This book I shall get straightaway – available in paperback or for your kindle – and as this one looks like a keeper – books! bibliophiles! manuscripts! Shakespeare! Austen! – kindle will just not cut it…
Quoting full text from the Fine Books & Collections blog, by Rebecca Rego Barry:
If you enjoy novels with bookish characters and antiquarian themes, have I got a recommendation for you! Bookseller Stuart Bennett‘s debut novel, A Perfect Visit, is the story of a modern-day librarian and graduate student who get involved in a time travel project aimed at acquiring books and manuscripts to bring back to the future for profit and preservation. The American librarian, Ned Marston, travels to Shakespeare’s London to rescue lost quartos and ends up befriending the Bard, while the Canadian student, Vanessa Horwood, hopes to score a Jane Austen manuscript but gets sent to jail soon after meeting the dying author. If you can put aside your misgivings about a time travel plot (and you should, despite Dickens biographer Peter Ackroyd’s statement that “If a late-20th-century person were suddenly to find himself in a tavern or house of the period, he would literally be sick — sick with the smells, sick with the food, sick with the atmosphere around him” ), Ned and Vanessa’s experiences among famous authors and book collectors make for a perfectly delightful read.
In the postscript, Bennett, formerly with Christie’s rare books department and more recently past president of the ABAA, writes that the working title of this book was “A Bibliographical Romance” — less creative than the final title, taken from Austen’s Emma, but more descriptive. He goes on to say, “If I have tinkered a little with history, I have done my best not to tinker with bibliography…Every reference to books, authorship, texts, publisher’s imprints, and prices is, as far as I know, accurate.” It brings to mind the PBS slogan, “entertainment without the guilt.”
Do you think Mr. Bennett was destined to write this book because of his name?? [despite the extra ‘t’…]
*The Yale Center for British Art begins its 2012 film tribute to Dickens with the first film in the series “Dickens’London”, a 1924 12-minute silent film:
*The DeGoyler Library at Southern Methodist University is hosting a Dickens exhibit:
Charles Dickens: The First Two Hundred Years. An Exhibition from the Stephen Weeks Collection. January 19-May 12, 2012 – a catalogue is available for purchase: http://smu.edu/cul/degolyer/exhibits.htm
* A bookseller’s list of some of his works that they have for sale [Tavistock Books]: http://tinyurl.com/7c2t2y3
* This one is very exciting as it combines my love of Dickens and my love of London and makes full use of my iphone capabilities: Dickens Dark London from The Museum of London:
*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…
February 26, 2012 at 9pm (Check local listings) The Old Curiosity Shop One 90-minute episode
A teenage girl and her grandfather lose everything to a maniacal moneylender and flee his relentless pursuit. Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius) stars as Grandfather, with Sophie Vavasseur (Northanger Abbey) as Nell and Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as Quilp.
Gillian Anderson - Great Expectations
April 1 & 8, 2012 Great Expectations
Gillian Anderson, David Suchet and Ray Winstone star in this new adaptation of Great Expectations, widely considered one of the greatest novels by Charles Dickens. Great Expectationsfollows orphan boy Pip as he rises from an apprentice to a gentleman.
Masterpiece - Edwin Drood
April 15, 2012 The Mystery of Edwin Drood The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is a psychological thriller about a provincial choirmaster’s obsession with 17-year-old Rosa Bud and the lengths he will go to attain her. The cast includes Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) and Julia MacKenzie (Miss Marple).
I am currently reading Bleak House, one of those books on my TBR pile literally for the past 40 years! I have signed up for a four-session class on “Dickens and the Law” and figure I should be at least somewhat up to speed on Jarndyce and Jarndyce! – What better gift to an author than this – reading and re-reading their works 200 years after they were born! Anyone else reading Dickens this year of his bicentennial? Please share!
