Hello Dear Readers: a guest post today from Melody, a young woman on her first adventure at the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, Kentucky last weekend – she has shared her thoughts and several pictures of the her time there, so enjoy – and perhaps plan to go next year – she highly recommends it!
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The Louisville, Kentucky fifth annual Jane Austen Festival was held at Locust Grove. I wasn’t aware of the history behind this historical house. The home belonged to Maj. William and Lucy Clark Croghan. When George Rogers Clark was injured, Lucy invited her brother to stay at Locust Grove. So who is George? He was the older brother of William Clark, (who was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition), he founded Louisville, and quite a few other notable things important to the nation.
This is the North facing side of Locust Grove. It has a nice size porch. The south side, which I would think
visitors would enter wasn’t as grand imo.
One of the notable items in the house that stands out is the fact the descendants painted over a regency era portrait. Apparently they felt the red dress was gaudy and a black dress was painted on. This was found out in the restoration and they put back to the original regal red regency dress.
The portrait that was painted over
Another fascinating fact was the entertaining parlor was on the second floor, where today, upstairs is reserved for family and entertaining is done on the main floor or possibly even the basement for those who have one.
The entertaining parlor on the second floor
Now for the Jane Austenites that want to hear about the festival. There were a great many visitors dressed in period reproductions that were all amazing! There was even a Regency style fashion show. The clothes were delicious and went in order according to the years they were popular. The speaker gave information on the clothes and where to find the patterns. Who knew men carried fans? The women carried cute reticules, wore pretty hats or had dainty parasols, and of course wore gloves, either long or short. The men were dashing in their finery as well.
This lovely lady is a member of JASNA
with loads of information.
She was also in the fashion show.
Tailored/fitted clothing for a man
(something that was mentioned during the fashion show was women
didn’t seem to be as concerned with gaping or perfect fits as we are today)
A man’s banyan
I loved the detail in this purple dress. (same lady as above]
Now don’t think for a moment that this is an event purely for women. NO! There was a Gentleman’s duel. I do not know what caused the men to find it necessary to shoot at each other, but the first man to fire was the man to die. It was over within a minute. The gentleman remaining had been injured in the shoulder and was quite irked with the doctor for spending so much time with the dead man saying, “stop spending so much time with the dead man and tend to my wound!” (the duel the next day lasted longer than a minute).
Gentleman’s duel
There was also a bare knuckle boxing match that women obviously would not have attended. Or at least not women of any gentility. The ring leader gave the history of the gambling of the sport and the numerous exchange of money as the odds would change throughout. When he removed a pad of paper from his pants he wrote names and odds of the betting men. The winner of the boxing match had won a substantial amount of money.
There were fencing lessons and a demonstration on riding side saddle. It was very important what horse a gentleman rode. It reminded me of the status of the type of car one drives. There were special pay classes for how to paint a fan, and two discussions. On Saturday evening there was a ball, but since my companion is just 9 we forego that event.
Side saddle demonstration
If you made reservations ahead of time there was afternoon tea. I recommend the lavender cake for dessert. It was deliciously moist and not overly powerful in taste.
Dr. Cheryl Kinney discussed Jane Austen’s illness and Jane’s opinion of illness and her characters’ woes. Who knew that green dresses were toxic?! It wasn’t just the clothing, but wall paper and paint as well. Green was very fashionable at that time too. Dr. Kinney asked how many people were wearing green at the event; there were quite a few! (of course they didn’t need to worry about the copper arsenic).
The final event on Sunday was “Dressing Mr. Darcy.” However, it was in reverse and he ended in a state that could make a grown woman blush. There was quite a bit of fanning happening in the audience.
Dressing Mr. Darcy
Finally, what made the event so special were the people. Everyone was so nice and the vendors were helpful. One young lady took the time to show my son a Spanish pistol’s workings with the full knowledge we were not going to buy. She even showed him how to salute with a rifle British style and American style.
One of the vendors made marbled papers that were amazing. After each one people would ooh and ahh. Of course everyone is unique. I was able to speak to the vendor on the last day and he showed me an antique book someone had given him with the marbling technique on the outside, inside, and on the edges of the pages. But the coloring was more indicative to the Victorian era, (darker, not as pretty as the Regency era).
The children gathered together and had their own fun in the meadow playing sword fights and just plain running around. I asked my son what his favorite parts were and after thinking about it he replied, “playing with the kids and the vendors.” I was surprised. What kid enjoys shopping?
If you ever get the chance to attend a Jane Austen festival, I highly recommend it.
