18th century Literature

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Mary Bennet’s Reading in “The Other Bennet Sister” by Janice Hadlow

In Janice Hadlow’s The Other Bennet Sister, a brilliant effort to give the neglected-by-everyone Mary Bennet a life of her own, Mary’s reading is one of the most important aspects of the book – we see her at first believing, because she knows she is different than her other four far prettier and more appealing sisters, that her prospects for the expected life of a well-married woman are very limited, and that she must learn to squash her passions and live a rational life. She also mistakenly thinks that by becoming a reader of philosophical, religious, and conduct texts that she will finally gain approval and maybe even love from her distant, book-obsessed father.

So Mary embarks on a course of serious rational study – and one of the most insightful things in the book is that she learns, after much pain, that this is no way to lead a life, to find happiness, to find herself. She rejects the novels like the ones Mrs. Bennet finds at the local circulating library as being frivolous, largely because James Fordyce tells her so…

So, I have made a list of all the titles that Hadlow has Mary reading or referring to – all real books of the time, and many mentioned and known by Jane Austen. Hadlow is very specific in what books she puts in Mary’s hands! And shows her own knowledge of the reading and the reading practices of Austen’s time. [If anyone detects anything missing from this list, please let me know…]

I am giving the original dates of publication of each title; most all the titles in one edition or another are available on Google Books, HathiTrust, Internet Archive, or the like – I provide a few of those links, if you are so inclined to become such a rational reader as Mary….

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Anonymous. The History of Little Goody Two Shoes (show JA’s copy). London: John Newbury, 1765. Attributed to various authors, including Oliver Goldsmith. We know that Jane Austen has her own copy of this book, here with her name on it as solid proof.

 

Mrs. [Sarah] Trimmer. The Story of the Robins. Originally published in 1786 as Fabulous Histories, and the title Trimmer always used. You can read the whole book here: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Robins

 

Rev. Wetenhall Wilkes. A Letter of Genteel and Moral Advice to a Young Lady: Being a System of Rules and Informations: Digested Into a New and Familiar Method, to Qualify the Fair Sex to be Useful, and Happy in Every Scene of Life. London, 1746. Another conduct book.

Full text here: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012393127

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Catharine Macaulay-wikipedia

Catharine Macaulay. The History of England. 8 vols. London, 1763-83. A political history of the seventeenth century, covering the years 1603-1689. This was very popular and is in no way related to the later History published by Thomas Babington Macaulay. You can read more about this influential female historian in this essay by Devoney Looser: Catharine Macaulay: The ‘Female Historian’ in Context

 

Rev. James Fordyce. Sermons to Young Women. London, 1766. A conduct manual.

In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins chooses to read Fordyce’s Sermons to Young Women aloud to the Bennet sisters, Lydia especially unimpressed: “Lydia gaped as he opened the volume, and before he had, with very monotonous solemnity, read three pages, she interrupted him …’.

You can find it on google in later editions, but here is an abstract for 2 of the sermons to give you an idea.

And here an essay on Fordyce and P&P by Susan Allen Ford, who also wrote the introduction for the Chawton House Press edition of the Sermons (2012) : http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol34no1/ford.html

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Frances Burney. Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World. London, 1778. Hadlow gives Evelina a good hearing – in the discussion in Mr. Bennet’s library with Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth directly quotes Austen’s own words in defense of the novel that are found in Northanger Abbey. [Evelina, and Mary’s difficulty in coming to terms with such a frivolous story, is mentioned more than once].

Evelina. U Michigan Library

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Other Novels mentioned are:

– Samuel Richardson. The History of Sir Charles Grandison. London, 1753. 7 vols. Reported to be Austen’s favorite book, all seven volumes!

– Henry Fielding. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. 4 vols. London, 1749. Supposedly the reason Richardson wrote his Grandison. [Mentioned more than once] – I think we should read this book next for our JABC!

– Laurence Sterne. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. 9 vols. London, 1759-1767.

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Hugh Blair – wikipedia

Hugh Blair. Sermons. Vol. 1 of 5 published in 1777.

You can view it full-text at HathiTrust.

