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Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England
Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England | Sue Wilkes
28 posts | 2 read | 8 to read
Immerse yourself in the vanished world inhabited by Austen s contemporaries. Packed with detail, and anecdotes, this is an intimate exploration of how the middle and upper classes lived from 1775, the year of Austen s birth, to the coronation of George IV in 1820. Sue Wilkes skillfully conjures up all aspects of daily life within the period, drawing on contemporary diaries, illustrations, letters, novels, travel literature and archives. Were all unmarried affluent men really 'in want of a wife'?Where would a young lady seek adventures?Would taking the waters at Bath and other spas kill or cure you?Was Lizzy Bennet bitten by bed-bugs while traveling?What would you wear to a country ball, or a dance at Almack s?Would Mr Darcy have worn a corset?What hidden horrors lurked in elegant Regency houses?Put on your dancing gloves and embrace a lost era of corsets and courtship!REVIEWS This is an ingenious volume. The author, who has written extensively on social history and on genealogy, provides us with a detailed guide book to the habits, facilities, sights and values of Southern England in the early 19th century. Her walk-through of the territory is attractively supported by extensive quotations from the works of Jane Austen herself and from contemporaries. The text is lively and well arranged and the anecdotes relevant and illuminating. This is a book which Janites will enjoy and which will provide an informative context to the novels. Federation of Family History Societies."
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CrowCAH
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#WonderousWednesdag

1. We‘ll, I plan on getting to England at some point, because I‘ve read so much about it.

2. Yeah if I really like a book, I will buy a copy.

3. I‘d say cover first. Then back cover write up. Some authors, I‘ll read their backlist.

Eggs #3 I like investigating backlists too 🤗 2y
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mabell
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“Young ladies must guard their reputation at all times; a male relative or servant should accompany you when travelling.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh insists it would be ‘highly improper‘ for Elizabeth Bennet and Maria Lucas to #travel unaccompanied by post: ‘Young women should always be properly guarded and attended, according to their situation in life.‘ Elizabeth reassured her ladyship that her uncle would send a servant for them.”
#200PnPcovers

CrowCAH But that male chaperone could take advantage of lone females! Hopefully not, but it‘s best to be in ones guard. 3y
mabell @CrowCAH 😬😬 3y
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mabell
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“You‘ll begin your day writing letters, or perhaps going shopping before breakfast, which is served about half-past nine or ten o‘clock. Ladies usually breakfast on a dish or cup of fragrant #tea or coffee, chocolate and rolls or toast in the breakfast room, or in front of a roaring fire in the family library; or the servant may bring you breakfast in bed. Gentlemen tuck into heartier fare: eggs, fish and meat.”

#200PnPcovers

BookBabe Love that painting and the quote!! Is the painting from the book cover? 😍 3y
Gissy That painting is gorgeous 😍👌 3y
mabell @Gissy @BookBabe Isn‘t it striking? I should have noted the artist. The painting is “Tea and Toast” by Noah Verrier. 3y
CrowCAH I‘ll take the chocolate! ☺️ 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Likewise! 3y
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mabell
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Primogeniture has unfortunate consequences for an eldest son‘s siblings. Younger brothers must find themselves a profession: the army or navy, the church, a government sinecure, the law, or if there is no alternative, commerce (not genteel)

In Northanger, you have the rakish Captain Tilney as the elder son and heir, and Henry as the clergyman. Henry is very comfortably placed - the only unfortunate circumstances are his #sibling and father!

CrowCAH It‘s been awhile since I read Northanger. I remember the ambiance of a gothic tale, taking fright by ghosts! 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Yes, that‘s true! So much fun! 3y
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mabell
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“In Emma, Mr Knightley‘s estate manager, William Larkins, is very pleased when lots of apples are sold from Donwell Abbey farm. If you have plenty of land but little spare cash like Mr Knightley, you can dine on luxuries like fresh strawberries from the gardens.

#Rich landowners, like Pride and Prejudice‘s Mr Darcy, have hothouses for growing tender fruits such as grapes, nectarines and peaches.”

