My Top Picks for Jane Austen-inspired Holiday Gifts for 2013

Happy Holidays Janeites!

Tis the season to go shopping, and Janeite family and friends always need suggestions to fill the reticules, stockings, and gifts under the tree for those whose special interest is everything Austen. I have several categories to select from – and I would happily be the recipient of any of these fabulous items!

Ephemera

Jane Austen Book Marks from TheCastleOnTheHill

Created by London painter Jess Purser, this pack of six bookmarks, features a print of one of her Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, paintings on vintage book pages. There are the five Bennet sisters and Mr. Darcy too. Can you pick out which sister is which?

Professionally printed onto silky smooth card stock at 350gsm weight they each measure 1.6″ (4cm) in width by 6.3″ (16cm) in height.

Your bookmarks will come packaged in a cello sleeve so they stay nice and safe for their journey to you.

Visit Jess at her Etsy Shop, CastleOnTheHill to order.

 

Lizzy & Darcy note cards by Janet Taylor

From the very talented artist Janet Taylor, these beautiful notecards capture a unique moment in the 1995 miniseries, Pride and Prejudice. Select from a variety of sizes and images.

Visit Janet at her website J.T. Originals to order.

Books

Jane Austen: Her Life, Her Times, Her Novels, by Janet Todd

I discovered this enchanting book at The British Library bookshop during my trip to England last fall. It is packed full of great text from Austen scholar Janet Todd, images, pull out copies of original documents and other delights. Here is the publisher’s description:

Over the last 200 years, the novels of Jane Austen have been loved and celebrated across a diverse international readership. As a result, there is a bottomless appetite for detail about the woman behind the writing. Jane Austen traces her life and times; her relationships with family and friends; the attitudes and customs of the time that shaped her and were in turn shaped by her work; and the places where she lived, worked and set her novels, from rural Hampshire to fashionable Bath Spa. Chapters on each of her novels run throughout the book and place them in the context of her life. For such a renowned novelist, there is remarkably little direct material available, but this volume draws on archives for a truly insightful view.

Jane Austen: Her Life, Her Times, Her Novels, is currently available in the UK and in the US in April, but you can order it through Book Depository with free international shipping!

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (Pulp! The Classics)

In this celebratory year of the bicentenary publication of Pride and Prejudice, there have been oodles of new covers of our cherished classic, but none reaches the unique irony, nor embraces the pop-culture frenzy that we have witnessed this year better than the Pulp! The Classics cover illustrated by David Mann. This series is a new imprint from Oldcastle Books that “gives the nation’s favourite classic novels original retro covers in a pulp fiction style – with a dash of wry humour. Redesigned and reset, using the original unabridged text from some of the best writers that have ever lived, Pulp! The Classics promises readers their favourite books with stunning and highly original jackets.” No kidding. Any Janeite will recognize actor Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy on the cover! Ha!

Pick up this perfect stocking stuffer at Amazon.com

 

The Beau Monde: Fashionable Society in Georgian London,

by Hannah Greig 

*sigh* The title and cover had me at hello. For those who are not as impulsive as I am, here is the complete description from Oxford University Press:

Caricatured for extravagance, vanity, glamorous celebrity and, all too often, embroiled in scandal and gossip, 18th-century London’s fashionable society had a well-deserved reputation for frivolity. But to be fashionable in 1700s London meant more than simply being well dressed. Fashion denoted membership of a new type of society – the beau monde, a world where status was no longer determined by coronets and countryseats alone but by the more nebulous qualification of metropolitan ‘fashion’. Conspicuous consumption and display were crucial; the right address, the right dinner guests, the right possessions, the right jewels, the right seat at the opera.

The Beau Monde leads us on a tour of this exciting new world, from court and parliament to London’s parks, pleasure grounds, and private homes. From brash displays of diamond jewelry to the subtle complexities of political intrigue, we see how membership of the new elite was won, maintained – and sometimes lost. On the way, we meet a rich and colorful cast of characters, from the newly ennobled peer learning the ropes and the imposter trying to gain entry by means of clever fakery, to the exile banned for sexual indiscretion.

Above all, as the story unfolds, we learn that being a Fashionable was about far more than simply being ‘modish’. By the end of the century, it had become nothing less than the key to power and exclusivity in a changed world.

This new Regency-era nonfiction book topped my wish list at number one. I could not wait. I bought the digital edition. Buy the print edition if you want to be able to see the illustrations.

Take a peek inside this must read for Regency-era authors, history lovers and Jane Austen fans at Amazon.com.

Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey, by Emma Rowley

This book has nothing what-so-ever to do with Jane Austen, the Georgian or Regency eras, but what-the-heck, we love this period drama series and many other Janeites do too!

The fourth season of Downton Abbey will soon air this side of the pond on Masterpiece Classic PBS on January 5th. This is the perfect gift for those addicted to the Crawley family saga which spans Edwardian, WWI, and now the post war Roaring Twenties England. We live for Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham’s, acerbic comments. Don’t you? Here is the publisher’s description:

Gain unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Downton Abbey in this official Season 4 tie-in book, complete with never-before-seen photos giving fans insight into the making of the runaway hit.

Expertly crafted with generous inside knowledge and facts, this book will delve into the inspiration behind the details seen on screen, the choice of locations, the music and much more. Step inside the props cupboard or the hair and make-up truck and catch a glimpse of the secret backstage world. In-depth interviews and exclusive photos give insight into the actors’ experiences on set as well as the celebrated creative team behind the award-winning drama. Straight from the director’s chair, this is the inside track on all aspects of the making of the show.

Visit Masterpiece Classic PBS for all the latest on the new season, and by all means, please buy the book at St. Martin’s Press.

Calendars

Jane Austen Mansfield Park Calendar 2014

from The Republic of Pemberley

My Austen year would not be complete without my calendar from the good folks at The Republic of Pemberley. This year they have two to choose from: the classic Jane Austen 2014 Rancor Vertical Wall Calendar and Jane Austen Mansfield Park Calendar 2014 in honor of the bicentenary of the publication. It is very hard to decide if you want to chortle over Austen’s witty quotes from her letters or spend the year in a love triangle between Fanny Price, Mary Crawford and Edmund Bertram. Decisions!

Miscellaneous

Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy Ornaments

from The Jane Austen Centre Gift Shop

I first discovered this adorable Mr. Darcy ornament during my visit to The British Library, when harkened from across the large gift shop floor I heard a cry of joy from fellow traveler, and Austenesque author Nancy Kelley, “MR. DARCY”. Tallyho! It was only my second hour in England, but it was the first thing I bought. I was delighted to find the matching Elizabeth at Winchester Cathedral gift shop, AND a Mr. Knightley and Emma at the Roman Bath’s gift shop. They all now proudly hang in pride of place, from my Jane Austen book case of course. Get your very own Mr. Darcy and Lizzy from The Jane Austen Centre online gift shop, though we wish they would spell Elizabeth’s name as Austen intended: Lizzy not Lizzie.

Happy Holidays to all, and may all your Austen wishes come true.

Cheers,

Laurel Ann

© 2013 Laurel Ann Nattress, Austenprose.com