Lecture Review: “Planting the Seed for the Austen Oeuvre ~ Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Woman” ~ Guest Post by Margaret Harrington

Gentle Readers: I welcome this guest post by JASNA-Vermont member Margaret Harrington, as she offers a review of the lecture at our last meeting by Vermont author Nancy Means Wright (I would have posted this sooner, but Hurricane Matthew and the JASNA AGM last week kept me from my duties! – thank you Margaret for this write-up, and to Nancy for her terrific talk – see below for links, etc.)

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“Planting the Seed for the Austen Oeuvre ~
Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Woman”
Presented by Nancy Means Wright,
Sept 18, 2016 to JASNA-Vermont

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Nancy Means Wright
in the Morgan Room at Champlain College

 When Nancy Means Wright started off her talk by saying that Mary Wollstonecraft was her alter ego, I knew an extraordinary experience was in store. Nancy brought up her own life and work experiences comparable to Mary Wollstonecraft’s, such as leaving home at a young age, coming from an impecunious family, all the while emphasizing the strength needed to keep trouble at bay. She quoted Mary Wollstonecraft’s early dictum, “I shall live independent or not at all.”

Mary Wollstonecraft, by John Opie 1790-91 (Wikipedia)

Mary Wollstonecraft, by John Opie 1790-91 (Wikipedia)

Then by using Mary Wollstonecraft’s own words in her letters, books, and beautiful illustrations in the power point presentation, Nancy projected us into a thrilling portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft as a caring young woman who made tremendous sacrifices for her family and friends. Concurrently Wollstonecraft formulated her revolutionary thought based on her own life experiences, her intellectual depth and daring, and her intolerance for sham and injustice.

The members of the Irish family with daughters for whom Mary worked as governess were elites of the Protestant Ascendancy. Only a few years older than her pupils, Mary labored to teach the girls to think. In a society which demanded that women obey their husbands and breed more Protestants, this was a revolutionary idea and eventually cost her that job.

wollstonecraft-originalstories-blake-wp

William Blake frontispiece to “Original Stories from Real Life” (Wikipedia)

The moment when Nancy Means Wright brought up the William Blake illustrations for Wollstonecraft’s Original Stories from Real Life* was when I knew I was captured by a masterful storyteller. Step by step Wright transported me into the thoughts and feelings of the founder of modern feminism. She vividly set the scene for Mary’s time in Paris when three hundred people a day passed her window on the way to the guillotine.

I am grateful to Nancy Means Wright who wove so beautifully the tragic facts of Wollstonecraft’s life into a living tapestry. A particularly moving account of Mary’s attempt to drown herself, after being spurned by her lover Gilbert Imlay, was enhanced by Wright’s reading of her own poem which evoked the sorrow which Mary herself did not write ( leaving the task to Nancy as alter-ego).

Later, participants from the audience talked about the slender but strong connection between Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft. Scholars weighed in on the lack of evidence that Austen had read or even had access to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. There was consensus that Wollstonecraft’s work magnified our understanding of the struggles of Austen’s women who are constrained in the class system of primogeniture and who use their wits to manage the inevitable marriage plot.

Wollstonecraft wanted women to take power, not over men, but over themselves. At the same time, in Wright’s words, “She herself couldn’t balance her principles with her passion.” There are so many deep thoughts that arise from Wright’s talk on the immortal, dynamic woman, Mary Wollstonecraft.

By Margaret Harrington, JASNA Vermont

You can find Margaret’s photos of the event on our facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2094244057466958/permalink/2116252491932781/

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*Full title: Original Stories from Real Life; with Conversations, Calculated to Regulate the Affections, and Form the Mind to Truth and Goodness – first published in 1788, with Blake’s illustrations in 1791. You can see all the illustrations at the Blake Archive here: http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=but244

You can find Nancy’s Mary Wollstonecraft mysteries here: http://www.nancymeanswright.com/index.htm#acts

  • Midnight Fires (2010) 
  • The Nightmare (2011) 
  • Wild Nights (2015) 
  • Acts of Balance: a Chapbook of Poems (2014) – featuring Mary Wollstonecraft
 c2016, Jane Austen in Vermont

JASNA~Vermont Meeting ~ September 18, 2016 ~ Jane Austen & Mary Wollstonecraft

Photos can be viewed on the event facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2094244057466958/permalink/2116252491932781/

Thank you Nancy for a delightful talk!

