So, we know that Mrs. Bennet set an excellent table, but what would it have been like having dinner at Longbourn? You are all a’twitter as you have been invited to take dinner with the Bennets at Longborn today. But being a gal of the 21st century, it’s a little difficult to know what to expect, but never fear. I’m here to help! One of the important things to realize about the Regency era is … Continue reading →
Adkins, Roy, and Lesley Adkins. Jane Austen’s England. Viking, 2013. Austen, Jane, and David M. Shapard. The Annotated Persuasion. New York: Anchor Books, 2010. Bennetts, M.M. A gentleman’s education. M.M. Bennets. July 20, 2010. Accessed October 5, 2016. https://mmbennetts.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/a-gentlemans-education/ Brander, Michael. The Georgian Gentleman. Glasgow: University Press, 1973. Brown, Richard. Educating the middle-classes 1800-1870. Looking at History. Accessed October 29, 2016. http://richardjohnbr.blogspot.com/2011/02/educating-middle-classes-1800-1870.html> Davidoff, Leonore, and Catherine Hall. Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle … Continue reading →
Period Cookbooks A Lady. Domestic Economy and Cookery for the rich and poor. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green. 1827. Beeton, Isabella. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. London: S. O. Beeton Publishing, 1861. Borella. The Court and Country Confectioner: Or, the House-keepers Guide ; to a More Speedy, Plain, and Familiar Method of Understanding the Whole Art of Confectionary … A New Edition. To Which Is Added, a Dissertation on the Different Species of … Continue reading →
What made circulating libraries so important to not just Jane Austen, but Georgian era women in general and what was the role of the humble Regency era novel in the whole affair? James Fordyce, in his Sermons to Young Women, counsels strongly against novels, the very sort of books offered by local and easily accessible circulating libraries. (Despite the face he had not read them, of course. But I digress…) He declared: What shall we … Continue reading →
The Temple of Muses–jaw dropping bookseller of Jane Austen’s time. The Temple of Muses Billed as the “Cheapest Bookseller in the World,” the Temple of Muses enjoyed a reputation as being one of the biggest booksellers of the day. Run by Lackington Allen & Company at No. 32, Finsbury Place South, in Finsbury square from 1778-1798, the book store would publish catalogs ranging from twelve thousand to over thirty thousand titles. (Kind of makes the … Continue reading →