A Critical Bibliography (Oxford, 1953). ($500)

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Visit and bid! These amazing items can be yours at the click of a button – all to support Chawton House!

Thank You!

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Collecting Jane Austen ~ ‘Sermons to Young Women’ by James Fordyce

BookLady Deb4 Comments

I shall take a little side road today with this discussion of must-haves in your Jane Austen collection – here an example of a book Jane Austen had read, referred to, satirized, and which then became the most interesting thing about Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice.

Part of collecting Jane Austen is to learn about and possibly add to your collection those books known to have been read by her, a fascinating list compiled from the many allusions in her novels and her letters. You can start with R. W. Chapman’s “Index of Literary Allusions, which you can find online.

Chapman’s list first appeared in the NA and P volume of the Oxford edition we looked at last week – more has been added to this – but this is a good start – you could spend the rest of your life just collecting “allusion” books and you will completely forget what you were collecting in the first place.

But Fordyce is one you must have, should read, for if nothing else it will give you a better idea of where Mr. Collins is coming from and what Austen has to say about both he AND Fordyce.

Sermons to Young Women, by Dr. James Fordyce, is certainly one the most well-known of all the various conduct manuals Austen would have had access to, published in London in 1766, “and by 1814, the year after Pride and Prejudice appeared, it had gone though 14 editions published in London alone.” [Ford, intro, i].

We all recall that in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins chooses to read Fordyce’s Sermons aloud to the Bennet sisters, Lydia especially unimpressed:

By tea-time, however, the dose had been enough, and Mr. Bennet was glad to take his guest into the drawing-room again, and, when tea was over, glad to invite him to read aloud to the ladies. Mr. Collins readily assented, and a book was produced; but, on beholding it (for everything announced it to be from a circulating library), he started back, and begging pardon, protested that he never read novels. Kitty stared at him, and Lydia exclaimed. Other books were produced, and after some deliberation he chose Fordyce’s Sermons. Lydia gaped as he opened the volume, and before he had, with very monotonous solemnity, read three pages, she interrupted him with:

“Do you know, mama, that my uncle Philips talks of turning away Richard; and if he does, Colonel Forster will hire him. My aunt told me so herself on Saturday. I shall walk to Meryton to-morrow to hear more about it, and to ask when Mr. Denny comes back from town.”

Lydia was bid by her two eldest sisters to hold her tongue; but Mr. Collins, much offended, laid aside his book, and said:

“I have often observed how little young ladies are interested by books of a serious stamp, though written solely for their benefit. It amazes me, I confess; for, certainly, there can be nothing so advantageous to them as instruction. But I will no longer importune my young cousin.” [P&P, Ch. XIV]

Collins, done with such young and frivolous young ladies, heads off for a game of backgammon with Mr. Bennet…

Illustrators of Pride and Prejudice have turned this scene into a visual treat:

Hugh Thomson, P&P (George Allen, 1894)

Chris Hammond, P&P, Gresham, 1900

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Fordyce (1720-1796) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and a poet, but is most known for his Sermons. He also published Addresses to Young Men in 1777. But would we even be talking about him today if it weren’t for Jane Austen??!

As for his poetry, this is the only poem to be found on the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive, attesting to Fordyce’s seeming obsession with Female Virtue…

TRUE BEAUTY

The diamond’s and the ruby’s blaze
Disputes the palm with Beauty’s queen:
Not Beauty’s queen commands such praise,
Devoid of virtue if she’s seen.

But the soft tear in Pity’s eye
Outshines the diamond’s brightest beams;
But the sweet blush of Modesty
More beauteous than the ruby seems.