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You are Cordially Invited to JASNA-Vermont’s September Meeting
at the Burlington Book Festival 

“Planting the Seeds for the Austen Oeuvre:
Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Woman.”
with
Nancy Means Wright*

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In an illustrated talk, Wright will describe 18th-century writer Mary Wollstonecraft’s traumatic and unconventional life in an era when women were victims of primogeniture and considered incapable of reason. She will discuss Mary’s groundbreaking Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and her Unitarian publisher’s circle of Dissidents; her years in revolutionary Paris when she lost her head to a feckless American captain – and her voyage to Scandinavia as a lone woman in search of a missing “silver ship.” She will also consider the ongoing question: Was Jane Austen influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft?

Sunday, September 18, 2016 2 – 4 pm
Morgan Room, Aiken Hall**
83 Summit Street
Champlain College
Burlington VT

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Sponsored by JASNA-Vermont and Bygone Books

~ Free & open to the public ~
~ Light refreshments served
 ~ 

For more information:   JASNAVTregion [at] gmail.com 
Please visit our blog at: http://JaneAustenInVermont.wordpress.com
Burlington Book Festival website: http://burlingtonbookfestival.com/ 

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*Vermont author Nancy Means Wright has published fiction with St Martin’s Press, Dutton, Perseverance Press, and elsewhere, including a trilogy of historical mysteries featuring 18th-century Mary Wollstonecraft. Her most recent works are Queens Never Make Bargains, a novel, and The Shady Sisters, a collection of poems. Short stories and poems appear in American Literary Review, Green Mountains Review, Carolina Quarterly, and others. Her children’s books have received an Agatha Award and a grant from the Society of Children’s Book Writers. A former teacher and Bread Loaf Scholar, Nancy lives in Middlebury, Vermont, with her spouse and two Maine Coon cats. Her books will be available for purchase and signing.

**Aiken Hall is located at 83 Summit St – #36 on the map here: https://www.champlain.edu/Documents/Admissions/Undergraduate%20Admissions/Campus-Map.pdf  Parking is on the street or in any College designated parking during the event.
wollstonecraft_vindication-tp-britannica

[Britannica.com]

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Hope you can join us!

c2016, Jane Austen in Vermont

Austen on the Block! ~ A Lot of Lots!

UPDATE: Prices Realized added as available, includes buyer’s premium

There is much going on with Jane Austen and the Auction Block in the next month! – just this past week, Gorringes at their October 23, 2013 Fine Art, Antiques & Collectables auction – Sale LOCT13, had this on offer: Estimate £2,000-3,000.  SOLD for £11,000 !

Gorringes-letter-10-23-13

Lot 1454:

Austen, Jane.  An autograph manuscript fragment, comprising four lines, attached to another leaf bearing authentication, in turn attached to a letter from her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, written on paper bearing watermark date 1868, at Bray Vicarage, February 7, 1870, presenting the fragment to Rev. G. C. Berkeley: ‘Men may get into the habit of repeating the words of our Prayers by rote, perhaps without thoroughly understanding – certainly without thoroughly feeling their full force and meaning.’ All attached to the title page of a copy of Austen-Leigh’s ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen…’ fragment approximately 1.75 x 6in.

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Upcoming auctions:  an abundance of Austen, Austen’s Circle, and Regency-era prints – I include various items because they are too wonderful not to share, but please visit each auction house site to see the “infinite variety” of offerings:

Bloomsbury: 7 November 2013. Library of a Gentleman: Fine Colour Plate, Costume, Travel and Sporting Books. London.

This auction is filled with Ackerman, Rowlandson, Cruickshank, Gillray and others! – here are a few examples, but go have a look at this treasure-trove for a Gentleman OR a Lady!

Lot 1:

AckermannsLondon-bloomsbury-11-7-13

Ackermann’s London – “Billingsgate Market”

Ackermann, (Rudolph). Microcosm of London.

