Hosting a ball

“The characteristic of an English country dance is that of gay simplicity. The steps should be few and easy, and the corresponding motion of the arms and body unaffected, modest, and graceful.” – The Mirror of Graces, 1811 
 
In a society governed by strict rules regulating the interaction of the sexes, the dance floor provided one of the only places marriage partners could meet and courtships might blossom. The ballroom guaranteed respectability and proper conduct for all parties since they were carefully regulated and chaperoned. Even so, under cover of the music and in the guise of the dance, young people could talk and even touch in ways not permitted elsewhere.

As far as the opportunity to meet people went, private balls had the very great advantage over public ones in that the hosts controlled who attended. One could be assured of the quality of guests at a grand house, so chaperons could rest a little easier that their charge was not interacting with someone below her station.

Hosting a ball was no small matter. Musicians had to be hired and supper for all the guests provided. Cards or invitations were sent out no less than two to three weeks prior to the event and a reply was imperative with a day or two. After the ball, thank you notes were expected of all the guests in appreciation for the hospitality. Read more: a-private-regency-ball

Jane' s writing table

 

A Pictorial Visit to Chawton

From: janeaustensworld/a-pictorial-visit-to-chawton/

 

Fireplace in Jane’s and Cassandra’s shared bedroom. Chawton Cottage Image@Tony Grant

 

The stairs outside Jane’s room. Chawton Cottage Image@Tony Grant






A view of the outbuildings from Jane’s bedroom window

 

New website: What Jane saw.

What Jane saw

 

On 24 May 1813, Jane Austen visited an important and much-talked-about art exhibit at the British Institution in Pall Mall, London. The show was a retrospective of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), England's celebrated portrait painter.

No visual record of this show is known to have survived, although it attracted hundreds of daily visitors during its much-publicized three-month run. However, many details of the exhibit can be reconstructed from the original 1813 "Catalogue of Pictures," a one-shilling pamphlet purchased by visitors as a guide through the three large rooms where hung 141 paintings by Reynolds. Armed with surviving copies of this pamphlet, narrative accounts in nineteenth-century newspapers and books, and precise architectural measurements of the British Institution's exhibit space, this website reconstructs the Reynolds show as Jane Austen (as well as any Jane Doe) saw it.

Read more on the website.

Jane 's table in Chawton Cottage,

janeaustenshousemuseumblog

Auction. Anne Sharp.

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. Read more of the auction on :janeausteninvermont.

Lot 86: Presentation copy of Emma. Provenance: Anne Sharp (1776-1853) “Anne Sharp” in vol. 1 and “A. Sharp” in vol. 2 and 3.

Anne Sharp (1776-1853) was Fanny-Catherine Knight’s governess at Godmersham in Kent from 1804 to 1806. She resigned due to ill-health and then held a number of subsequent positions as governess and lady’s companion. Deirdre Le Faye notes that by 1823 she was running her own boarding-school for girls in Liverpool (see Jane Austen’s Letters, third edition, 1995, p. 572). She retired in 1841 and died in 1853.
In 1809 Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra Austen that “Miss Sharpe… is born, poor thing! to struggle with Evil…” Four years later Jane wrote to Cassandra that “…I have more of such sweet flattery from Miss Sharp! – She is an excellent kind friend” (which may refer to Anne Sharp’s opinion of Pride and Prejudice). It is known that Anne Sharp thought Mansfield Park “excellent” but she preferred Pride and Prejudice and rated Emma “between the two” (see Jane Austen’s Letters, third edition, 1995, p. 573).
There is one known extant letter from Jane Austen to Anne Sharp, dated 22 May 1817. She is addressed as “my dearest Anne”. After Jane Austen’s death, Cassandra Austen wrote to Anne Sharp on 28 July 1817 sending a “lock of hair you wish for, and I add a pair of clasps which she sometimes wore and a small bodkin which she had had in constant use for more than twenty years”.
“In Miss Sharp she found a truly compatible spirit… Jane took to her at once, and formed a lasting relationship with her… [she occupied] a unique position as the necessary, intelligent friend” (Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life, 2000).
Anne Sharp is known to have visited Chawton on at least two occasions: in June 1815 and in August-September 1820. Deirdre Le Faye notes that James-Edward Austen-Leigh described her as “horridly affected but rather amusing” (see Jane Austen’s Letters, third edition, 1995, p.573)

 

Biographies

 

 

Austenised

tells us of different biographies

Rebecca Smith is Jane Austen’s great great great great great niece.

