Almost the end of the year

Jane Austen, her Pen, her Ink

The Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts Digital Edition gathers together in the virtual space of the web some 1100 pages of fiction written in Jane Austen’s own hand. Through digital reunification, it is now possible to access, read, and compare high quality images of original manuscripts whose material forms are scattered around the world in libraries and private collections. Unlike the famous printed novels, all published in a short span between 1811 and 1818, these manuscripts trace Jane Austen’s development as a writer from childhood to the year of her death; that is, from 1787 (aged 11 or 12) to 1817 (aged 41). Not only do they provide a unique visual record of her imagination from her teenage experiments to her last unfinished writings, these pages represent one of the earliest collections of creative writings in the author’s hand to survive for a British novelist.

Excerpt from Persuasion

The main resources in the digital edition are the manuscripts themselves, accessed through the manuscript menu and grouped chronologically and according to their material states as fair copies (the Juvenilia and Lady Susan), working drafts (The Watsons, Persuasion, Sanditon), and further materials. Each manuscript can be opened in a variety of ways: as facsimile pages which can be magnified using ‘zoomify’; as transcribed text set side by side with the original manuscript page; or through a Headnote that provides details of the manuscript’s history and physical description. Click on Manuscripts in the main menu.
www.janeausten.ac.uk

Read more on: Writing instruments./jane-austen-her-pen-her-ink
and Writing instrumentswriting-at-jane-austens-house

'New' Jane Austen portrait unearthed by author

A British author is claiming to have unearthed a previously unseen portrait of Pride And Prejudice writer Jane Austen.

Dr Paula Byrne, the author of a new book on Austen, was given the portrait by her husband and recognised the long, straight "Austen nose".

There are currently just two recognised portraits of Austen - one sketched by her sister Cassandra in 1810.

The find is the subject of a BBC Two documentary scheduled for Boxing Day.

Byrne - who has previously written books on poet Mary Robinson and author Evelyn Waugh - was presented with the portrait by her husband, Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate, who had bought it at auction.

The pencil drawing on vellum is inscribed "Miss Jane Austin" on the back. Byrne insists that "apart from the striking family resemblance", this was the first clue as to the identity of the sitter.

It remains a mystery why the picture, which is thought to have been drawn around 1815, has not been authenticated before.

Continue reading the main story

AnalysisWill GompertzArts editor

This pencil portrait of a stern-looking regency woman was given to Dr Paula Byrne by her husband on April Fools Day.

He had purchased it from a well-known specialist, who was selling because an Austen expert had told him the image was not authentic. Dr Byrne thought differently and her efforts have led to several eminent experts concurring with her view, that it is a genuine portrait of Jane Austen.

The fact of the matter is that we will never know. There is only one portrait of Jane Austen that has never been contested, which was produced by her sister Cassandra, and shows the author with her back to us and her head hidden by a bonnet.

• Read more from Will

Speaking to the BBC, Byrne said: "When Jane Austen was writing, she wrote her novels anonymously. People didn't really know who she was at all and even after her death, when her name appears in print for the first time, she's not at all popular."

The first image recognised as Austen was a watercolour painted by her sister. That sketch was then adapted for the front cover of her 1870 biography by artist James Andrews.

The portrait is described by Byrne as "very Victorian, sentimentalised and saccharine".

With a book on Austen ready for release, sceptics may suggest that the timing of the new find is beneficial publicity for Byrne.

However, she told the BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz: "We wanted to open up all possibilities and open all angles.

"We consulted various experts from art historians to fashion experts to forensic analysts and then we put our findings to three of the top Austen scholars in the world."

"Two out of the three do believe that this could be Jane Austen and it presents a very professional woman writer at the height of her creative powers.

"They believe it dates to about 1815, before Austen died in 1817."

Janice Hadlow, controller of BBC Two said the documentary "will be a fascinating chance for the audience to delve deeper into the life of one of Britain's best-loved authors".