3 vol., first edition, early issue  with several of Abbey’s 12 “key plates” in first state (nos.1, 5, 8, 10, 11 & 18 and possibly 9), lacking half-titles, with wood-engraved pictorial titles, engraved dedication leaves, 104 hand-coloured aquatint plates after Rowlandson and Pugin, offsetting from plates but plates generally clean, some text leaves in vol.1 browned, handsome contemporary diced russia with elaborate gilt borders and cornerpieces, by C.Hering with his ticket, g.e., rebacked preserving old gilt spines, later cloth slip-cases edged in morocco, [Abbey Scenery 212; Tooley 7], 4to,  [1808-10].

Early issue bound from the original parts, watermarked 1806-07 and with all the 13 errata at end of vol.3 uncorrected and the Contents leaf in vol.1 headed “Contents”. However, the imprint of the wood-engraved title to vol.2 does not have a comma after “Bensley” but that in vol.1 does.

Estimate: £3,000 – £5,000; Starting Bid £2,600 – Sold for £4464

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Lot 2:

Agg-Foppish-Bloomsbury-11-7-13

“Foppish Attitudes” from The Busy Body, or Men and Manners

[Agg (John)] The Busy Body, or Men and Manners, edited by Humphrey Hedgehog, vol.1 & 2 only (parts 1-12), 11 hand-coloured aquatint plates by Williams, a little browning and offsetting, later tan calf, gilt, by Rivière & Son, spines gilt, g.e., spines chipped at head, joints split with covers becoming loose, 8vo, J.Johnston, 1816-17.

Estimate £200 – £300; starting Bid £180  – Sold for £211

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Lot 3:

DrivingDiscoveries-Bloomsbury-11-7-13

“Driving Discoveries”

[Alken (Henry)] – the set of 7 hand-coloured etchings by Henry Alken, very slight marginal soiling, bookplates of William Henry Smith, Viscount Hambleden and George Seton Veitch, handsome later scarlet morocco, by Rivière & Son, covers with gilt border and upper cover titled and dated in gilt, spine gilt in compartments with five raised bands, g.e., corners very slightly rubbed, an excellent copy, [Siltzer pp.57 & 69; Tooley 25], oblong 4to, S. & J.Fuller, 1817 [watermarked 1821].

Estimate: £600 – £800; starting Bid £500 – Sold for £1364

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Lot 37:

Evelina-bloomsbury-11-7-13[Burney (Fanny)] Evelina: or Female Life in London: being the History of a Young Lady’s Introduction to Fashionable Life, and the Gay Scenes of the Metropolis, hand-coloured engraved additional pictorial title and 6 plates after W.Heath, all but one aquatints, most offset onto text, some browning, bookplates of Charles C.Auchinloss and Hon.John Wayland Leslie, contemporary mottled calf, gilt, spine gilt with red morocco label, small gouge to lower cover, preserved in later red silk folder (a little rubbed and faded), red morocco slip-case (slightly darkened at edges), [Tooley 119], 8vo, 1822.

⁂ ***Originally published in 1778 under the title Evelina, or, A Young Lady’s Entrance into the World but reissued with this title following the popularity of Egan’s Life in London..

Estimate £200 – £300; starting Bid £180 – Sold for £496

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Lot 267:

Dacre-school-bloomsbury-11-7-13

Dacre (Charlotte). The School for Friends, a Domestic Tale, first edition, hand-coloured etched frontispiece and vignette title by Thomas Rowlandson, 12pp. text, lightly soiled and stained, stitched in original blue wrappers with paper label on upper wrapper, uncut, slightly soiled, preserved in later cloth portfolio and morocco-backed cloth slip-case, spine faded, 8vo, Thomas Tegg, [c.1800].

One copy only listed on COPAC, in the National Library of Scotland..

Estimate: £200 – £300; starting bid £180 – Sold for £3968

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Lot 274:

Rowlandson-miseries-bloomsbury-11-7-13

Rowlandson: “A Stag at Bay”

Rowlandson, Thomas. Miseries of Human Life”

Hand-coloured etched title and 50 plates by Thomas Rowlandson, without the rare ‘Pall Mall’ plate but replaced with ‘The Chiropodist’ as often and with an additional plate ‘The Enraged Vicar’ (signed and dated in plate 1805), otherwise with all plates as listed in the Abbey copy, light foxing, mostly marginal but affecting a few images, ex-library copy with bookplate and ink accession number to lower margin of first plate (otherwise unstamped), later olive morocco, gilt, by Rivière & Son, spine gilt, t.e.g., rather faded and a little rubbed, covers warped, upper joint repaired, [Abbey, Life 317], 4to, R. Ackermann, [1808].