Austen, Jane.The Novels.Oxford, 1923. Large Paper edition, #1/950 (1000). 10 volumes. 8vo, contemp. 3/4 crushed burgundy levant morocco, gilt, geometric-gilt spine compartments, t.e.g., marbled bds., by Baynton; very occasionally slightly scuffed. Color and other plates. Edited by R.W. Chapman. Presumably purchased by the last owner from Mabel Zahn at Sessler’s Bookshop, Phila. Estimate $800-1,200
Lot 319: Jane Austen
Novels & Letters - Lot 319
Austen, Jane. The Novels and Letters.New York: F.S. Holby, 1906. Stoneleigh Edition, #358/1250. 12 vols. 8vo, orig. 3/4 green morocco & marbled bds., t.e.g. gilt-lettered & floral spine; corners & edges occasionally slightly rubbed, a few spine heads scuffed or rubbed, 1 head band partly rubbed away, spines of 2 vols fading to brown. Color plates. Internally clean. Estimate $800-1,200
Other items of interest: a Shakespeare Head Bronte, 21 volumes of Thomas Hardy, and because we are all about Dickens all this year, there are several titles for sale, including this:
Lot 259: Charles Dickens
Dickens - Lot 259
Dickens, Charles. The Mystery of Edwin Drood. London: Chapman & Hall, 1870. 6 vols. (wrappers). First edition, 6 parts – all published 8vo, orig. printed blue green wrappers; minor wear. With 14 plates (incl. portrait). Scattered light foxing but internally generally clean and light. With all adverts. except the 4pp Wilcox & Gibbs concerning stitches adverts [ called for in part 6]. Includes the cork hats sheet in part 2. In custom gilt lettered brown cloth case & chemise. Hatton & Cleaver pp373-(384). Purchased by the last owner from Mabel Zahn at Sessler’s Bookshop, Phila. Estimate $300-500
And click here for offerings of Thomas Rowlandson: here are the details on one, published by R. Ackermann between 1809-[1811]: Jane Austen surely read these – she refers to Dr. Syntax in her letter of 2-3 March 1814 [Le Faye, Ltr. 97]. She writes to Cassandra from Henrietta St in London:
“I have seen nobody in London yet with such a long chin as Dr. Syntax…”
Lot 269: Thomas Rowlandson
Poetical Magazine - Lot 269
(Rowlandson, Thomas, et al. illustrators) Poetical Magazine. London: R. Ackermann, 1809-[1811]. 4 vols. 8vo, early 20th-century full triple gilt lettered paneled, mottled tan polished calf, spines gilt, turn ins gilt, a.e.g., green morocco spine labels by Root; very occasional minor scuffing. With 4 engraved titles & 52 plates (50 hand colored aquatints & engravings – 30 by Rowlandson of Doctor Syntax.) Complete with a leaf of rhymed adverts. Internally clean & bright. Book plates of Dr. Stoughton R Vogel, & Robert Alexander Montgomery. Bright bdgs. Contains original issue of Combe’s & Rowlandson’s Tour of Dr. Syntax under the title of “The School Master’s Tour.” Tooley 421. Purchased by the last owner from Mabel Zahn at Sessler’s Bookshop, Phila. Estimate $1,000-1,500
Rowlandson's Dr. Syntax - Lot 269
…with his very long chin!
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Happy bidding!
[All images and text from the Freeman’s Auction website]
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.…
*Lindsay Ashford on her new book The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen – and how Austen perhaps died from arsenic poisoning, whether intentional or not – has created quite the kerfuffle on the airwaves. Miss Ashford has written a fictional account of what might have happened [and it certainly reveals a good number of Austen family secrets! – all fiction of course…or is it?]
[I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Ashford at the Fort Worth AGM – I’ve also read the book! – more on this in a future post I hope… has anyone else read it? – it deserves some conversation!]
*Those who have been following Downton Abbey [and who in their right costume-drama mind is not] will be pleased to know that the series has been granted a third season! – meanwhile we on this side of the pond “patiently” wait until January for Series 2, now finished in the UK – watch your PBS station for details on the re-running of Season 1 prior to the new shows – [do I dare admit that at our WWW (Wild Women Weekend) we watched the entire first season straight through [well, parts 5 and 6 on the Sunday morning – is there anything better than sharing this show with your very own group of fabulous wild women?!]