A friendly meeting place to read and discuss anything Austen...: THE MANY LOVERS OF MISS JANE AUSTEN - BBC2

The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen is a 60-minute programme, broadcast on BBC 2 on December 23rd. In it,   Professor Amanda Vickery, one of the leading chroniclers of Georgian England,  wonders why on earth millions of us are still reading Jane Austen period romances or how  her “genteel fiction” has become a 21st century global phenomenon. Professor Vickery , both as a historian and as an unashamed fan, is fascinated by the story of how an anonymous, minor novelist in her own lifetime, became celebrated today as our very best-loved writer.A friendly meeting place to read and discuss anything Austen...: THE MANY LOVERS OF MISS JANE AUSTEN - BBC2: Professor Amanda Vickery in Bath I was so happy I could see this show! The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen is a 60-minute programme, bro...

Jane Austen in London

This is the location of Tilson's bank, in Henrietta Street Covent Garden,where Jane Austen stayed in 1813/1814 when she visited London. Her brother Henry Austen was a partner in the bank at that time. The plaque on the wall was put there in 1999 by the Jane Austen Society and the City of Westminster.

In 1814, Henry moved from his rooms above his bank to a house he purchased in Hans Place in Knightsbridge. Today, the area, developed by Henry Holland, looks much different than when Jane and Henry knew it

In Hans Place, Jane had the use of a downstairs room that opened into the garden, and she describes her pattern of working indoors, then taking a break in the garden: “I go & refresh myself every now & then, and then come back to Solitary Coolness.”
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digital.libraryedu/women/austen/homes:

• We hear of a small evening party to be given in Hans Place whilst Fanny is staying there with her aunt. After describing the morning engagements, Jane writes: "Then came the dinner and Mr. Haden, who brought good manners and clever conversation. From seven to eight the harp; at eight Mrs. L. and Miss E. arrived, and for the rest of the evening the drawing-room was thus arranged: on the sofa the two ladies, Henry and myself, making the best of it; on the opposite side Fanny and Mr. Haden, in two chairs (I believe, at least, they had two chairs), talking together uninterruptedly. Fancy the scene! And what is to be fancied next? Why that Mr. H. dines here again to-morrow. . . Mr. H. is reading 'Mansfield Park' for the first time, and prefers it to P. and P."
• In the autumn of 1815 she nursed her brother Henry through a dangerous fever and slow convalescence at his house in Hans Place. He was attended by one of the Prince Regent's physicians."
• Apropos of London shopping, Jane speaks of having some "superfluous wealth" to spend. Was it, we wonder, from the proceeds of "Sense and Sensibility"? "I hope," she writes to her sister, "that I shall find some poplin at Layton and Shear's that will tempt me to buy it. Layton and Shear's shop, we find, was at 11, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.
• One day Jane orders a cap for herself. "It will be white satin and lace," she writes, "and a little white flower perking out of the left ear, like Harriet Byron's feather."
• In one of her "Letters" she speaks of going to  the Liverpool Museum and to the British Gallery. "I had some amusement at each," she writes, "though my preference for men and women always inclines me to attend more to the company than the sight."

Keeping a Georgian Christmas

 

The current  exhibition, The Keeping of Christmas (November-December 31, 2011) being held at Fairfax House. provides a wonderful view of Christmas decorating and celebrating as it would have appeared in the time of Jane Austen.

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman

This is the Christmas carol sung in Pride and Prejudice (1995), Mary Bennet on the piano and Maria Lucas singing. 

Merry Christmas

to all the readers 

of this weblog.

Jane Austen op de TV.

• vrijdag 23 december, 22.00 uur, BBC2, documentaire ‘The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen’. Historica Amanda Vickerey onderzoekt de blijvende populariteit van de schrijfster. Ze gaat in gesprek met Jane Austen liefhebbers van over de hele wereld. In dit artikel geeft ze alvast een voorzetje.
• maandag 26 december, 22.00 uur, BBC2, documentaire ‘Jane Austen: The Unseen Portrait?’. Historica Paul Byrne heeft een portret ontdekt dat volgens haar een tekening is van Jane Austen. Samen met een team van deskundigen onderzoekt ze of dit echt zo kan zijn.

Is dit een echt portret van Jane Austen?