Mary Crawford refers to Blair in Mansfield Park:

“You assign greater consequence to the clergyman than one has been used to hear given, or than I can quite comprehend. One does not see much of this influence and importance in society, and how can it be acquired where they are so seldom seen themselves? How can two sermons a week, even supposing them worth hearing, supposing the preacher to have the sense to prefer Blair’s to his own, do all that you speak of? govern the conduct and fashion the manners of a large congregation for the rest of the week? One scarcely sees a clergyman out of his pulpit.”

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William Paley. A View of the Evidences of Christianity. London, 1794.

Aristotle. The Ethics of Aristotle. [no way to know the exact edition that Mr. Collins gives to Mary – it’s been around for a long time!]

Mentions: all Enlightenment thinkers and heavy reading for Mary!

– John Locke
– William Paley (again)
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
– David Hume

A Dictionary of the Greek Language – Mr. Collins gives a copy to Mary.

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Edward Young. Night Thoughts. 1743. wikipedia

Edward Young. The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. [Known as Night-Thoughts]. London, 1742-45. [No wonder Mr. Hayward suggested a lighter type of poetry!]

You can read the whole of it here, if you are up to it…: https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/authors/pers00267.shtml

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image: wikipedia

William Wordsworth, portrait by Henry Edridge, 1804; in Dove Cottage, Grasmere, England. Britannica.com

William Wordsworth. Lyrical Ballads. London, 1798. Full title: Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge [Mr. Hayward does not mention Coleridge at all!], first published in 1798 and considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature. Most of the poems in the 1798 edition were written by Wordsworth; Coleridge has only four poems included, one being his most famous work, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Here is a link to the full-text of “Tintern Abbey” that so moved Mary: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45527/lines-composed-a-few-miles-above-tintern-abbey-on-revisiting-the-banks-of-the-wye-during-a-tour-july-13-1798

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William Godwin. Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and Happiness. London, 1793. [Godwin, it is worth noting, married Mary Wollstonecraft and was the father of Mary Godwin Shelley]. Outlines Godwin’s radical political philosophy.

William Godwin (portrait by James Northcote) and Mary Wollstonecraft (portrait by John Opie) – from BrainPickings.org

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Machiavelli – is referred to by Mary, so assume she is familiar with his The Prince (1513).

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Image: Guide to the Lakes. ‘View on Winandermere’ [now called Windermere], by Joseph Wilkerson. Romantic Circles

William Wordsworth. Guide to the Lakes. [full title: A Guide through the District of the Lakes] – first published in 1810 as an anonymous introduction to a book of engravings of the Lake District by the Reverend Joseph Wilkinson. A 5th and final edition was published in 1835 – you can read that online at Romantic Circles here, along with a full account of its rather tormented publication history: https://romantic-circles.org/editions/guide_lakes

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John Milton. Paradise Lost. A mention by Mr. Ryder who is defeated by its length, so we know Mary was familiar with it.

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The Edinburgh Review / The Quarterly Review – brought to Mary by Mr. Ryder, and for which Mr. Hayward perhaps wrote his reviews. The Edinburgh Review (1802-1929); Quarterly Review (1809-1967, and published by Jane Austen’s publisher John Murray) – both were very popular and influential publications of their time…

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The Other Bennet Sister is an enjoyable read – it is delightful to see Mary Bennet come into her own, that despite what she viewed as an unhappy childhood, she finds her way through a good number of books in a quest to live a rational, passionless existence. And that the development of some well-deserved self-esteem with the help of various friends and family, might actually lead her to a worthy equal partner in life, just maybe not with Mrs. Bennet’s required £10,000 !

©2020 Jane Austen in Vermont
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Chawton House Library News ~ Sandy Lerner Honored with the OBE!

Very Exciting news just in! Sandy Lerner, the force behind the turning Chawton House, home to Jane Austen’s brother Edward Knight, into the Chawton House Library, has been awarded an Honorary OBE – “honorary” being the term for the OBE presented to a non-UK national [read here about the OBE, Order of the British Empire]. Here is the info on the event and celebration that took place yesterday at Chawton House!

Sandy Lerner copyright Pal Hansen from 2013

CHL Founder Awarded Honorary OBE
for Services to UK Culture

Award recognises importance of our unique Library of women’s writing

Today at Chawton House Library a very special event took place: our founder and Chairman, Dr Sandy Lerner, was awarded an Honorary OBE.