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About the Author ~ Melody writes:
Jane Austen came into my life, because I love history; the manners, fashion, and lifestyle. I also happen to be a book enthusiast and I like that Jane Austen tells things to the reader that makes the reader think. You must read between the lines, she doesn’t just come out and molly coddle the reader. Truth be told, I’d never been to a Jane Austen festival. I didn’t even know they took place. My son and I decided to give it a go, only because they offered so many fun “guy” events. I would not have gone otherwise. We are both happy for the adventure. We may make a tradition of it. Perhaps in period reproductions next time.
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Thank you Melody for sharing with us your observations of the Festival – maybe I will see you there next year myself!
Further Reading: from the Locust Grove website
You can see a performance of the bare-knuckled boxing here.
Well, another year and yet again I am not attending The Annual Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, Kentucky that begins tomorrow; so I thought I would share the schedule so you all can be as depressed as I over what we shall be missing… you can watch this video to get into the spirit of things:
The 5th ANNUAL JANE AUSTEN FESTIVAL
JULY 21 & 22, 2012-10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day
Historic Locust Grove-561 Blankenbaker Lane, Louisville, KY 40207
Sponsored by: Jane Austen Society of North America, Greater Louisville
Locust Grove, a circa 1790 Georgian home and farm is just
six miles from downtown Louisville, KY.
Each day of the festival you can:
Enjoy a Four-Course Afternoon Tea (several sittings each day),
Shop in the Regency Emporium inside and in the Shoppes of Meryton outside
(fabric, patterns, bonnets, pre-made dresses, chemisettes, men’s waistcoats, trousers &
tail coats, tea sets, tea, jewelry, antiquarian books, shawls, silhouette cuttings,
miniatures painted & lots more!)
See a Regency Style Show,
Watch a bobbin lace making demonstration inside the historic home and
See Regency fashions on mannequins in each room of the second floor of the house.
The last tea of the day on Sunday is reserved as a special Children’s Tea with a menu to appeal to children.
Perks include goodies such as a cup and saucer to take home.
Outside, under the tent hear interesting talks such as
* A Dangerous Indulgence:
Jane Austen’s Illness and Her Doctors – this reviews possible causes of Jane Austen’s death,
her letters, the doctors that cared for her, and how updates in genetic mapping may
help us determine what caused her death. Also
*Austen-itis: Sickness and Health in the Novels of Jane Austen –
reviews characters in the novels that suffer from illness (real and imagined).
*A one-woman theatrical performance about Fanny Kemble called, Shame the Devil : An Audience with Fanny Kemble will be performed under the Big Top Tent. Fanny Kemble was a member of the famous English Kemble-Siddons acting dynasty
who married an American and moved to the American South.
She became active in the early anti-slavery movement.
*New this year, will be the Earl of Sandwich Tea Shop located near the Shoppes of
Meryton and the Big Top Tent with simple libations such as –
sandwiches, scones, cookies and drinks.
Meanwhile out on the Village Green you can expect to see:
*Side-Saddle Demonstration
*A Duel Between Gentlemen
*Tutorial on Fencing
*A Bare Knuckle Boxing Demonstration
Roving musician Jack Salt will entertain as will Commonstock Entertainment with
shadow stories and their Potato Wagon of Wonders!
Workshops will involve learning about Tea
(Tea, Anyway you Steep it! and Play with your Leaves),
offered by Bingley’s Teas,
and How to Paint a Fan taught by Jenni Miller.
The Grand Ball will take place on Saturday evening at Spalding University in downtown
Louisville. The ball room is reminiscent of a Georgian Assembly Room. A practice
session will be held in the afternoon.
Admission is $10 each day which admits you to the Emporium, Shoppes, most
everything under the Big Top Tent and tours of the 1790 Georgian home (usually $8).
The Afternoon Tea is $20 per person, the workshops are $25 each, the theatrical
performance is $10 and the Grand Ball is $20 per person.
Advance reservations are highly recommended and begin on-line June 1st at
For those traveling from out-of-town, please contact Regional Coordinator Bonny Wise for a list of recommended B&Bs and hotels.
Answers to frequently asked questions: You do not have to be a member of the Jane
Austen Society of North America to attend the festival. Regency attire is not required,
The latest issue of Perusasions – volume 33 [not as the image indicates!], papers from the Fort Worth AGM on 200 Years of Sense and Sensibility has been mailed to members [and like me you hopefully already have received it!] The journal is not online – you must be a JASNA member to receive it. Here is the table of contents:
Gentle Readers: I welcome today Theodora Ziolkowski, * a student at the University of Vermont, who attended our JASNA-Vermont event on April 15, a talk on “Jane Austen’s Sanditon” by UVM Professor Eric Lindstrom.