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Further Reading:

  1. For more information you can read this essay on Fordyce and P&P by Susan Allen Ford in Persuasions On-Line “Mr. Collins Interrupted: Reading Fordyce’s Sermons with Pride and Prejudice“ [POL 34.1 (2013)].
  2. Here are some images and commentary at the British Library: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/sermons-to-young-women
  3. Here’s the full text of a 2-volumes-in-one American edition from 1809 [the 3rd American from the 12th London edition] at HathiTrust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008247788&view=1up&seq=5
  4. If your main concern is with “Female Virtue,” the University of Toronto has these two abstracts for your reading pleasure – From Sermon IV: On Female Virtue; and From Sermon V: On Female Virtue, Friendship, and Conversation: http://individual.utoronto.ca/dftaylor/Fordyce_Sermons.pdf
  5. As you will see in the comments below, A. Marie Sprayberry sent me this link to her excellent Persuasions On-Line essay on Fanny Price and Fordyce: “Fanny Price as Fordyce’s Ideal Woman? And Why?” http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol35no1/sprayberry.html

Much has been written about Austen and Fordyce – the point being, you need a copy. You can find it in one of its original editions on used bookstore sites for not over the top prices – or there are many, many reprints out there.

One of the best of these is the facsimile reprint of the 10th ed. of 1786 and published by Chawton House Press in 2012. Susan Allen Ford wrote the valuable introduction and it also includes a fine bibliography. This edition is unfortunately out-of-print and I am hoping that they will republish it in the near future. It was a best-seller in its time and again today! Who knew!

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Blog Tour: “A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice” ~ Book Review and Giveaway! Part I

BookLady Deb3 Comments

A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice,
by Jasmine A. Stirling; illustrated by Vesper Stamper.
Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2021

Dear Readers: Please see below my review information on the Book Giveaway. And join me again tomorrow for Part II with an essay by Jasmine A. Stirling on “How Jane Austen revolutionized the way the world viewed women.”

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The recent opinion essay by the New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul “You’re Not Too Old for Picture Books” (Feb. 21, 2021), presents a fine case for the importance, relevance, brilliance, and pure pleasure such books can give us. Paul admonishes us as parents to not confine ourselves to the parameters of the 4-8 age group, to not take such books away from our children too soon, nay, to not put them aside ourselves. How well we remember such books from our own childhoods (think Jessie Willcox Smith or Beatrix Potter or N. C. Wyeth), where words and pictures were made one, the art telling its own story beyond the words of the text.

In a past life as an elementary school librarian (I at the time also had small children), I found such joy in reading and re-reading these pictures books, designated for the younger grades but having the older students engage with them as well. I have never gotten over this love of these “juvenile” works and still try every year to at least purchase the newest Caldecott winner (a REAL book too, no kindle for these!) Biographical picture books have increased of late, and such works on Jane Austen can nearly fill a shelf – but each is unique, each brings a new take on Austen with new ideas, new art, new ways to engage readers of any age with her world.

A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, written by Jasmine A. Stirling and illustrated by Vesper Stamper, is a fine addition to this burgeoning shelf, this, as the press release says “an informative, engaging depiction of the life and growth of an exceptional literary talent.” It is funny and sad and profound, taking Austen from a happy childhood reading and writing for her family’s entertainment in the house at Steventon, where “her mother wrote verse…her brothers debated the news…Jane and Cassandra sang songs upstairs…her father taught Shakespeare below.” In this one sentence, with the accompanying illustration of a very busy household, Stirling and Stamper perfectly sum up Austen’s childhood world.

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We see her growing, seeking “a room of her own” to write her stories, observing the quirks and eccentricities of visiting friends and neighbors, and then the sadness and tragedy with the move to Bath and the death of her father, her life now “a quick succession of busy nothings.” Stamper leaves her colorful joyful world of Steventon behind and gives us a Bath that is dark and gray and lonely (Stamper writes that the color palette comes from the textile shades of Austen’s time), color to appear again when settling in Chawton, Jane finding words to write, creating the characters like Elizabeth and Emma and Anne and her many Heroes we have come to love – writing “hearbreak and sadness, happiness and hope” into her novels. Then she is PUBLISHED and we see an appreciative Prince Regent, patrons of circulating libraries choosing HER books, and US, still reading and loving her very original and brilliant voice.

I loved this book – the words and pictures taking us into Austen’s mind and her world – high praise to both writer and illustrator for such a beautifully told and rendered tale, as Stirling herself writes: “I wanted to tell a different kind of story – one centered on Jane’s genius” – and thereby giving hope to anyone out there who might be searching for their own voice, at any age. I found it as insightful and as complete as any of the many lengthy biographies I have read!