As a foreign national, the award of an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen recognises the significance of Dr Lerner’s cultural contribution to the UK in restoring the house an estate and establishing the Library. Although such awards are usually recognised at the British Embassy in the recipient’s country of residence, when Dr Lerner was first advised of the award over a year ago, she requested permission to delay announcing the honour and wait to be presented with the award at Chawton House Library itself.

Hampshire’s Lord-Lieutenant, Mr Nigel Atkinson Esq, presented the award to Dr Lerner in the Dining Room where Jane Austen would have dined with her brother, Edward. Dr Lerner, like many avid readers, loves the work of Jane Austen.

Read the rest here at the CHL website: http://www.chawtonhouse.org/?p=60082

And here are two pictures from yesterday’s celebration:

IMG_6262

Hampshire’s Lord-Lieutenant, Mr Nigel Atkinson Esq, with Sandy Lerner

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CHL Board of Trustees Members Richard Knight (descended from Edward Austen Knight), Gilly Drummond, and Len Bosack with Sandy Lerner and Nigel Atkinson

[Images courtesy of Chawton House Library, with thanks.]

We were very fortunate at JASNA-Vermont to have had Sandy visit us for our December tea in 2012 – she spoke about her book Second Impressions, a sequel of sorts to Pride and Prejudice. Here she is signing her book for our member Thierry Guerlain:

Sandy Lerner and Thierry Guerlain

All our members here in Vermont send our hearty congratulations to Sandy! – a very much deserved award for all her efforts on behalf of Jane Austen and the many other women writers too long neglected. They all have a “home of their own” at last.

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You can learn more about supporting the Chawton House Library by visiting their “Get Involved” page. You can:

c2015 Jane Austen in Vermont

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The Penny Post Weekly Review ~ All Things Austen

The Penny Post Weekly Review* 

June 4, 2011

News and Gossip: 

1.   “Josiah Wedgwood Tradesman – Tycoon, firing up the modern Age” at The Culture Concept Circle:  http://www.thecultureconcept.com/circle/josiah-wedgwood-tradesman-tycoon-firing-up-the-modern-age

 2.  http://www.e-enlightenment.com/ – free access through the month of June:   user ID: ee2011 / PW:  enlightenment

3.  How timely is this, as I just started to re-read Evelina last week! You can follow the Group read of Frances Burney’s Evelina at The Duchess of Devonshire’s Gossip Guide: here is the first post: http://georgianaduchessofdevonshire.blogspot.com/2011/06/evelina-volume-1-letters-1-20-and.html

The full reading schedule is here: join in if you can!http://georgianaduchessofdevonshire.blogspot.com/2011/05/evelina-group-read-rundown.html

  • 2 June: Volume 1 Letters 1-20
  • 9 June: Volume 1 Letter 21- Volume 2 Letter 6 (21-37)
  • 16 June: Volume 2 Letter 7- 22 (38-53)
  • 23 June: Volume 2 Letter 23- Volume 3 Letter 9 (54-71)
  • 30 June: Volume 3 Letter 10-23 (72-84)

4.  In the UK: The Jane Austen Regency Week [ June 18 – June 26, 2011], celebrating the time Jane Austen spent in Alton and Chawton, is sponsored by the Alton Chamber of Commerce – website with event information here: http://www.janeaustenregencyweek.co.uk/index.html

5.  As part of the above Regency Week celebration, the Chawton House Library will be hosting tea, talk, and tours on June 21st and 23rd : http://www.chawton.org/news/

6.  Two posts on the British and their lovely habit, the drinking of tea: at Mary Ellen Foley’s Anglo-American Experience blog:

Part 1: http://mefoley.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/tea-part-1/
Part 2: http://mefoley.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/tea-part-2/
Part 3: http://mefoley.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/tea-part-3/
Part 4:  coming soon, so check back

Chinese Flowers, Old Foley pottery, from M.E. Foley's blog

7.  Dressing the Part: Dolley Madison’s Life Through Fashion, an exhibit at James Madison’s Montpelier, June 15, 2011 – March 29, 2012: http://www.montpelier.org/explore/collections/dressing_the_part.php