Theodora wrote a piece for the UVM student newspaper The Cynic, and I append it here with her permission. Always joyful to see young people at these events, and Theodora brought her friend Dan Bishop along as well – a young man with an interest in Jane is not an everyday occurance, so we were all doubly pleased to have them both in attendance!
The day started off with what is every organizer-of-an-event’s worst nightmare: a major misspelling in the sandwich board signage that announces the talk on the street [on three corners of the campus] – I did not at first notice the signs while I was busy setting up for the day, but it was pointed out to me by some early-birds, and the inital shock of realizing my error of giving signage info over the phone rather than by email hit home hard – so
“Jane Austen’s Sanditon”
was broadcast to the world as
“Jane Austen’s Fanditon”
– that old “S” and “F” confusion over the phone, now permanently in print for all the world – and thankfully here photographed by one of our members – it did of course end up being the hit of the day – people thinking we had a full fan-fest in the works! – and now I am thinking it would make for a great title for such an all-day event!
Now on to Theodora’s essay on the talk, with thanks for her insightful commentary!:
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Jane Austen’s “Sanditon” – A Talk by UVM Professor Eric Lindstrom forthe Jane Austen Society of North America, Vermont Region – April 15, 2012.
by Theodora Ziolkowski
Soft chamber music, peppermint bonbons, cucumber sandwiches and steaming cups of English breakfast tea: all means of transporting a community of Jane Austen fans to rural nineteenth century England.
On Sunday, April 15th, the Hauke Conference Center at Champlain College held yet another event for the Vermont chapter of “JASNA,” the Jane Austen Society of North America. “Janeites,” or declared Austen enthusiasts, gathered in the Champlain College building to celebrate a shared admiration for a beloved writer.
The sunny afternoon event began with students and JASNA members filling up their plates and mugs for the talk. Many milled about the tables of Austen memorabilia items for sale, including calendars, paper dolls, bookmarks and notecards. Others stood in tea-drinking circles to speak with fellow Austen enthusiasts.
Deb Barnum, JASNA-Vermont Regional Coordinator, introduced the event, the novel and UVM Professor Lindstrom, the event speaker. Lindstrom’s talk, “How to Love ‘Sanditon’” revolved around Austen’s last and unfinished novel. The [twelve]-chapter manuscript was first published by editor R. W. Chapman in 1925, many years after Austen’s death in 1817.
Eric Lindstrom
Lindstrom began his talk sharing internet clips of Austen-related interviews and pictures, including a photograph of a Peep diorama entered for the competition held by the Washington Post.
Lindstrom also showed a watercolor of Austen painted by her sister, Cassandra, in which Austen is seen only from the back. The “history and mystery” of this faceless Jane, Lindstrom said, contributes to the appeal of this visual representation of the novelist.
For a novel boasting a brief fifty pages, “Sanditon” offers an unavoidable contrast to the marriage plot typical of Austen novels. The absence of the marriage plot leaves room for readers to study Austen’s temperament, Lindstrom contended.
In “Sanditon,” we find a more ironic vision—a “book that might leave Austen readers cold,” Lindstrom said in his opening remarks. In the novel, two towns echo one another, a trait indicative of the changing English national character, Lindstrom said. “Sanditon” can thus be considered a “condition of England novel,” or a storyline where housing and the quest for perfect health exist at its heart.
The novel’s characters themselves are caricatures, and the thematic obsession with illness and the decaying body can be seen as contributing to what Lindstrom depicted as the “menacing” mood of the novel.
Lindstrom described “Sanditon” as understanding beyond its limitations of England. Even the name, “Sanditon,” suggests an “un-foundational” place – Austen, he pointed out, is discreet in the novel: she had to pretend the world was better than it was at the time.
The Vermont branch of JASNA hosts many events throughout the year, including talks and an annual birthday tea.
Theodora Ziolkowski, an English major and Film and Television Studies minor, will graduate in May from the University of Vermont (UVM). Theodora has served her four years as an undergraduate as an editor for Vantage Point, the student-run arts and literary journal at UVM. She recently began writing for The Cynic, the UVM student newspaper, for which she writes reviews and a poetry column for the Arts pages. A lover of writing, books and good coffee, Theodora wrote a manuscript of poetry for her senior honors defense. Her love for Jane Austen began in high school when she became enchanted by Elizabeth Bennet and her world of sisters, elegant dances, piano-playing, and romance.
