Tag: Jane Austen
2024!! ~ Happy New Year One and All!!
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, with gratitude to all for your visits, your comments, and your discussions of all things Jane! ~ Thank you for including Jane Austen in Vermont in your daily blog surfing! Welcome to 2024!
Today in Jane Austen’s life: [from the JASNA-Wisconsin “A Year with Jane Austen” calendar, and The Chronology of Jane Austen and Her Family, by Deirdre Le Faye, Cambridge, 2006]
December 31st:
- 1797: Henry Austen marries his cousin Eliza de Feuillide, by special license.
January 1st:
- 1787: Cousins Edward and Jane Cooper, now aged 17 and 16 respectively, come to stay at Steventon for the New Year holidays.
- 1792: Ann Martel is baptized at Steventon; entry in register is probably in Jane Austen’s hand.
- 1795: James Austen buys a mahogany tea-board for Deane.
- 1799: Jane is at Deane for the christening of James Edward Austen Leigh; she writes the entry in the parish register.
- 1801: James and Mary Lloyd Austen come to Steventon to dine.
- 1812: Princess Charlotte of Wales writes to Miss Mercer Elphinstone that she intends to read Sense and Sensibility soon.
[Vintage Postcard in the author’s collection: Gold Medal Art, n.d.]
c2024,Jane Austen in Vermont
Wishing You All a Very Merry Christmas!!
[c2012 David Price, Allport Editions]
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Merry Christmas Everyone!
c2023 Jane Austen in Vermont
Happy Birthday Jane Austen!
Today is Jane Austen’s birthday, 248 years ago!
To quote her father George Austen in a letter to his sister Mrs. Walter on Dec 17, 1775:
“You have doubtless been for some time in expectation of hearing from Hampshire, and perhaps wondered a little we were in our old age grown such bad reckoners but so it was, for Cassey certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago: however last night the time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over. We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion. She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy. Your sister thank God is pure well after it, and sends her love to you and my brother…” (Austen Papers, 32-3)
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And looking ahead to 2025 and Austen’s 250th birthday celebrations, here is an interesting article from Winchester Cathedral about a proposed Jane Austen statue by sculptor Martin Jennings [they want your feedback!]: https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/news/hampshire-celebrates-250-years-of-jane-austen/
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In honor of Austen’s birthday, think about donating to JASNA and / or renew your membership – you can find information here: https://jasna.org/join/
A usual every year on Jane’s birthday, JASNA publishes Persuasions-OnLine – you can see the latest edition [Vol. 44, No. 1], filled with several essays from the Pride and Prejudice AGM in Denver, along with other goodies, here: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-44-no-1/
It is also a perfect time to donate to Chawton House, via the North American Friends of Chawton House: Please visit the website at https://www.nafch.org/ and read about their endeavors. You can donate here: https://www.nafch.org/give-join
What better way to honor Jane Austen on her birthday than to give a little something in support of the “Great House” she visited often:
‘Let me thank you again and again’
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice (1813)
2023, Jane Austen in Vermont
JASNA-South Carolina ~ September 23, 2023 – Stuart Bennett on his “The Charleston Gambit”
Please join us for a talk at the Charleston Library Society by Stuart Bennett on his historical novel The Charleston Gambit.
Stuart has spoken to us before on his Jane Austen-inspired novel The Perfect Visit, and we welcome him once again to share his newest work about Lord Rawdon, later Lord Moira, and his role in the Revolutionary War in our very own Charleston South Carolina. [Note that Stuart’s second novel, Lord Moira’s Echo was a fictional account of this same Lord Rawdon and his relationship with Jane Austen herself!] Come hear how all these tales intersect…
Light refreshments and amiable conversation will be available to all – free and open to the public.
Hope to see you there!
c2023JaneAusteninVermont
JASNA-VT Meeting! Oct 1, 2-4 pm with JASNA President Mary Mintz
As We Welcome JASNA President
Mary Mintz
Jane Austen’s Reputation:
Highlights of Her First Century in American Periodicals
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Magazines and journals published in the United States during the nineteenth century provide an interesting and mixed picture of Jane Austen’s reputation.
Sunday, October 1
2:00-4:00 pm
Richmond Free Library
201 Bridge St, Richmond, VT
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Mary Mintz is the President of Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). She holds two master’s degrees, one in library science and one in English literature with a specialization in nineteenth-century British literature. She is the Associate Director for Outreach, as well as Humanities and Honors Librarian, at the American University Library in Washington DC. As a faculty member at the University, she works closely with history and literature students to support their original research. Before becoming President of JASNA, Mary served in several positions on the Board of Directors, in addition to being a Co-Regional Coordinator of the DC Metropolitan Region of JASNA.
~ Free & open to the public ~ Light refreshments served ~
For more information:
JASNAVTregion [at] gmail.com
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Source: American Antiquarian Society
©Jane Austen in Vermont
Re-blogging from Two Teens in the Time of Austen
In Memory of Jane Austen ~ July 18, 1817
From the archives: July 18, 1817. Just a short commemoration on this sad day…
No one said it better than her sister Cassandra who wrote
I have lost a treasure, such a Sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed,- She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, & it is as if I had lost a part of myself…”
(Letters, ed. by Deidre Le Faye [3rd ed, 1997], From Cassandra to Fanny Knight, 20 July 1817, p. 343; full text of this letter is at the Republic of Pemberley)
There has been much written on Austen’s lingering illness and death; see the article by Sir Zachary Cope published in the British Medical Journal of July 18, 1964, in which he first proposes that Austen suffered from Addison’s disease. And see also Claire Tomalin’s biography Jane Austen: A life, “Appendix I, “A Note on Jane Austen’s Last Illness” where she suggests that Austen’s symptoms align more with a lymphoma such as Hodgkin’s disease.