8.  The In Fashion: High Style 1620-2011 exhibit at The Shelburne Museum opens June 18, 2011: http://shelburnemuseum.org/exhibitions/in-fashion/

9.  An interview with Diana Birchall at Maria Grazia’s The Jane Austen Book Club: [includes a book giveaway] http://thesecretunderstandingofthehearts.blogspot.com/2011/06/talking-jane-austen-with-diana-birchall.html

10.  I don’t even know where to begin re: V. S. Naipaul’s trashing women writers and Jane Austen’s “sentimentality” [see this article at the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/02/vs-naipaul-jane-austen-women-writers ]

– but as one gentleman on one of the listservs I subscribe to so eloquently said: “Oh yeah Naipaul, how many movies have been made from YOUR books, huh?”

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New Books just out / about to be: 

1.  Why Jane Austen? By Rachel Brownstein. ColumbiaUniversity Press, 2011:  http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15390-4/why-jane-austen  [publication date: June 16, 2011 or thereabouts – more on this book next week!]

2.  Vauxhall Gardens, by David Coke and Alan Borg:  http://www.vauxhallgardens.com/ – the book is to be published by Yale University Press on June 8, 2011

3.  Jane Austen: Two Centuries of Criticism, by Laurence Mazzeno. Camden Press, 2011:

http://www.camden-house.com/store/viewitem.asp?idproduct=13605

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A few blogs / websites to check out:

1.  This one deserves repeating:  The Jane Austen Music Transcripts Collection at Flinders Academic Commons, transcribed by Gillian Dooley [this is a wonderful resource, most all from Austen’s music manuscript notebooks]: http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/handle/2328/15193

2.  William Godwin’s Diary: Reconstructing a Social and Political Culture, 1788-1836:  http://godwindiary.politics.ox.ac.uk/   [husband to Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley’s father, Austen’s time]

3.  The Beau Monde Blog:  http://thebeaumondeworld.wordpress.com/

Beau Monde Blog header

4.  The Carlyle Letters Online:  http://carlyleletters.dukejournals.org/ [i.e Thomas and Jane]

5.  The George Eliot blog:  [new!]http://desperatelyseekinggeorge.wordpress.com/

6.  The Yale Center for British Art – their fabulous new website:  http://britishart.yale.edu/

Mercier - 'The Sense of Hearing' - detail - YCBA

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* I hope to return to doing a weekly update of various Austen-related discoveries – so much out there – so little time – one must set aside some time for BOOKS, don’t you think??

Copyright @2011 Deb Barnum, at Jane Austen in Vermont
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Reading ‘Clarissa’

I made a promise to myself back in August 2010 to finally read Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa, this promise made after reading Laurel Ann’s Austenprose interview with Lynn Shepherd.  Shepherd is the author of the  Austen-inspired mystery Murder at Mansfield Park, but also a Samuel Richardson scholar and author of  Clarissa’s Painter: Portraiture, Illustration, and Representation in the Novels of Samuel Richardson (Oxford University Press, 2009].

I have had Clarissa sitting on my bedside table for years – a friend gave it to me as a joke, daring me to read the thing – I was tempted to tear it into nine parts [an easy thing to do!] and have each of my book group buddies read their piece of the book and report on it – an easy way to lessen the pain of reading this rather large tome – my copy [the Penguin edition of 1985 with introduction and notes by Angus Ross] measures 9 x 6 x 2.75″ with a total of 1534 pages, a heady feast of endless words in very small print!  But alas! I could not go the book destruction route, it’s not in my genetic makeup, and so have just stared at this thing for years, dusting it occasionally, contemplating its use as a doorstop or such [it weighs 2 lbs, 11oz!], but somewhat guilty all the while…  an English major who cleverly avoided this book or any Richardson for that matter because everything is just so long and not to mention depressing! And despite Richardson being Jane Austen’s favorite author, and that she read and re-read his works and was greatly influenced by him, I just haven’t done it… until now…

So when I read Lynn Shepherd’s post and saw the brilliant suggestion to read Clarissa in ‘real time’, starting on January 10th, and finishing on December 18th, I thought this was a perfect solution, nearly a whole year to finish the thing,  not much time to be spent on a daily basis – how bad can it possibly be?  So, Dear Readers, I have begun – January 10th, with already a welcome reprieve as the next letter is not until January 13th… 

When I told my gifting friend that I was finally going to read the thing – she wondered how I would be able to put it down and not read ahead – I told her I did not think that would be a problem in this case – and indeed it seems not to be so far!