Estimate: £500 – £700; Starting Bid £440 – Sold for £1054

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Lot 279:

Collier-Rowlandson-bloomsbury-11-7-13

[Collier (Jane)] An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting.

Half-title, folding etched frontispiece and 4 plates by Rowlandson after G.M.Woodward, all hand-coloured, frontispiece with short tear repaired, text browned, later tan calf, gilt, spine gilt, t.e.g., others uncut, a little rubbed, upper joint split, 12mo, 1808.

Estimate: £100 – £150; Starting Bid £90 – Sold for £112

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Lot 288:

Rowlandson-syntaxbookseller-bloomsbury-11-7-13

Rowlandson: “Doctor Syntax and Bookseller”

[Combe (William)] The Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of the Picturesque. A Poem.

First edition, second issue with “Canto I”, hand-coloured aquatint frontispiece, vignette title and 29 plates by Rowlandson, 4pp. advertisements at end, old ink signature at head of title, some light browning and soiling, final leaf of text with small repair to upper inner margin, original boards, uncut, rubbed, rebacked preserving part of old paper label on spine, preserved in later red morocco drop-back box with metal catch, gilt, slightly rubbed, [Tooley 427], 8vo, [1812].

Estimate: £200 – £300; Starting Bid £180 –  Sold for £496

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Lot 344:

Wilson-Bloomsbury-11-7-13

Wilson (Harriette) – [?Heath (Henry)] Illustrations of Harriette Wilson’s Memoirs,

12 hand-coloured etched plates, 3 signed “H.H.”, c.170 x 140 or vice versa, 7 trimmed to border or just outside plate-mark and tipped into blank leaves, light soiling, one or two small tears to edge of image (repaired), engraved circular bookplate of Sir David Lionel Salomons, Bart., later dark blue morocco, gilt, by Bumpus of Oxford, spine gilt, very slightly rubbed and marked, 4to, S.W.Fores, 1825.

Estimate: £1,000 – £1,500; Starting Bid £900 – Sold for £1736

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Millea Bros. November 9, 2013.  Asian, English, Modern Books

Lot 1473:

Millea-works-covers-11-9-13

Austen, Jane. Works. London, 1925. (10) volumes, 8vo., red morocco – Condition report: overall good, bindings good, a few scuffs and nicks

Estimate: $500-700. [no price realized available]

There is no further description about this set in the auction catalogue, but it is the 1925 George Harrap reprint of the 1908-9 Chatto & Windus edition of the novels, with illustrations by A. Wallis Mills.  Here is one illustration:

Millea-works-illus-11-9-13

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Bonham’s:  12 November 2013. Books, Atlases, Manuscripts and Photographs including the Aldine Collection of the late Sir Robert Horton, London.

Lot 165:

Bonhams-Emma-11-12-13

Austen, Jane. Emma: A Novel, 3 vol., first edition, half-titles in volumes 2 and 3 only, advertisement leaf at end of volume 3, light scattered foxing, stitching becoming loose with P3-4 in volume 1 partially detached, ownership signature of “M.E. Malden” on endpapers, contemporary half calf, worn, 3 covers detached, 4 corners strengthened with vellum, spines cracked [Gilson A8], 12mo, John Murray, 1816.

Estimate:  £4,000 – 6,000 (US$ 6,400 – 9,600) – Sold for £5,250 (US$ 8,435) inc. premium

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Christies: 15 November 2013. Sale 9702: Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts. London.

Lot 402:

Christies-P&P-11-15-13Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: T. Egerton, 1813. 2nd edition. 3 volumes, 12° (173 x 115mm). (Lacking half-titles, P2 at end of volume one with small marginal repair, tiny orange marginal mark to L5v of vol. II and lighter mark on a few other leaves, some spotting occasionally heavier.) Contemporary calf (rebacked, extremities lightly rubbed).

