I have just learnt that the Box Tale Soup theatre company will be performing their version of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey at Hatfield House next Thursday 6th December. Box Tale Soup is a company of two players, Noel Byrne and Antonia Christophers, below… …..plus a supporting cast of…. puppets.( Do note that their costumes are [...]
Recording The Young Jane Austen: How Crimson Cats produced an audio book of some of Jane’s Juvenilia by Michael Bartlett, Editor, Crimson Cats Audio Books. “Madam, You are a Phoenix. Your taste is refined, your Sentiments are noble, and your Virtues innumerable.” So begins the Dedication to The Beautifull Cassandra, a story that the 12-year [...]
I did promise to write about the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk a few weeks ago when I wrote about performances of Tim Luscombe’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s fascinating novel, Mansfield Park and of Mrs Inchbald’s Lover’s Vows...so here we are. Never say I renege on my promises… The reason this theatre is interesting [...]
Our JASNA Jane Austen Reading Group has wandered astray and is currently reading Anthony Trollope. We have started with Barchester Towers and will be discussing this on Wednesday night, though we know the series really starts with The Warden, which some have already read – some have seen the 1982 BBC production with Alan Rickman [...]
The ice house at Hampton Mansion in Towson, MD, was built in 1790 and is typical of similar 18th and 19th ice house structures.
As you know, I love collecting cookery books from the 18/early 19th century. They are becoming increasingly hard to find in their original state, and prohibitively expensive to buy. But …there are always facsimiles (Hurrah!), and one of the best publishers of facsimiles and, indeed, anything to do with food, cookery and food history is [...]
I had the pleasure to converse a bit with author Maggie Lane at the Brooklyn AGM last month – she signed a copy for me of her new book co-authored with Hazel Jones Celebrating Pride and Prejudice (Bath: Lansdown Media, 2012] But Ms. Lane has been very busy! – I also purchased her just [...]
I thought I would post a short update to let you know how some Austen-related lots fared at auction recently. The uniformly bound set of five Jane Austen first editions plus the second edition of Sense and Sensibility which I wrote about, here was sold by Christies at their sale on the 21st November for [...]
I am indebted to Emile de Bruijn of the fabulous Treasure Hunt blog for highlighting this feature last week. The National Trust have developed a Virtual Tour of Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, which can now be accessed by anyone unable to visit it in person. Wimpole Hall is a great place to visit for those [...]
A civilized debate over the Jane Austen tourist industry and Jane Austen fans between two tour guides: Tony Grant and Susannah Fullerton
As you all know I found out about the existence of this book a few weeks ago and was really taken with the concept. The authors and their publishers contacted me after reading my article, and very kindly sent the copy which I (rather reluctantly!) included in my Third Anniversary Giveaway last week. For those [...]
The Christmas Market is attracting some very interesting auction lots…ones that we ought to be interested in, certainly. As we have seen, there are some wonderful Jane Austen offerings to be had this year, but the one that I really covet is Anne Sharp’s first edition set of “Emma”, published by John Murray, which was [...]
UPDATE: Prices realized noted in red as they become available There are a number of Jane Austen materials coming up for auction in the next few weeks, some actually affordable! – and then some, not so much… here are brief synopses – visit the auction house websites for more information. This one is a bit [...]
This morning, my very kind daughter made the draw for the winner of this year’s give-away. We wrote all your names onto individual slips of paper, put them into an early 19th century punch bowl…which we thought highly appropriate…. …and then my daughter, who unlike her mamma has beautifully manicured nails, picked one at random. [...]
Episode 25 of series 32 of the BBC’s Bargain Hunt programme included a section filmed at Number One, Royal Crescent which is a marvellous museum devoted to displaying and explaining the workings of a grand house in Bath in the Georgian era. The programme had a five-minute section during which we were shown some of the items [...]
I thought you all would appreciate advance notice of the Foundling Hospital’s next major exhibition. It is to be entitled, Fate, Hope and Charity, and will tell, for the first time the stores behind some of the Museum’s most famous tokens. These tokens were left behind by foundling children’s parents as identifiers.You may recall that [...]
One often finds Jane Austen popping up in the oddest places; and this one that I stumbled upon the other day points out a scene in Emma that one can so easily pass by without much notice [Austen being such an expert at this – and the reason for repeated readings!] – this time in [...]
I stumbled upon this yesterday and think it rather appropriate as we approach The Election tomorrow – from G. K. Chesterton’s Come to Think of It (Methuen, 1930, originally published in The Illustrated London News, 1 June 1929) – a lovely piece about Wickham and his sort – we shall forgive Mr. Chesterton for misspelling [...]
Giveaway winner for Susannah Fullerton’s A Dance with Jane Austen: How a Novelist and Her Characters went to the Ball is Diana Birchall! – she wrote this on November 3: I love Susannah’s writing, and I have long been a great admirer of her awe-inspiring range of abilities. That is why I cast her as “my [...]
The two first dances, however, brought a return of distress; they were dances of mortification. Mr. Collins, awkward and solemn, apologizing instead of attending, and often moving wrong without being aware of it, gave her all the shame and misery which a disagreeable partner for a couple of dances can give. The moment of her [...]