I welcome anyone else who would like to join me in this – there have been group reads of Clarissa on other listservs – I am not going to post about the book,  just periodic updates of my reading progress.  My only concern is I am already looking forlornly at Richardson’s other book on my shelf, Pamela, a much shorter and happier exercise in reading what Jane Austen read… – so wish me luck and join me if you can!

Samuel Richardson (NNDB)

Further reading on Samuel Richardson:

Copyright @ 2011 Deb Barnum, Jane Austen in Vermont

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Ann Radcliffe ~ July 9, 1764

You are cordially invited to visit my Bygone Books blog for a short bio – bibliography on Ann Radcliffe, born today, July 9, 1764.

cover mysteries udolpho

Posted by Deb

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Jane’s ‘Dear Dr. Johnson’*

I direct you to my Bygone Books Blog for a short post on Samuel Johnson with news of an exhibit at the Huntington Library…

samjohnson_banner

[* from Letter 50, to Cassandra Austen.  Le Faye edition, p. 121]

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Austen on the Block ~ the Results, May 6, 2009

The results of the Bloomsbury Auction that took place on May 6, 2009 in New York have been posted online.  [click here to see my previous post on this auction]

bloomsbury auction austen

The Austen titles sold as follows [sale price in brackets]:

127. [AUSTEN, Jane] Thomas Hazlehurst… Portrait miniature of Elizabeth Bridges …
estimate: $2000 – $3000 – [unsold]

128. AUSTEN, Jane. Sense and Sensibility: A Novel. London …
estimate: $25000 – $35000 – [$38000]

129.  AUSTEN, Jane.  Pride and Prejudice…. estimate: $20000 – $30000 – [$26000]

130. AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park … estimate: $7000 – $10000 –[$7500]

131. AUSTEN, Jane. Emma: London … estimate: $8000 – $12000 – [$9500]

132. AUSTEN, Jane. Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. …estimate: $5000 – $8000 – [$5500]

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Works by the Brontes, Burney [many autograph letters] and Edgeworth also sold for hefty prices, as well as  works by Samuel Johnson, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Lord Byron, Charlotte Lennox, and others  ~  see all the results at the Bloomsbury Auctions website.

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In My Mailbox ~ ‘The Female Spectator’

I am always thrilled to find in my mailbox the latest issue [Vol. 13, No. 1, Winter 2009] of The Female Spectator, the newsletter of the Chawton House Library. 

The first article by Helen Cole, a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton, is on “The  Minerva Press and the Illustrations of the Late Eighteenth-Century Novel” – Cole is researching the Minerva Press novels of the 1790s, regarded by many as “historically interesting but of minimal literary value”, yet often illustrated with engravings that had little to do with the narrative, or enhanced with an engraved bookplate, or rebound in fine bindings, thus proving that at the time these books were likely considered valuable to the owner.  The bound-in engravings were not consistently present,  leading one to question on what basis the publisher made these binding decisions.  Cole’s research has been made all the easier since the availability of the Eighteenth Century Collections Online[ECCO]* which allows access to many little-known 18th-century novels. [*note that this source is accessible only to subscribing institutions]

A second article, ” ‘A Chawton Experience’ : Women and Education in the Gentleman’s Magazine and the Anti-Jacobin (1797-1799)” by Helen Loader, a PhD candidate at the University of Winchester, summarizes her research into the reviews in these two journals of works written by or about women, and the often prevailing male view of the lack of education among women writers and the dangers of reading such novels.  Ms. Loader cites to two sources that are available online: 

Emily Lorraine de Montluzin “Attributions of Authorship in the Gentleman’s Magazine 1731-1868: an Electronic Union List, University of Virginia – http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/bsuva/gm2/index.html

and Mary Darby Robinson, A Letter to the Women of England on the Injustice of Mental Subordination (1799) at http://romantic.arhu.umd.edu/editions/robinson/

[this text, part of the University of Maryland’s Romantic Circles database also includes various other related resources]

Other news from the Library:

  • A new acquisition:  a small collection of manuscript family recipe books dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries belonging to three inter-related families.
  • Information on the forthcoming conference, “New Directions in Austen Studies”, July 9-11, 2009, celebrating Austen’s move to Chawton in 1809.
  • Application information for the Chawton House Library visiting fellowships – there are now four scholars in residence positions and applications are due by May 30, 2009.