Rebecca Smith is the author of three novels published by Bloomsbury: The Bluebird Café (2001) Happy Birthday and All That (2003) and A Bit ofEarth (2006). Barbara Trapido called her “the perfect English miniaturist”.

Rebecca studied History at the University of Southampton and is now a Teaching Fellow in English and Creative Writing there. From autumn 2009 until summer 2010, Rebecca was the Writer in Residence at Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire; she continues to work closely with the Museum. Her first work of non-fiction,Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmas, has just been published in North America and the UK.

In the The secret understanding of he hearts you can read an interview with her. First question:

While researching Miss Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmas, you immersed yourself in Jane Austen’s books as well as her letters and early writings. What were some of the most surprising things you learned about Austen in the process?

What-jane-austen-can-teach-us-about-how-the-brain-pays-attention

 

what-jane-austen-can-teach-us-about-how-the-brain-pays-attention/

“She taught me to knit, which has been a great amusement.” Mrs. Smith in Persuasion.

 

“She taught me to knit, which has been a great amusement.” 

Mrs. Smith in Persuasion.

Jane Austen Knits Fall 2012, a 144-page special publication from the editors of Spin-Off magazine, explores the fashion and traditions of Jane Austen's time and novels, through inspired knitting patterns. This issue offers over 30 knitting patterns for shawls, spencers, socks, hats, mitts, and more. 

 

Inspired mama musings
 

 

Historic needle crafts
 

 

Interweave store

Article from   Moments with mother culture:

During our road travel in December I spotted “Jane Austen Knits” while browsing a magazine rack at one of our stops. Fond of knitting and fond of Jane Austen its cover caught my eye with the utmost swiftness. Back on the highway I read the interview of Jennie Chancey of the Sense & Sensibility pattern company as a first treat. Another interesting article gives some history of domestic life in Georgian England when “everyone but the very wealthy spun wool yarn and knitted.” All the articles have an intelligent and friendly touch to them. Moments with mother culture

 

 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is nothing more dangerous than a girl let loose in a craft store with a 40% off coupon. Don't you agree? That's how I ended up treating myself to a copy of Jane Austen Knits, and became inspired to get out the needles and actually finish the project that had languished on them for months (since Christmas, ahem...) and start another! 
 

More on: jane+austen+knit

jane-austen-knits
 

 

 

Living In Jane Austen's 'Emma'

Then again, part of the thrill lay in my discovering new facets of Emma on every rereading, things that I hadn't been aware that the novel was saying, glancing at, or knowingly avoiding. If Austen's writing might seem light on overt references to the grand historical narratives of her time, it doesn't mean that she was either ignorant or dismissive of them; rather, Emma sketches an alternative model of what it means to live in history, by offering a wealth of little details that connote much larger complexes of social, economic, and emotional exchange. The choice of one cheese, card-game, or piano over another often carries great weight in the novel, but Austen could have some confidence that her original readers would 'get' those glancing references without her having to spell them out, whereas we might now need exactly the kind of clarification that footnotes can provide - not an aggressive, interpretative corralling, but a laying open of possible contexts, with which a reader can do as much or as little as she or he desires.  Read all: Huffington post

Carrigglas Manor

Carrigglas Manor

Five kilometers north of Longford Town on the T15 stands stately Carrigglas Manor. A beautifully restored Gothic Revival style Manor house built by Thomas Lefroy in 1837 and which has been the Lefroy family seat ever since.

The romantically castellated and turreted house was designed by the prominent Irish architect Daniel Robertson of Kilkenny. The internationally acclaimed James Gandon designed the magnificent stable-yard; to-day it is the only surviving example of his agricultural work. Chief Justice Thomas Lefroy who built the house was a youthful inamorato of the novelist Jane Austen, it being frequently suggested that the character Darcy in Pride and Prejudice was modelled on him.

Read more on: the-sad-fate-of-carrigglas-manor

A Receipt for a Pudding in Verse

Martha Lloyd’s Household book is on display at the Museum throughout this year -The Year of at Home with the Austens-  and some of the entries in it are very unusual.

Martha was the sister of Mary Lloyd who married Jane Austen’s eldest brother, James. She lived with Jane Austen, her sister, Cassandra and their mother, Mrs Austen at Chawton.

Read on: janeaustenshousemuseumblog