The JASNA website has added its annual link to Austen-related gifts from various JASNA Regions here: http://jasna.org/merchandise/index.html – a great place to start your holiday shopping, even for those not so Austen-crazed – what a better time than this to convert a few friends…
Humor is the key ingredient in this slick debut by television comedy writer Levine. Freelancer Jaine Austen (her mother loved the classics but couldn’t spell) makes a living writing love letters, personal ads and industrial brochures, but she never expected her work to involve her in murder.
FB&C asks: Have any FB&C readers attempted to collect all known editions and translations of Austen’s debut title? Does anyone know of any individual or institution that may have made such an attempt…?
* A new book with a great title: Freud’s Couch, Scott’s Buttocks, Bronte’s Grave by Simon Goldhill. There are chapters on traveling to the homes and haunts of Shakespeare, Bronte, Wordsworth, Scott, and Freud, but alas! no Austen – what was Mr. Goldhill thinking?!: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo10997683.html
And while we are on Mr. Holmes, visit the website for the Sherlock Holmes Society of London: http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/ – where you can order your Christmas cards for 2011 complete with Holmes and Watson in the “Blue Carbuncle”…
This all in preparation for the second installment in the Holmes / Watson – Downey / Law due out it is said on of all days, December 16th! Would Jane Austen like Sherlock Holmes?? what do you think??
Harvard recently published the annotated editions of Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion – Emma, NA, MP, and S&S are forthcoming. Note that our esteemed Austenblog and Jane Austen’s World blog are both included in the resource list! Congratulations to Mags and Vic!
*One can never have enough of London, as Samuel Johnson so wisely opined – so here is yet another site to visit to satisfy your London wanderlust: the online exhibition Glimpses of London’s Past at the University of Otago: http://www.library.otago.ac.nz/exhibitions/london/index.html
*An oldie but worth a listen: Claire Tomalin on Jane Austen at TTBOOK.org: http://ttbook.org/book/claire-tomalin-jane-austen
[TTBOOOK = To the Best of Our Knowledge – check out the various interview podcasts…]
*Old Print Giclees – reproducing prints of all sorts – here is a Gibson print – you can own your own [and very affordable], either on paper or canvas in any size – check out the website for other print selections on various subjects: http://old-print-giclees.com/?wpsc_product_category=gibsonbook
The First Ladies explores the unofficial but important position of first lady and the ways that different women have shaped the role to make their own contributions to the presidential administrations and the nation. The exhibition features more than two dozen gowns from the Smithsonian’s almost 100-year old First Ladies Collection, including those worn by Frances Cleveland, Lou Hoover, Jacqueline Kennedy, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. A section titled “Changing Times, Changing First Ladies” highlights the roles played by Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Edith Roosevelt, and Lady Bird Johnson and their contributions to their husband’s administrations. The First Ladies encourages visitors to consider the changing role played by the first lady and American women over the past 200 years.
*Begin your holiday gift giving by sending all your friends this Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar – London again! http://www.jacquielawson.com/advent/london [click this link not the picture for the demo]
For those who did not go to the AGM [and for those who did because the sound was flawed] – here is the video previewing the upcoming AGM in New York City next October [via Kerri]: http://jasna.org/agms/newyork/video/
“The Making of a Homemaker” – a Smithsonian Institution online exhibition about the domestic guidebooks written for the 19th century American housewife: many images
Image: Mrs. Lydia Green Abell. The Skillful Housewife’s Book: or Complete Guide to Domestic Cookery, Taste, Comfort and Economy. New York: R. T. Young, 1853.
Articles of Interest
Gemmill, Katie. “Jane Austen as Editor: Letters on Fiction and the Cancelled Chapters of Persuasion.” ECF 24.1 (2011): 105-122
Persuasion, An Annotated Edition, edited by Robert Morrison [in the same series as the Annotated Pride and Prejudice edited by Patricia Myers Spacks] – http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?recid=31301
I think I might weigh in after reading it myself – I thoroughly enjoyed the Hodge biography…
If you have read Bill Bryson’s At Home and Amanda Vickery’s Behind Closed Doors [and etc. regarding her titles] – and need another fix for your domestic matters obsessions, here is a must-have: If Walls Could Talk by Lucy Worsley [image US and UK cover: note that it is not available in the US until 2/2012 and has a different cover] – Ms. Worsley recently aired her Elegance and Decadence, The Age of the Regency on BBC4, also not available here until when ?? [though it is available for streaming, on youtube, etc.] [makes one want to abandon the colonies for good and head to the mothership?]