For more information on the Library, the Conference, the Fellowships and other events, see the Library website .

For information on becoming a member of the Library, click here.  It is worth every penny so you too can find this newsletter in YOUR mailbox!

chawton-house-library

 

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Austen on the Block ~ Bloomsbury Auctions

Bloomsbury Auctions-New York  announces the exhibition and auction of

 

The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson

and

 Women Writers in Georgian Society

 

 

Wednesday, 6 May, 2009 • 10:00 am

 

Bloomsbury Auctions, the world’s leading auction house for rare books and works on paper, announces The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson and Women Writers in Georgian Society with over 480 lots of books, manuscripts and paintings tells the fascinating story of English society in the middle and late Georgian periods. This extraordinary sale focuses on the artistic and literary women who came to the fore in the period 1750-1840.

 

 

 

 A highlight in the sale are the following five titles from Jane Austen: 

bloomsbury-auction-austen

  • Emma-1816- 3 volumes: $8,000-12,000
  • Mansfield Park-1814- 3 volumes: $7,000-10,000
  • Northanger Abbey-1818- 4 volumes: $5,000-8,000
  • Pride and Prejudice-1813- 3 volumes Carysfort copy: $20,000-30,000
  • Sense and Sensibility-1811- 3 volumes: $25,000-35,000 

 

There are a total of 483 lots for sale, to comprise books, autograph letters, engravings and watercolors of the era:  Johnson and Boswell, and Walpole, etc., and many women writers are represented:  Frances Burney, Maria Edgewoth, Hannah More, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Charlotte Bronte, Ann Radcliffe, Marguerite Blessington, to name a few.

 

 

And see this watercolor of Elizabeth Bridges, Austen’s sister-in-law:

elizabeth-bridges-watercolor

Bloomsbury Auction - May 6, 2009 Lot No.127

 

127. [AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817)] – Thomas Hazlehurst (1740 – 1821). Portrait miniature of Elizabeth Bridges Knight wearing a white dress with a blue ribbon tied under corsage. Watercolor on ivory, oval.
2 1/2 x 2 inches (6.5 x 5 cm).
Initialed “T.H.” (lower right).
A fine portrait miniature of Jane Austen’s sister in law, Elizabeth Bridges (1773-1808) who married Edward Austen, the brother of Jane Austen. Edward took the name of his second cousin Mr. Knight on inheriting in 1812 his estates in Kent at Godmersham Park. They had 11 children.
This lot sold with an uncolored print of Godmersham Park by Watts.
Literature: Country Life. 27 July 1987, ill. p.111.  Est. $2000 – 3000.

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Location:  Bloomsbury Auction Gallery, 6 West 48th Street New York 10019

Viewing hours:  

  • Friday May 1- By appointment
  • Saturday May 2- 10-5 p.m.
  • Monday May 4- 10-7 p.m.
  • Tuesday May 5- 10-5 p.m.

Bloomsbury Auctions is the world’s leading auction house for rare books and works on paper and is headquartered in London with salerooms in New York and Rome.

 

 For further information call Bloomsbury:  212-719-1000 or email at newyork@bloomsburyauctions.com

 

You can view the full catalogue at the Bloomsbury website.

 

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The “Northanger Canon”: Jane Austen’s Booklist

Most of us who read Jane Austen are always seeking new titles to read, and ways to answer the 200-year old question of “what to read when you have finished all of Jane Austen.”  Other than the almost mandatory requirement to RE-READ Austen whenever possible, it is a “truth universally acknowledged” that an Austen reader will be soon in want of another book!   I have seen many such lists and though always subjective to the list-maker, they are a great start.  But what about Austen’s own reading?  A number of articles have been written on this, as much is known from her letters, but as our JASNA-Vermont Chapter recently had a meeting and discussion on Northanger Abbey, and we know that NA was Austen’s tribute to the novel and reading, I would like to provide a list of books she actually cites throughout NA….it is an illuminating compilation and should keep us all busy for the next year at least!  [ please note that there is no particular order to this list…. and if I have left anything out, please let me know!]