#200PnPcovers

CrowCAH Fresh picked Michigan strawberries warmed by the sun are delicious!!! 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Same down here! A luxury! 3y
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mabell
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My favorite story from this book! And it covers a few prompts 😉

Jane was helping to nurse her brother through a nasty illness when one of his doctors, who also attended the Prince Regent [ruling in place of his #parents] realised that Jane was the author of #Pride and Prejudice. One day he told Jane that the Prince ‘often‘ read her #novels and ‘kept a set in every one of his residences.‘ Accordingly he informed the Prince she was in London. ⬇️

mabell His Royal Highness asked the librarian of Carlton House, James Stanier Clarke, to call on her. Clarke duly appeared the next day and invited Jane to Carlton House, so that he could show her ‘the library and other apartments, and pay her every possible attention.‘ Although Jane disapproved of the Prince Regent‘s immoral lifestyle [in spite of her #prejudice], she felt unable to turn down this high honour [#proposal]. 3y
mabell During her visit, Clarke declared that the Prince had given her permission to dedicate her next novel (Emma) to him, and upon publication Austen‘s publisher, John Murray, sent the Prince a handsome copy of Emma for his library. #200PnPcovers 3y
LeahBergen Whenever I open Emma and see that dedication I think how she was “bullied” into it. 😆 3y
CrowCAH I agree @LeahBergen . But I guess it‘s not bad to have the Prince Regent as a sponsor! 3y
mabell @LeahBergen @CrowCAH Not exactly a glowing dedication 😆😂 3y
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mabell
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#Music is considered an ideal accomplishment for young ladies and Jane Austen‘s brother Henry recalled that when at Chawton, she ‘practised [the pianoforte] daily, chiefly before breakfast.‘”

#200PnPcovers

CrowCAH Wow piano playing before breakfast?! I‘m not always fully functioning before lunch! 😆 3y
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mabell
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Jane was quite pleased her books earned #money

“Austen‘s books turned a modest but welcome profit, even though they were published at her own expense. By the summer of 1813 she had received 648 for the copyright of Pride and Prejudice, plus another 660 profit from Sense and Sensibility (which had sold out). … ‘I have now, therefore, written myself into 6a8, which only makes me long for more,‘ she wrote to her brother Frank.

#200PnPcovers

LeahBergen Love this! 3y
CrowCAH That was quite the sum for her time. I‘m glad she got to see some reward from her writing in her lifetime!!! 3y
mabell @LeahBergen I did too! Her comment is great 😄 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Yes, both financially and with accolades! 3y
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mabell
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Mr Darcy‘s cousin Miss de Bourgh is destined to have a ‘very large fortune, and it is believed that she and her cousin will unite the two estates,‘ - according to George Wickham. 🙄

#marriage #200PnPcovers

CrowCAH But she is a sickly creature. Darcy would never tolerate her! Lol 3y
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mabell
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The Royal Mail service was overhauled in 1784, when entrepreneur John Palmer‘s plan was adopted of sending #mail by coach, instead of postboys on horseback. … On special occasions such as May Day, or when there‘s important news like Nelson‘s victory at Trafalgar, the mail coaches and horses are festooned with ribbons and decorations.

#200PnPcovers

LeahBergen My little neighbourhood postal van should festoon itself! 😆 3y
mabell @LeahBergen I agree! Ours lacks a festive “celebratory spirit” too! 😂 3y
CrowCAH Thanks for the little history lesson! 3y
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mabell
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“This book will help you find your feet in Austen‘s England, whether you are a fond parent hoping to launch your sons and daughters into the best society, a young gentleman or lady looking for #love , or a traveller keen to enjoy all the amusements that the towns and countryside have to offer.”

#200PnPcovers

Chrissyreadit I love this cover! 3y
CrowCAH Looks like a windy place, according to the cover! 3y
mabell @Chrissyreadit I‘m not sure what is depicted on the cover (but it‘s hilarious) This is a great book! @CrowCAH posted when it was an ebook deal, and I‘m glad I grabbed it! 3y
Chrissyreadit @mabell of course now I have to stack it! 3y
mabell @Chrissyreadit It‘s meant to read as a travel guide for the 1800s tourist, which is a clever premise! 3y
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mabell
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Traveller Richard Ayton was shocked when he visited the genteel resort of Parkgate, Cheshire in 1813:

Few of both sexes thought it necessary to hide themselves under the awning of bathing machines: posts, with ropes fastened to them, are fixed into the sands, and these were taken possession of by numerous groups of women, six or seven in a row, jumping, ducking, laughing and screaming, evidently as careless of being seen as of being drowned.

mabell Sea-bathing is such fun that you may lose your sense of decorum. (And go into #hysterics !) #200PnPcovers 3y
CrowCAH So scandalous! 😆 3y
TheAromaofBooks I appreciate that half these people look like they're drowning 😂 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Oh my yes! 3y
mabell @TheAromaofBooks I found this one by googling - it was too perfect 😂 3y
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mabell
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“The marriages of minors (people under 21) who wed without their parents‘ consent are not legal, even with a special licence. But Hardwicke‘s Act does not apply to Scotland: there it is legal for people as young as 16 to marry without parental consent.

The village of Gretna Green lies temptingly just over the Scottish border, and it is the first destination of choice for #hundreds of runaway marriages.”