“Britain leaves us awed by ancient castles, ruins and museums. History pours out a legacy of battles, a developing monarchy, a structured class system, court-inspired behaviors and fashions, artwork and writings that have created an international hoard of Anglophiles. From among them have come forth those who feel that they must fuel the fire. Welcome to the happy home of English Period Authors. We have come together to share, inspire and celebrate and to reach out to our cherished readers.”
“What links Jane Austen, John Nash, Humphry Repton and Blaise Hamlet?” at the Georgian Gentleman blog:
Thrifty Jane blog – interviews with various Austen characters, esp the “thrifty” sort! [i.e. Mrs. Norris, Lucy Steele, Lady C, etc…] http://thriftyjane.wordpress.com/
Any interest in English Handwriting?? – here is an amazing online course for free – makes me want to dig out my old calligraphy pens and settle in for a winter class!:
Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome: this exhibit was at the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth, but I was unfortunately unable to go – Laurel Ann at Austenprose did see it on the Sunday as she was leaving later than me – she said I must buy the book, so here you go, another lovely art book to peruse: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300170726
DESCRIPTION: Have you ever read a mystery where the heroine sounds like
an oversexed gangster? Or a romance where the hero sounds more like a
girlfriend than a man? Chances are, the oversexed heroine was created by
a male author; the tender, emotional hero by a woman. Men and women
think, act, and talk differently – which causes problems for writers
who are trying to create characters of the opposite sex. Learn about the
most common gender differences, and use them to create believable
characters of the opposite sex. (And along the way, you may get some
great ideas about how to deal with your husband, boyfriend, boss, big
brother, or other assorted males — or for the first time, understand
what’s really going on inside the head of your wife, girlfriend, mom…)
Fee: $20 CRW Members; $25 Non-CRW Members. FMI about the workshops or
speakers, or to register: http://crw-rwa.ning.com
Sage and other variants were very fashionable during the Regency period as a green dye that did not fade or darken was invented. However, it was literaly the colour to die for – the pigment contained a poisonous copper arsenic compound!
Plum is a much nicer word than ‘Puce’, which was popular in the Regency period. The purplish pink shade was named after the French word for ‘Flea’ as it resembled the shade of the blood sucking insect after a meal. Yuck!
Teal and shades of blue were also in demand. In Jane Austen’s time dyes were expensive, pigments made of natural substances and the resulting hues rather muted compared to our modern artificial dyes, hence this lovely soft shade of teal would have been considered as being quite bright!
[from the Jane Austen Centre website]
[sage, plum and teal being my favorite colors – I knew I was born in the wrong century!]
For Fun
A joke on twitter – Victorian London:
“Why are a chimney sweep and a bugler good partners at cards?
One can follow soot, the other can trumpet.” joke, 1884
One cannot resist the Emporium at the JASNA AGM – and this year in Fort Worth was more fun than ever – tables filled with goodies from the various Regions, and a whole room filled with local vendors from Texas. But I first always head to the book stalls – a bad and expensive habit – and this year I was not disappointed. Happy to see again, Traveler’s Tales from Canada [sorry, no website!], and Jane Austen Books, and though I had to think of weight and limit some purchases, this year I wisely bought what I wanted to and shipped them home – they came today [love the UPS man, don’t you?!]
So here is my book list: some are titles I have had on my list for a while, others are what I call the “browser’s banquet” – those things you either didn’t know about or wanted to see and touch before buying – and finally those things I am ashamed to say should have been in my Austen Library years ago, but never made it there for some reason or other … so here goes, with short annotations, in no particular order…
Austen, Jane. Volume the Second. Ed. Brian Southam. Oxford: 1963. – I’ve had vol. 1 and 3 for a good long time, so very happy to find this…
Quin, Vera. In Paris with Jane Austen. Cappella Archive, 2011. Her Jane Austen Visits London is terrific, so why not Paris…!