Included is a short nicely-written biography, a selection of the more famous Austen sayings sprinkled in the text (“indulge your imagination in every possible flight” – where does Austen say this??), a note from both Stirling and Stamper, and a listing of resources for further reading.

Chawton House – rear endpaper

A final word on the endpapers, one of my favorite parts of any and every book I handle – here Stamper gives us colorful and imaginative drawings of Austen’s beloved Hampshire, Steventon on the front endpaper, Chawton Cottage (now Jane Austen House Museum) and Chawton House on the rear endpapers, places that inspired Jane Austen to become the genius she indeed was, and places we visit (alas, only a pump at Steventon!) to get closer to her mind and art. Perfectly lovely – and quite “clever” itself!

GIVEAWAY!!

Enter for a chance to win a glorious Jane Austen-themed picnic basket, including a hardcover copy of A Most Clever Girl autographed by Jasmine A. Stirling!

One (1) grand prize winner receives:

  • A picnic basket filled with:
    • A copy of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, signed by author Jasmine A. Stirling
    • A vintage teacup
    • 1 oz of tea From Adagio Teas
    • Truffles from Moonstruck Chocolates
    • Gardenia hand cream
    • A set of Jane Austen playing cards
    • A $15 gift certificate to Jasmine A. Stirling’s Austenite Etsy Shop, Box Hill Goods

Two (2) winners receive:

  • A copy of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, signed by author Jasmine A. Stirling

The giveaway begins March 16, 2021, at 12:01 A.M. MT, and ends April 16, 2021, at 11:59 P.M. MT.

Click here for the Giveaway Form

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Found Her Voice

Written by Jasmine A. Stirling; Illustrated by Vesper Stamper

Ages 4-12; 48 Pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s Books
ISBN-13: 978-1547601103

Publisher’s Synopsis: Witty and mischievous Jane Austen grew up in a house overflowing with words. As a young girl, she delighted in making her family laugh with tales that poked fun at the popular novels of her time, stories that featured fragile ladies and ridiculous plots. Before long, Jane was writing her own stories-uproariously funny ones, using all the details of her life in a country village as inspiration.

In times of joy, Jane’s words burst from her pen. But after facing sorrow and loss, she wondered if she’d ever write again. Jane realized her writing would not be truly her own until she found her unique voice. She didn’t know it then, but that voice would go on to capture readers’ hearts and minds for generations to come.

PURCHASE LINKS: [always check your local bookstore first!]

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/2078/9781547601103
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2O2scVx

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jasmine A. Stirling is the debut author of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, a picture book biography of Jane Austen about persistence and creative mastery. Jasmine lives on a cheerful street in San Francisco with her husband, two daughters, and their dog. From a young age, she loved to write poems and stories and worked her way through nearly every children’s book (and quite a few for grownups, too) in her local library. When she’s not writing, Jasmine can be found hiking in the fog, singing songs from old musicals, and fiddling with her camera.

Jasmine first fell in love with Jane Austen as a student at Oxford, where she read her favorite of Jane’s six masterful novels, Persuasion. A Most Clever Girl is her dream project, done with her dream team—award-winning illustrator Vesper Stamper and Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing. Jasmine also has a YA/New Adult history of the women’s suffrage movement out soon, titled We Demand An Equal Voice.

Visit www.jasmineastirling.com to get a free Jane Austen paper doll kit with the purchase of A Most Clever Girl. While you’re there, enter to win a Regency tea party gift basket!

Follow Jasmine on Instagram and Facebook @jasmine.a.stirling.author where she posts about kidlit and life with two young girls.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:

Vesper Stamper website

Vesper Stamper is an award-winning author-illustrator of picture books and historical fiction for young adults, including What the Night Sings, winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award for the National Book Award, and A Cloud of Courageous Blue. She lives with her husband, filmmaker Ben Stamper, and her two teenagers, in the northeastern United States, but England is her happy place. Her favorite Jane Austen in Emma. You can visit her at vesperillustration.com.

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BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE: links to each day’s post can be found here: https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/2021/03/a-most-clever-girl-how-jane-austen-discovered-her-voice-awareness-tour

Please join me again tomorrow for Part II with an essay by Jasmine A. Stirling on “How Jane Austen revolutionized the way the world viewed women.”


©2021 Jane Austen in Vermont