The Northanger Canon [ i.e. the “Horrid” Novels as referenced by Isabella Thorpe in Chapter 6 of NA]; also see the article describing each book in more detail at The University of Virginia’s Gothic Books Collection.

  • THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO.  by Ann Ward Radcliffe.  London, 1794.
  • THE CASTLE OF WOLFENBACH.  by Mrs. Eliza Parsons. London, 1793.
  • CLERMONT: A TALE.  by Regina Maria Roche.  London, 1798.
  • THE MYSTERIOUS WARNING.  by Mrs. Eliza Parsons.  London, 1796.
  • THE NECROMANCER; OR THE TALE OF THE BLACK FOREST, FOUNDED ON FACTS.  Translated from the German of Lawrence Flammenberg by Peter Teuthold.  London, 1794.
  • THE MIDNIGHT BELL, A GERMAN STORY.  by Francis Lathom.  London, 1798.
  • THE ORPHAN OF THE RHINE: A ROMANCE.  by Mrs. Eleanor Sleath.  London, 1798.
  • THE HORRID MYSTERIES, A STORY FROM THE GERMAN OF THE MARQUIS OF GROSSE.  by P. Will.  London, 1796.
  • THE ITALIAN.  by Ann Ward Radcliffe.  London, 1797.

Other titles cited in Northanger Abbey:                          

  1. Burney, Fanny.  CECELIA, OR MEMOIRS OF AN HEIRESS  (1782)
  2. ____________.   CAMILLA, OR A PICTURE OF YOUTH (1796)
  3. Edgeworth, Maria.  BELINDA  (1801)
  4. Fielding, Henry.  TOM JONES  (1749)
  5. Richardson, Samuel.  SIR CHARLES GRANDISON (1753-4)
  6. _________________.  #97 THE RAMBLER  (quoted)
  7. Lewis, Matthew Gregory. THE MONK  (1796)
  8. Johnson, Samuel.  JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY (1755)
  9. Blair, Hugh.  LECTURES OF RHETORIC  (1783)
  10. Hume, David.  HISTORY OF ENGLAND  (1754-62)
  11. Robertson, William.  HISTORY OF SCOTLAND  (1759)
  12. “The Mirror”, an essay by John Homespun, March 6, 1779.
  13. Cowper, William [noted in the Biographical Notice by Henry Austen as JA’s favorite poetic moralist]
  14. Gilpin, William. Three essays on the Picturesque: Beauty, Travel, Sketching Landscape (1792)
  15. Gay, John. FABLES: “The Hare and Many Friends” (1727)
  16. Pope, Alexander.  “Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady” (1717)
  17. Gray, Thomas.  [his ELEGY is misquoted]
  18. Shakespeare, William.  [misquoted OTHELLO, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, TWELFTH NIGHT ]
  19. Thompson… “The Seasons” [misquoting “The Spring” ]
  20. Milton, John.  [ mentioned ]
  21. Moss, Rev. Thomas.  “The Beggars Petition” from POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS  (1769)
  22. Prior, Matthew.  [there is an undocumented reference to Prior in the “Literary Allusions” listing noted below for NA; Prior’s HENRY AND EMMA (1709) is alluded to in Persuasion]
  23. THE SPECTATOR
  24. Sterne, Laurence.  A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

William Gilpin's "Picturesque" View of Tintern Abbey

Sources: 

1. “Literary Allusions in Jane Austen’s Writings” at The Republic of Pemberley (mostly compiled from Chapman’s indexes)

2. Ehrenpreis, Anne Henry.  “Introduction to Northanger Abbey“ [ Penguin, 1972 ].  An excellent introduction to the novel, with notes on all the books cited by Austen, with a nice discussion of the “horrid” novels as well as references to other works cited in the novel.

3.  Chapman, R.W.  Indexes to Northanger Abbey and Persuasion [ volume 5 of his edition ]