Dr. Paula Byrne, die bezig is aan een biografie over Jane Austen, beweert dat deze tekening een echt portret is van de negentiende-eeuwse schrijfster. Tijdens haar onderzoek voor haar biografie, werd Byrne door haar man gewezen op een veiling waar de tekening te koop was. Ze wisten het portret te bemachtigen en nu beweert Byrne het bewijs in handen te hebben dat dit werkelijk Jane Austen is. De BBC maakte er een programma over, dat op 26 december om 22.00 uur op BBC2 wordt uitgezonden. 

Happy Birthday

On Internet you can see

lots of creative birthday festivities

in the remembrance of Jane.

austenisedhappy-birthday-jane-austen

janitesonthejamesjane-austens

janetravers/dish-of-tea-and-sponge-cake

austenproses-jane-austen-birthday

jane-austen-themed-birthday-party

women-reading

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Were there Christmas trees in the time of Jane Austen?

 From:joannawaugh.blogspot/german-christmas-tree
Introduction of the German Christmas tree to the English court is generally attributed toQueen Victoria. But it was around from at least the early 1700s. In a footnote on p.75 of The Loseley Manuscripts, the editor wrote:

We remember a German of the household of the late Queen Caroline, making what he termed a Christmas tree for the juvenile party at that festive season. The tree was a branch of some evergreen fastened on a board. Its boughs bent under the weight of gilt oranges, almonds, &c. and under it was a neat model of a farmhouse, surrounded by figures of animals, &c. and all due accompaniments. The forming Christmas trees is, we believe, a common custom in Germany: evidently a remain of the pageants constructed at that season in ancient days.

In his Memoirs of Her Most Excellent Majesty, Sophia-Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain, John Watkins observed that at the beginning of October,1800:

...the royal family left the coast for Windsor, where Her Majesty kept the Christmas-day following in a very pleasing manner. Sixty poor families had a substantial dinner given them; and in the evening the children of the principal families in the neighbourhood were invited to an entertainment at the Lodge. Here, among other amusing objects for the gratification of the juvenile visitors, in the middle of the room stood an immense tub with a yew-tree place in it, from the branches of which hung bunches of sweetmeats, almonds, and raisins, in papers, fruits, and toys, most tastefully arranged, and the whole illuminated by small wax candles. After the company had walked around and admired the tree, each child obtained a portion of the sweets which it bore, together with a toy, and then all returned home quite delighted. 

See also: blog.fairfaxhouse.co.uk

Could this be the face of Jane Austen?

A possible portrait of Jane Austen has been discovered which, if verified, will be one of the few remaining images of her.

Arts editor Will Gompertz speaks to Austen biographer Dr Paula Byrne, who believes she has a finished portrait that may reveal what Jane Austen really looked like.news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid

This month, BBC Two follows British academic, Dr. Paula Byrne as she unveils a portrait that may be one of the only remaining images of Jane Austen. In a one-off special, Martha Kearney joins the search to find out whether an unusual drawn portrait really does capture the face of the well-loved author.

Will the picture stand up to forensic analysis and scrutiny by art historians and Austen experts? And if it does, how might it change our perception of one of Britain’s most revered writers? Jane Austen: The Unseen Portrait? (9pm, Mon 26 Dec, BBC Two) follows the investigation behind one of the literary world’s most exciting art works.victorianamagazine.com/archives
bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts

Jane Austen Giftshop > Christmas Gifts

janeaustengiftshop

Chawton House and Cottage

Chawton House, it used to belong to Jane Austen’s brother Edward. Nowadays it is a library; Chawton House Library – Home to Early English Women’s Writing)

      Elinor Dashwood’s bonnet, 1995!

      my austen dreamworld

Beautiful pictures from Winchester

embarkingonacourseofstudyjane-austen-pilgrimage-part-ii-winchester-cathedral-and-college-street.html

In her last letter to James Edward Austen dated 27th May 1817 written from that house,  Jane Austen gave a characteristically cheerful account of it and the view from it:

We have a neat little Drawing Room with a Bow Window over looking Dr Gabell’s garden.

Welcome to Winchester Cathedral

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