Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Shelley DeWees: “Of his younger daughter, Melody, he had no concerns, for she had a face made for fortune. His older daughter, Jane, made up for her deficit of beauty with rare taste and talent in the womanly arts. Her skill with glamour, music, and painting was surpassed by none in... Continue Reading →
We have several of Oxford World’s Classics editions in our library and are quite partial to their expanded editions. From Austen to Radcliffe to Burney to Gaskell, whatever they take on, their introductions and supplemental material are excellent. The news of this new revised paperback edition of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford is quite exciting. Due out... Continue Reading →
Head's up for literature lovers. The Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide to the 18th Century Blog is hosting a group read of Evelina or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World, by Frances Burney during the month of June, 2011. Evelina is an epistolary novel in three volumes written by English novelist,... Continue Reading →
Little is known of the life Jane Austen (1775-1817), but amazingly there are some hefty, scholarly biographies in print. Two of my favorites were both published in 1997 and confusingly share the same title. Jane Austen: A Life, by Claire Tomalin and David Nokes are both detailed and far-reaching in scope, elaborating on Austen’s life,... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura Wallace: "I know! She was the delightful creature who cut up her brother, and cast the pieces in her papa’s way, wasn’t she? I daresay perfectly amiable when one came to know her." —Venetia on Medea. Venetia is about soul mates. Two people who, despite completely dissimilar life experiences, recognize... Continue Reading →
We are very fortunate to have one of the nation’s premiere small theater companies right in our own backyard. For the last 20 years the Book-It Repertory Theater of Seattle has been exclusively adapting written work for the stage. Among the sixty plus world premier adaptations they have presented are stage productions of three Jane... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: How appropriate that The Annotated Sense and Sensibility is being published during the bicentenary year of Jane Austen’s first published novel. This new book includes the complete text of Jane Austen’s classic with annotations by Dr. David M. Shapard, an expert in eighteenth-century European History who also brought... Continue Reading →
Becca Hemmings, manager of the Jane Austen Centre Giftshop has contacted us to announce the re-launch of their new online website, selling exclusive and unique Austen merchandise Worldwide! This wonderful retailer offers an incredible assortment of Austen-inspired, books and craft items. One of my favs is the Pride and Prejudice Peacock Shopper. It is a... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Shelley DeWees – The Uprising If there was ever an “About the Author” section that seemed to speak to me, directly to me, it is this one: Marsha Altman exists more as a philosophical concept than an atom-based structure existing within the rules of time and space as we know them. She... Continue Reading →
An incredibly rare handwritten manuscript of Jane Austen’s unfinished work The Watsons will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London on July 14th, 2011. It is valued at ÂŁ200,000 to ÂŁ300,000. The Watsons is a fragment of a novel that Austen began around 1803 when she was residing with her parents and sister Cassandra in Bath.... Continue Reading →
Home from the bookselling trenches today and eager to share my great find. As I passed by the new release fiction bays at my store - a familiar name just leapt out at me. Margaret Drabble! Any die-hard Janeite will recall her wonderful introductions to the Penguin Classics and Signet Classics editions of Jane Austen's... Continue Reading →
We are always happy to see an author’s work go into a second edition, especially when they are as deserving of reprint as Kim Wilson’s beautiful Jane Austen-inspired books: Tea with Jane Austen and In the Garden with Jane Austen. Previously published in 2004 and 2008 respectively by Jones Books in the US, this new... Continue Reading →
