"We zijn ontzettend tevreden met het huis"

"We zijn ontzettend tevreden met het huis"

Regency library

Jane Austen grew up in a bookish family. Rev. Austen was a great reader (and writer of sermons) and he read aloud to his children. When her family moved to Bath, Jane’s father sold or gave away over 500 books from his vast library, which must have crammed the parsonage in Steventon. Under her father’s direction, Jane read English, classical and foreign literature by such authors as Samuel Johnson, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Alexander Pope, George Crabbe, William Cowper, and William Shakespeare. Jane was also encouraged to buy subscriptions to the popular novels written by Frances Burney, Sarah Harriet Burney, Maria Edgeworth and Ann Radcliffe. Rev. Austen’s library at Steventon provided inspiration for the short satirical sketches Jane wrote as a girl and with which she entertained the family. To entertain each other, the close knit Austen family would also read to each other, play games, and produce plays. One imagines that Rev. Austen’s library played an important part in devising these amusements.*

Although Mr. Darcy speaks of the family library as a collection of books, it was far more than that. In the country house of a gentleman like Mr. Bennet, the library is his "Man Cave"-- his haven-- storing books, yes, but also doubling as an office or study where he might retire when confounded by his wife's folly, or a place to meet his esate agent, as Mr. Knightley does, in Emma. Books were expensive, luxuries, and it was a sign of prestige for a home to include a large number of or them. Great Houses might have an entire room designated for the purpose-- a place, which might also host family gatherings and be opened to guests when large parties were arranged.

This 1816 etching by John Britton represents a typical home library during Regency. The library is located at Cassiobury Park and it was used similarly to many other home libraries of the time — it was essentially the most important room of the house and could be easily referred to as a family sitting room. A group of small dogs in the front sufficiently demonstrates the openness of this library to anyone and anything. At the same time, all traditional library features are present and their style is unmistakable. We see built-in bookcases that are architectural in nature. In other such libraries you would often see (apart from the books, obviously) various antiquities and curiosities. Small private museums of this sort had a long history, but in Georgian times and in the early 19th century the trend became very popular. As far as architectural styles, Regency designers preferred neoclassical decor, howver Gothic influences were also quite common at the discretion of individual owners who were inspired by the love of all things Medieval (as interpreted by novelists and poets). The furniture of this particular home library is typical Regency style (note the Grecian chairs), but the general tone has a certain Gothic air."

Original with more pictures

Jane Austen has conquered the world

Jane Austen has conquered the world, as the author of Jane's Fame puts it well. Austen is now a brand.

Austen's fame and popularity grew long after her death, but during her life she was only moderately successful, and novels weren't even the most popular genre in her era.
Back then, novels were less widely read than poetry by celebrity authors like Sir Walter Scott and Byron. The day it was published in 1814, Byron's The Corsair sold 10,000 copies. Also published in 1814, Emma took six months to sell out its printing of 1250 copies.

And when Scott turned to historical fiction in 1814 with Waverly, he became an instant success in this genre, thanks to his poetry. He sold far better than Austen ever did in her lifetime. Given his status as 800-pound gorilla on the literary scene, it's not surprising Austen made fun of their different levels of success in a letter to her niece Anna:
Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. - It is not fair. - He has Fame & Profit enough as a Poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people's mouths. - I do not like him, & do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it - but fear I must...

So who did read Austen? She was a special favorite of the fashionable set who enjoyed guessing at her identity because her first four books were published anonymously. Aristocrats ranging from the future wife of Byron all the way to the dissolute Prince Regent and his beloved daughter Charlotte admired her work. The royal librarian even gave Austen a tour of the Prince's ornate London residence, telling her that his master kept copies of her books in all his homes.

When she died in 1817, Austen was more than fifty years away from the idolatry and burgeoning sales of her first great boom (the second came in the 1990s, thanks in part to Colin Firth's Darcy). As Jane's Fame records, "Compared with the global fame of Scott and Byron, Austen's little group of admirers and sales of a few thousand were negligible and although plenty of her readers had declared themselves delighted....her fame seemed temporary and localized.

Lev Raphael Author, reviewer
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Mr Darcy

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

DARCY BEAT THEM ALL

Mr Darcy / Colin Firth has been voted Britain's best-looking actor, beating fellow Hollywood hunks Rupert Everett and Clive Owen.

The 50-year-old actor, who got an Oscar nomination this year for his film 'A Single Man', won a million hearts playing William Darcy in the BBC's adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice' in 1995.

Everett, 51, famous for his role in 'My Best Friend's Wedding', came second in the list, followed by 'Closer' star Owen, 45, in the poll conducted by Wizard Jeans, Daily Star reported.

Emma

Jane Austen schreef 'Emma' in 1815, en zelf wist ze het volgende te zeggen over het hoofdpersonage uit haar derde boek: 'I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but me will much like'. Of Emma anno 1815 een populair personage was, daar hebben we het raden naar. Maar we zijn er wel zeker van dat Jane Austen zelf nooit had kunnen of durven voorspellen dat haar eigenwijze en verwende Emma bijna tweehonderd jaar na datum nog altijd zeer alive & kicking is. De boeken hebben door de jaren heen misschien wat aan populariteit moeten inboeten, maar de ijzersterke verhalen en de tijdloze personages zijn levendiger dan ooit. Ook deze nieuwste BBC-verfilming van 'Emma' bruist van het leven.

De jonge en zorgeloze Emma Woodhouse (Romola Garai) is vastbesloten iedereen uit haar omgeving gelukkig te maken en hoe kan ze dat beter doen dan iedereen te koppelen aan zijn of haar ideale partner? Zelf is ze nog nooit verliefd geweest en is ze helemaal niet van plan om ooit te trouwen, en dankzij haar rijke familie hoeft dat ook niet. Toch is Emma ervan overtuigd dat zij een soort van zesde zintuig heeft om geliefden samen te brengen. Maar Mr Knightley (Jonny Lee Miller), vriend des huizes, is het daar niet helemaal mee eens. Hij vindt dat Emma met de gevoelens van iedereen rondom haar speelt.

Liefde en verliefd zijn is voor Emma niets meer dan een spel waar zij de regels bepaalt. Emma wuift z'n bezorgdheden weg en bombardeert de naïeve Harriet Smith tot haar nieuwste project. Harriet komt uit een totaal andere sociale klasse dan Emma, zonder enige financiële zekerheid. Emma kiest Mr. Elton, de plaatselijke dominee, uit als ideale partner voor Harriet. De terugkeer van Jane Fairfax en de mysterieuze Frank Churchill zorgen voor de nodige verwarring in Highbury en bij Emma. Maar Emma raakt zo verblind door al haar projectjes, dat ze niet eens merkt wat er onder haar neus gaande is. Met gekwetste gevoelens en gebroken harten als gevolg.

the maklng of Emma