[Theodora tells me that her first date with Dan was watching the DVD of her favorite Austen novel – Emma Thompson’s adaptation of Sense andSensibility! ]
Along with a dramatic new look and easier navigation, the website has been enhanced with several new features:
*A dedicated page for each GCR event with more information, including driving instructions and parking options
*Online Exhibits explaining historical elements in the Austen novels
*Reading Guides for teachers and reading groups
*Fun Stuff pages of puzzles and links
*An Austen-inspired mystery short story by GCR member and author, Felicia Carparelli
*Special Member Area
*And, much more for you to explore!
The Web Committee wants this website not only to provide programming and interactive learning resources but also be a place to have fun. We want you to be a part of our community even if you cannot attend our events. We aim to continually add more content to keep the website fresh and current for you. We hope you visit the site regularly. If you join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JASNA.GCR you can receive alerts of new content and announcements.
We hope you enjoy exploring the new website!
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Visit when you can – the website header alone is worth the price of admission (and I cannot copy it)! and there are lots of other goodies to get lost in…
[Image: from the JASNA-GCR online exhbition “Men, Women, and Marriage” by Jeff Nigro, RC for the Region]
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…
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 !
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 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
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”
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
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.
Eight internationally acclaimed authors have invented imaginary biographies and character sketches based on fourteen unidentified portraits. Who are these men and women, why were they painted, and why do they now find themselves in the Collection of the National Portrait Gallery? With fictional letters, diaries, mini-biographies and memoirs, Imagined Lives creates vivid stories about these unknown sitters from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
For your iphone, ipad and such: Ebook Treasures: We already know that Austen’s History of England is available from the British Library, but look at this, a 14th Century Cookbook:
“The Forme of Cury is the oldest surviving cookbook in the world, dating from the late 14th century. Originally made by the cooks of the court of Richard II, very few copies survive, and this one, from the John Rylands Library in Manchester, is probably the best and earliest. Written in Middle English, the script can be hard to interpret, and some of the recipes unfamiliar. The book gives an incredible insight into medieval kitchens, as well as medieval life itself. The book contains one hundred and ninety-four recipes which reveal the amazing variety and elaboration of the dishes available to the elite, including stews, roast dishes, jellies, tarts and custards. Among the recipes are ‘Chyckens in gravey’, ‘Blank manger’ (a white savory stew, from which the word ‘blancmange’ derives),‘Furmente with porpays’ (porpoise in wheat porridge), and ‘Crypses’ (fried pastries).
The manuscript is still in a very worn, and possibly original, binding and it may well have been used as a practical cookery book in an aristocratic or royal kitchen. However, unlike modern recipe books, the Forme of Cury doesn’t give exact quantities or cooking times, so a lot is left to the skill and imagination of the cook.
This iBook contains the complete manuscript along with transcriptions from the Middle English. iTunes £3.99 ” [from the website]___________________________________
Michael Dirda of the Washington Post reviews Death Comes to Pemberley – this is on the top of my TBR pile…
For those non-vegetarians out there with an interest in the Meat of London, here is a tasty read [and perhaps an unsettling one?]:
Meat, Commerce and the City: The London Food Market, 1800–1855 by Robyn Metcalfe – all you ever wanted to know about the Smithfield Meat Market, due out in March 2012 from Pickering & Chatto.
[image from Victorian London.org]
Tides of War, by Stella Tillyard
An epic novel about love and war, set in Regency England and Spain during the Peninsular War (1812-15), by the acclaimed historian and bestselling author of “Aristocrats.” Tides of War opens in England with the recently married, charmingly unconventional Harriet preparing to say goodbye to her husband, James, as he leaves to join the Duke of Wellington’s troops in Spain….
A book about the plague, Ralph Tailor’s Summer by Keith Wrightson – visit the publisher Yale Books where you can read a fascinating extract from the preface.
Charles Dickens is getting a good number of exhibitions all over in celebration of his 200th birthday: you can check the various happenings at the Dickens 2012 website.