Hurst, Jane. Jane Austen and Chawton. The Author / JAS, 2009. Had to add this to my JAS collection…
Such Things as Please my Own Appetite: Food and Drink in Jane Austen’s Time. JASNA-Washington DC, n.d. 40p. A great compilation of essays, both contemporary and historical.
Wilson, Kim. Tea with Jane Austen. London: Frances Lincoln, 2011. The new edition with color illustrations – I saw this in London in May and didn’t pick it up [that old weight problem…] – saw Ms. Wilson [we played Whist together!] but did not get it signed … oh well… lovely book – everyone who loves tea and Jane should have this, both editions really…
_____. Flowers and Shrubs for Georgian and Regency Gardens, including a catalogue of Kitchen-garden Plants. The Author, 2011. 20 p. A great list for the gardener in me…
Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy. By Alan Ross, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, et al. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1956. A must-have for your British collection, with requisite British “humour.”
Kemble, Frances Anne. Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1984, c1961. [originally published in 1863] – Kemble’s views on slavery in Georgia– compelling stuff I have long wanted to read…
Monaghan, David, ed. Emma: Contemporary Critical Essays. Macmillan, 1992. Didn’t have this one – now I do…
Wright, Lawrence. Clean & Decent: The Fascinating History of the Bathroom and the Water-Closet. Penguin, 2000, c1960. What every person with an interest in the most basic domestic matters should read… and the cover is really cool…
Vulliamy, C. E. English Letter Writers. London: Collins, 1945. Part of the Britain in Pictures series, which I collect…
Lefroy, Helen, and Gavin Turner, ed. The Letters of Mrs. Lefroy: Jane Austen’s Beloved Friend. Winchester, JAS, 2007. why not? more letters from Jane’s circle…
Adams, Jennifer. Little Miss Austen: Pride and Prejudice. Layton: Gibbs Smith, 2011. Because you have to have this if you collect everything to do with P&P…
Ashford, Lindsay. The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen. Dinas Powys,Wales: Honno, 2011. Ms. Ashford gave a most interesting talk at the AGM – brought this on the plane – almost done and will report on it soon!
Piggott, Patrick. The Innocent Diversion: Music in the Life and Writings of Jane Austen. Moonrise, 2011, c1979. A must-have, now reprinted…
Barron, Stephanie. Jane and the Canterbury Tale. New York: Bantam, 2011. Because this is her latest – Ms. Barron was there, but alas! I did not get this signed either… I have heard it is great…
Southam, Brian. Jane Austen and the Navy. 2nd ed, rev. National Maritime Museum, 2005, c2000. Because I am shamed at not having read this – on my TBR pile, on top…
Rubino, Jane, and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway. Lady Vernon and Her Daughter. New York: Crown, 2009. Who cannot want more of Lady Susan?
Rees, Joan. Jane Austen: Woman and Writer. New York: St. Martin’s, 1976. A biography I do not have – has an emphasis on the juvenilia and letters…
McMullen, Lorraine. An Odd Attempt in a Woman: The Literary Life of Frances Brooke. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 1983. I recently read The Excursion and wanted to know more about this author who Jane Austen read…
Spacks, Patricia Meyer. Gossip. New York: Knopf, 1985. Should have been on my shelf years ago – imagine Emma without “gossip”!
A few finds on London, because one can never have enough:
Colby, Reginald. Mayfair: A Town within London. New York: Barnes, 1966.
Hobhouse, Hermione. A History of Regent Street. London: MacDonald and Jane’s, 1975.