The Gravesite:
Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral
….where no mention is made of her writing life on her grave:
It was not until after 1870 that a brass memorial tablet was placed by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh on the north wall of the nave, near her grave:
It tells the visitor that:
Jane Austen
[in part] Known to many by her writings,
endeared to her family
by the varied charms of her characters
and ennobled by her Christian faith and piety
was born at Steventon in the County of Hants.
December 16 1775
and buried in the Cathedral
July 18 1817.
“She openeth her mouth with wisdom
and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”
The Obituaries:
David Gilson writes in his article “Obituaries” that there are eleven known published newspaper and periodical obituary notices of Jane Austen: here are a few of them:
- Hampshire Chronicle and Courier (vol. 44, no. 2254, July 21, 1817, p.4): “Winchester, Saturday, July 19th: Died yesterday, in College-street, Miss Jane Austen, youngest daughter of the late Rev. George Austen formerly Rector of Steventon, in this county.”
- Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle (vol. 18, no. 928, p. 4)…”On Friday last died, Miss Austen, late of Chawton, in this County.”
- Courier (July 22, 1817, no. 7744, p. 4), makes the first published admission of Jane Austen’s authorship of the four novels then published: “On the 18th inst. at Winchester, Miss Jane Austen, youngest daughter of the late Rev. George Austen, Rector of Steventon, in Hampshire, and the Authoress of Emma, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. Her manners were most gentle; her affections ardent; her candor was not to be surpassed, and she lived and died as became a humble Christian.” [A manuscript copy of this notice in Cassandra Austen’s hand exists, as described by B.C. Southam]
- The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle published a second notice in its next issue (July 28, 1817, p. 4) to include Austen’s writings.
There are seven other notices extant, stating the same as the above in varying degrees. The last notice to appear, in the New Monthly Magazine (vol. 8, no. 44, September 1, 1817, p. 173) wrongly gives her father’s name as “Jas” (for James), but describes her as “the ingenious authoress” of the four novels…
[from Gilson’s article “Obituaries,” The Jane Austen Companion. Macmillan, 1986. p. 320-1]
Links to other articles and sources:
There are many articles and blog posts being written today – I shall post links to all tomorrow – here are just a few:
- Austenblog: Mags posts the full text of Cassandra’s letter.
- Jane Austen’s World Blog: Jane Austen’s Final Hours; On the Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Death; and Jane Austen’s Last Days to include a selection of letters; and a post by Tony Grant, Events in College Street, July 18, 1817
- Winchester Cathedral and its literary connections
- Funerary Practices in the Victorian era
Copyright c2023 Jane Austen in Vermont
JASNA-South Carolina Event! March 25, 2023 ~ Horses & Fox-Hunting in Jane Austen’s England, with Carol Lobdell
The South Carolina Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America and the Bluffton Library present:
March 25, 2023, 2 – 4 pm
Bluffton Library
Free and open to the public / Light refreshments served
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“Tally-Ho! Horses and Fox-Hunting in Jane Austen’s England”
Jane Austen and her contemporaries were all familiar with the sport of fox hunting, whether they “rode to hounds” themselves or watched the action from the sidelines. The sport was integral to rural English communities and social interactions, and drew participation from all strata of English society. Mounted fox hunting had practical origins — foxes preyed on poultry, sheep, and cattle, so farmers were happy to be rid of them — and evolved over time into a major social and sporting activity. Rich in tradition, the sport continues around the globe, with active hunts in almost every state in the US.
Carol Lobdell, a Bluffton resident, has been an equestrian for more than 25 years and is a fox hunter herself. She has ridden with more than a dozen different hunts, including three in England. She will discuss the origins and development of the sport, its meaning and role in English society in the Regency years, and the sport’s activities today.
Questions? Call the Bluffton Library 843-255-6503.
More details: http://jasnasc.org/events/events-mar2023/
c2023 Jane Austen in Vermont
From the Archives: “Jane Austen’s ‘own darling Child'”
January 28, 1813: Pride and Prejudice is published! I retreated into the archives to repost this from 2013 which is in itself a repost from 2 years earlier [I am a big fan of recycling…] – it’s all about what Jane Austen had to say about her “own darling Child” – a Darling Child for many of us as well who reread this novel on an annual basis…
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Gentle Readers: This year we have just entered upon will be a long and interesting 365 days of celebrating the 1813 publication of Pride and Prejudice ! There are festivals, conferences, blog postings, reading challenges, and already many newspaper and journal articles on this timeless work by Jane Austen. I would like to start off my own celebration of this beloved classic with repeating a post I wrote two years ago, where I had pulled together all the references that Austen makes to this, her “own darling Child,” in her letters. It makes fascinating reading to “hear” her…
The publishing history of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s most popular book, then and now, is an interesting study in the book trade of early 19th century England. First completed in 1797 (and called First Impressions) and rejected by the publisher her father took the manuscript to, Austen reworked her draft over time and submitted it to Thomas Egerton, the publishing house of her Sense & Sensibility, in 1812 (it was published on January 28, 1813). She sold the copyright outright for £110, and did not incur other expenses in its publication, as she did in the three other works published in her lifetime [see links below for more information.] How we would love to know her thoughts on this road to publication! – how we would love to have her letters written while in the process of the writing to give us some idea of her imagination at work – where WAS the model for Pemberley? was Mr. Darcy someone REAL? was Elizabeth Bennet her alter ego? was MR COLLINS drawn from life? – or to have the letters to her brother Henry and his to Egerton – but alas! we have very little, just a few comments scattered among the surviving letters.
Jane Austen in Vermont 