Estimate: £2,000 – £3,000 ($3,234 – $4,851) –

Sold for £2750 ($4,406)     

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Lot 403:

Christies-NA-P-11-15-13Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion… With a Biographical Notice of the Author [by Henry Austen]. London: C. Rowarth [vols I-II], and T. Davison [vols III- IV] for John Murray, 1818 [but ca. 20 December 1817]. 4 volumes, 12° (169 x 100mm). Half-titles. (Some occasional light browning and spotting, without final blanks P7-8 in vol. IV as often.) Contemporary half calf, leather gilt spine labels, speckled edges (front cover of vol. I nearly detached, front joints cracked and restored in vol. III, extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance: Maria Cipriani (ownership inscription). FIRST EDITION OF BOTH NOVELS.

Estimate: £3,000 – £5,000 ($4,851 – $8,085) – Sold for £4,750 ($7,610)

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Of interest:

Lot 148:

Christies-Wollstonecraft-11-15-13

WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary (1759-1797). Thoughts on the Education of Daughters with Reflections on Female Conduct, in the more important Duties of Life. London: J. Johnson, 1787. 8° (150 x 98mm). G6 a cancel as usual. (Short tear to last leaf.) Contemporary half calf (rebacked, extremities rubbed).

FIRST EDITION OF WOLLSTONECRAFT’S FIRST BOOK. Although it was an educational manual, the ‘more or less veiled remarks about her own emotional state … make it abundantly clear that she was far more interested in the state of her own life and the prospects that lay ahead of young women than in their years at school’ (Claire Tomalin, The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, London: Pelican, 1977, pp. 58-59). GOOD COPY. Rothschild 2595.

Estimate: £1,800 – £2,500 ($2,898 – $4,025) – Sold for £3,750 ($6,008)

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Christies: 20 November 2013. Sale 1160. Valuable Manuscripts and Printed Books. London.

Lot 84:

MP-Christies-11-20-13[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817).] Mansfield Park: A Novel… By the Author of “Sense and Sensibility,” and “Pride and Prejudice.” London: T. Egerton, 1814.

FIRST EDITION. 3 volumes, 12° (176 x 102mm). Half-titles. (Lacking blank O4 in volume II and advertisement leaf in volume III, occasional faint spotting.) Contemporary calf, flat spines with compartments ruled in gilt, green morocco gilt spine labels to second compartments, the others tooled in blind, speckled edges (extremities very lightly rubbed).

Estimate: £4,000 – £6,000 ($6,484 – $9,726) –  Sold for £13,750 ($22,138)

Lot 85: (another one!)

NA&P-Christies-11-20-13[AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817).] Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion … With a Biographical Notice of the Author [by Henry Austen]. London: C. Rowarth [vols I-II], and T. Davison [vols III- IV] for John Murray, 1818 [but c. 20 December 1817].

4 volumes, 12° (177 x 103mm). Half-titles. (Some occasional light spotting, without final blanks P7-8 in vol. IV.) Contemporary calf, tan morocco gilt spine labels, speckled edges (extremities lightly rubbed, spines more heavily). Provenance: Baroness Keith of Meiklour House (bookplates). 1st edition of both novels.

Estimate: £4,000 – £6,000  ($6,484 – $9,726) – Sold for £7,500 ($12,075)

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Also of interest at this auction:

Lot 124:

johnsondictionary-christies-11-20-13JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). A Dictionary of the English Language in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. London: W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton [and others], 1755.

FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes, 2° (405 x 250mm). Titles in red and black, woodcut tail-pieces. (The first title with repaired losses and tears affecting some letters, the titles and a few leaves repaired in the inside margin, some marginal tears and some of these repaired, occasional mostly marginal soiling and spotting, faint dampstain in the margins of some leaves in vol. II.) Contemporary calf (neatly rebacked to style, corners repaired, sides scuffed). Provenance: David Tennant (title signature, some marginalia including on the verso of second title) — Stewart of Glasserton (bookplate).

Estimate: £5,000 – £8,000 ($8,105 – $12,968) – Not Sold

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All images are from each of the auction house websites, as cited.

Happy browsing!

c2013 Jane Austen in Vermont