*There is also the Dickens Exhibition at The Morgan Library. Here is the online component you can visit without leaving home: you can view 20 pages of A Christmas Carol and read a letter penned by Dickens…
Organized to complement the Center’s major exhibition on Johan Zoffany, who spent six productive years in India, Adapting the Eye explores the complex and multifaceted networks of British and Indian professional and amateur artists, patrons, and scholars in British India in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and their drive to create and organize knowledge for both aesthetic and political purposes. Selected from the Center’s rich holdings, the exhibition includes a diverse range of objects from both high art and popular culture, including albums, scrapbooks, prints, paintings, miniatures, and sculpture, demonstrating how collecting practices and artistic patronage in India during that period constituted a complex intersection of culture and power.
Auction News
At auction this coming week: Bonham’s Fine Books and manuscripts, December 15, 2011:
Lot No: 5159WALKER, MRS. ALEXANDER.Female Beauty, as Preserved and Improved by Regimen, Cleanliness and Dress. London: Thomas Hurst, 1837.
8vo (183 x 107mm). With 11 lithographed illustrations, 10 hand-colored, each with hand-colored overlay, showing how physical characteristics (thick waist, broad jaws, short limbs, etc.) can be camouflaged in order to enhance one’s appearance. Later morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, spine gilt, a.e.g. Custom slipcase. Some staining to spine, minor foxing throughout, offset from plates. Estimate: US$500 – 700.
And more of Mr. Dickens! Lot No: 5177: DICKENS, CHARLES. 1812-1870.
A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843.
8vo. [viii], 166, [2] ad pp. Hand-colored engraved frontispiece and 3 hand-colored plates. Original cloth blindstamped and gilt, a.e.g. Custom morocco pull-off case by Scroll Club Bindery. Pp 64-70 lightly foxed, binding slightly cocked and faded.
Provenance: Jerome Kern (morocco book label); Frank Brewer Bemis [1861-1935],Bostoncollector, whose collection was dispersed by Rosenbach and Goodspeed (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION, THE KERN-BEMIS COPY. Second issue of the text, with “Stave One” on page [1], title page in red and blue dated 1843, and yellow endpapers, but first state of the binding (the closest interval between blindstamped border and gilt holly wreath being 14-15 mm not 12 mm, and the upper left serif of D intact). Todd calls this binding point a “desideratum … encompassing all the others,” and of greater importance in priority than the textual points (The Book Collector, 1961, pp 449-454). Eckel, p 116; Sadleir 684. Estimate: US$4,000 – 6,000.
Lot No: 5284 : GEORGE III. 1738-1820.
Document Signed (“George R.”), 1 p (with conjoined docketed blank), folio, St. James’s, May 25, 1781, being a pay warrant for General Henry Seymour Conway for the Royal Horse Guards for the year 1779, additionally signed by CHARLES JENKINSON, Earl of Liverpool, toned, tape stains at upper and lower right corners, small chips at edges, matted and framed.
Provenance: with Thomas F. Madigan,New Yorkautograph dealer (signed letter of authenticity, October 26, 1935). Estimate: US$800 – 1,200.
Prices Realized at Auction:
Mr. Dickens yet again!: A complete set in fine bindings of the first editions of Charles Dickens’s Christmas Books. Five volumes, uniformly bound, London, 1843-1848. Includes A Christmas Carol. Sold for $6,480. [Swann]
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Dance Card for the Union Ball in Honor of the Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, $3,840 at Swann Galleries of New York on December 1.
A dance card issued to the guests atLincoln’s inaugural ball in 1861. Courtesy of Swann Galleries.These cards, with die-cut decorative border and a ribbon through one corner, were issued to guests at the inauguration ball inWashington,D.C.on March 4, 1861. On the second of the four pages are listed the twenty-three planned dances that will take place to the music provided by L. F. Weber’s band, while on the third is space to write in one’s partner for each dance. On the rear panel are printed the names of Lincoln and his vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, around an illustration of a bald eagle, captioned “The Constitution.” [Invitations to the ball appear from time to time and sell for upwards of $8,000, but Swann could find no previous record of a dance card at auction.]
If you are into hair collecting [a little late for our Regency tastes, but what good Victorianist is not into hair…], here is a short essay on the topic at Paul Fraser Collectibles.
And then you might like to add this to your collection: Lord Nelson’s hair for £49.95, or Napoleon, and the Duke of Wellingon, all the same price – also Dickens and Steinbeck and Paul McCartney, etc – but alas! – no Jane Austen!
And this is way too much fun to look at – The Love Diagrams of Jane Austenat Diana Peterfreund’s website: [visit her site for diagrams of the other novels]
And finally, this is all over the airwaves, and we will have to wait until December 16th for it all to be unveiled, but visit the website of The Austen Games.com to whet your appetite and ponder.…
Jane Austen in Vermont 