Shepherd, Thomas, and James Elmes. London in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Mayflower, 1978. A reprint edition [originally published in 1827] but happy to finally have this… excellent pictures…
and of course this from my roomie – Jane Austen Made me Do It, by Laurel Ann Nattress – now signed and all! – not to mention a delightful read…
Oh dear, no space, no time…
Copyright @2011 Deb Barnum, of Jane Austen in Vermont
-The Austenesque Extravaganza continues on a daily basis at the Austenesque Reviews blog – stop by to participate in the fun and comment to win the various giveaways ! through August: http://janeaustenreviews.blogspot.com/
-But do not completely despair: we do have this on BBC America – The Hour -a six-week series – I loved the first one aired this past week [wednesday night at 10 here in Vermont] – it is peopled with Austen “graduates”: Juliet Stevenson [the perfect Austen narrator], Anna Chancelor[Miss Bingley in 1995, following her role as “Duckface” in Four Weddings and a Funeral [Hugh Grant], and Romola Garai, the latest “Emma’ … http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/444/index.jsp
-The Frances Burney Society invites submissions for the Hemlow Prize in Burney Studies,
… named in honour of the late Joyce Hemlow, whose biography of Frances Burney and edition of her journals and letters are among the foundational works of eighteenth-century literary scholarship. The Hemlow Prize will be awarded to the best essay written by a graduate student on any aspect of the life or writings of Frances Burney or members of the Burney Family. The essay, which can be up to 6,000 words, should make a substantial contribution to Burney scholarship. The Prize will be awarded in October 2011. Submissions must be received by September 1, 2011.
-The JASNA-Vermont September meeting, when we will be hosting JASNA president Iris Lutz, will be once again part of the Burlington Book Festival: http://burlingtonbookfestival.com/ Iris will be presenting her talk “ ‘in proportion to their family and income’: Houses in Jane Austen’s Life and Fiction.” Join us if you can [more information forthcoming]
-Prinny’s Tailor: a blog by Charles Bazalgette about his ‘many greats’ grandfather Louis Bazalgette who was tailor to the Prince Regent for 32 years. This blog follows his research – the book is due out next year: http://chasbaz.posterous.com/
–Robert Rodi of Bitch in a Bonnet:Reclaiming Jane Austen from the stiffs, the snobs, the simps and the saps seems to be back in full swing blogging about his take on Mansfield Park: visit if you can and see Fanny redeemed! – http://bitchinabonnet.blogspot.com/
-The Twelfth Enchantment, by David Liss: this one I could not resist ordering and it arrived today in my mailbox! – will let you know how it fares…
Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is on the cusp of accepting a life of misery, events take a stunning turn when a handsome stranger—the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron—arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy. Suddenly her unfortunate circumstances are transformed in ways at once astonishing and seemingly impossible.
With the world undergoing an industrial transformation, and with Englandon the cusp of revolution, Lucy is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy in which her life, and her country’s future, are in the balance. Inexplicably finding herself at the center of cataclysmic events, Lucy is awakened to a world once unknown to her: where magic and mortals collide, and the forces of ancient nature and modern progress are at war for the soul of England. . . and the world. The key to victory may be connected to a cryptic volume whose powers of enchantment are unbounded.
Now, challenged by ruthless enemies with ancient powers at their command, Lucy must harness newfound mystical skills to prevent catastrophe and preserve humanity’s future. And enthralled by two exceptional men with designs on her heart, she must master her own desires to claim the destiny she deserves.
What is it about this time and place that compelled you to use it as the background for your story?
There are a number of factors that drew me here. For a long time I’ve wanted to write a novel that was in communication with Jane Austen, but which deal with the economic and political issues that are absent, or at least at the margins of, her novels — the war with France, a series of devastating harvests resulting in food shortages and grain riots, an on-going economic recession, and, most importantly, changes in the labor market brought on by the industrial revolution. This novel incorporates elements of the supernatural — specifically folk and scholarly magic as actually practiced by people who actually believed it worked — and there’s really no better time to write about such beliefs since the early industrial revolution was a period of profound change. I wanted to write about a world that was on the verge of a major alteration, and England, at the beginning of industrialization and before the end of the Napoleonic Wars, works perfectly.
[I’m adding this because I like this answer!] If you could meet just one historical figure, who would it be?
I have a great deal of affection for Henry Fielding, who helped pioneer the novel and the modern police force, was a brilliant legal mind, a wide-ranging intellectual, and a guy who could hang out and enjoy several bottles of wine (yes, several bottles!) while chatting with his friends. My kind of guy.
-A book review of Revolutionary Imaginings in the 1790s: Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson, Elizabeth Inchbald, by Amy Garnai (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), about other writers that Jane Austen read and admired: http://www.nbol-19.org/view_doc.php?index=147
Articles of interest:
-This late edition news: from Tracy Kiely of Murder at Mansfield Park fame [and other Jane Austen mysteries], Battle of the Bonnets– get your fightin’ gloves on for Bronte v. Austen, legal style! [with thanks to Kerri S for the link]
Museums / Exhibits:
-National Portrait Gallery: Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake at the National Gallery – 27 July – 30 October 2011: “This exhibition illuminates the life and work of the Gallery’s first director, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793–1865), a man described by one contemporary as ‘the Alpha and Omega’ of the Victorian art world.” http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/eastlake
Shopping:
The “Keep Calm & Carry On” theme that has been splattered everywhere from cards to books to wall hangings and t-shirts – here is a new contender!
-These are past our time period but How to Be a Retronaut offers this great collection of Victorian photographs, sure to bring you a daily chuckle: don’t an awful lot of these husbands and wives LOOK ALIKE?! [not to mention a tad grim?]
There is a fabulous and funny blog out there called Better Book Titles, by Dan Wilbur, a comedian and writer – he says:
This blog is for people who do not have thousands of hours to read book reviews or blurbs or first sentences. I will cut through all the cryptic crap, and give you the meat of the story in one condensed image. Now you can read the greatest literary works of all time in mere seconds!
A new Better Book Title will be posted every weekday. Every Friday a reader’s submission will be posted. Redesign and titles by Dan Wilbur unless credited otherwise. Please use proper credits when reprinting.
It is well-worth your time to sort through the posts [you can also search for an author – go to bottom of page and click on “Archives” and a search screen will appear at the top of the page] – as expected, the Brontes are quite funny and spot-on:
[Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre]
as is Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge:
Here is one of my laugh-out-loud favorites:
[Roald Dahl – James and the Giant Peach]
and this:
[Norton Anthology of English Literature ]
and who can resist this by Virginia Woolf?
[ Virginia Woolf – The Waves ]
But what of Jane Austen? – well, she has only one title represented, and this a reader submission [ by Henry Schenker ] last November:
[ Jane Austen – Mansfield Park ]
…which we can all appreciate! But surely Mr. Wilbur can come up with something for Austen’s other titles! – is it perhaps that he just can’t bring himself to read her books? – at any rate, what might you submit for an Austen “better book title”?? – put on your thinking caps and comment below!
It’s been way too long since the “weekly” Penny Post has arrived in your mailbox – I am afraid to change the name to “monthly” (though more accurate today!) because then I shall not be diligent enough to get it out at all! – so some of this may be old news, but I am including it if it is worthy of a mention in case you missed it on the first go-round on the blog-sphere …
News & Gossip:
Book Giveaway! – Don’t forget to comment on the Rachel Brownstein interview post to be included in the drawing for a copy of Why Jane Austen? – deadline is Wednesday August 17.
The Austenesque Extravagana is in full-swing at the Austenesque Reviews blog – join the fun – it lasts all month! : http://janeaustenreviews.blogspot.com/
The Circulating Library:
The John Murray archive at the National Library of Scotland [Murray was Jane Austen’s publisher]: http://digital.nls.uk/jma/
At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837-1901 offers a biographical and bibliography database of nineteenth-century British fiction. Currently, the database contains 7335 titles by 2494 authors (more statistics). The database is hosted by the Victorian Research Web, a major and free research resource for Victorian scholars: http://www.victorianresearch.org/atcl/
Taking its cue from Matthew 19:6, “What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder,” this book describes humankind’s actions in doing just that.
A readable selected history of family law, To Put Asunder traverses more than two thousand years of continuing attempts by various societies to inhibit the desires of men and women, kings and commoners, to terminate their unsatisfactory marriages. The stories revealed are surprisingly engaging when the reader is introduced to the lives and personalities of some who were directly affected by family law.
Jane Austen in Vermont 