#200PnPcovers

CrowCAH I can‘t even imagine being married so young! Times are different. 3y
mabell @CrowCAH You had to grow up quicker then! 3y
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mabell
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After our recent cold snap, this spoke to me 😆

On 28 December 1798, Parson Woodforde complained in his diary that it was so cold that: ‘it froze in every part of the House – Milk & Cream tho‘ kept in the Kitchen all froze – Meat like blocks of Wood – It froze in [the] Kitchen even by the fire in a very few Minutes... Even the Meat in our Pantry all froze & also our Bread – I think the Cold was never more severe in my Life‘

#houses #200PnPcovers

CrowCAH Even in MetroDetroit Michigan we had a cold snap the past week. But it didn‘t freeze that bad!!! 3y
Cathythoughts Lovely picture 💫 3y
mabell Thank you @Cathythoughts ! ❤️ 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Definitely not that bad! Another excerpt talked about having to break the ice in the washbasin - it was below freezing in the bedroom!? 3y
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mabell
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“Jane wrote to Cassandra: I have received a very civil note from Mrs Martin, requesting my name as a subscriber to her library... Mrs Martin tells me that her collection is not to consist only of novels, but of every kind of literature, etc. She might have spared this pretension to our family, who are great novel-readers, and not ashamed of being so; but it was necessary, I suppose, to the self-consequence of half her subscribers.”

#200PnPcovers

mabell Reading is one of the most timeless of #hobbies 3y
LeahBergen Love this excerpt! 3y
CrowCAH Yes, a well rounded library has many genres! 3y
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mabell
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When Thomas Moore stayed in London for the first time in April 1799, he wrote to his mother: ‘… if I had indulged in going out often… there is scarce a night that I should not be at some female #gossip party, to drink tea, play a little crambo [a rhyming game], and eat a sandwich.‘

#200PnPcovers

MaureenMc Sounds like a great night out! 😁 3y
LeahBergen I‘d party with Thomas. 😆 3y
CrowCAH I‘m isn‘t that why you go to parties to gossip?! Lol 3y
mabell @MaureenMc @LeahBergen Sounds like my kind of party, too! 😄 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Absolutely! 🤣 3y
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mabell
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I love the #friendship between Jane and Cassandra, as evidenced in their entertaining letters. #200PnPcovers

CrowCAH What great sisters to be completely open and honest with each other! 3y
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mabell
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LeahBergen Very cool! 3y
mabell @LeahBergen “Nudity being all the rage” 😆 3y
CrowCAH I love patterned socks; they‘re my jam! 🧦 3y
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mabell
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‘Horsemen and footmen, carriages of every description and every shape, waggons and carts and covered carts, stagecoaches… coaches, chariots, chaises, gigs, buggies, curricles and phaetons; the sound of their wheels ploughing through the wet gravel was as continuous and incessant as the roar of waves on the sea beach.‘

#200PnPcovers #conveyances

mabell [From Letters from England (1807) - Robert Southey‘s clever travel memoir purports to be written by Spaniard ‘Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella‘, so that he can discuss English life as if through a foreigner‘s eyes] 3y
CrowCAH Phew that‘s a lot of different types of conveyances! 3y
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mabell
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The London ‘season‘ is the busiest time of the year for socialites, and the nobility and great county families like Mr Darcy‘s in Pride and Prejudice keep a house in town. The ‘season‘ begins early in the New Year and continues until early summer, when families decamp to their #country retreats or fashionable watering holes.

#200PnPcovers

(📷 Pemberley aka Lyme Park)

CrowCAH This house is just picturesque! 😍 3y
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mabell
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“During the winter months you‘ll often see the city wreathed in thick smoke; it wears a more cheerful aspect in spring and summer.”

#200PnPcovers #city

StayCurious No wonder people who were lucky enough to have country estates were sought after! I‘d marry to escape the city lol 3y
CrowCAH I would not doubt some sun makes every environ more beautiful! 3y
mabell @StayCurious I would definitely look forward to the fresh air! 😆 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Ha so true! 3y
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mabell
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#200PnPcovers

“A family with children living on Qc–5,000 p.a. needs 11 female and 13 male servants: ‘A Housekeeper, Cook, Lady‘s Maid, Nurse, two House-maids, Laundry-Maid, Still-room Maid, Nursery-maid, Kitchen-maid, and Scullion, with Butler, Valet, House-Steward, Coachman, two Grooms, one assistant ditto, two Footmen, three Gardeners, and a Labourer.‘”

AlaMich 🤣 3y
CrowCAH Woah OMG that‘s a lot of staff for a household! 3y
merelybookish I feel cheated! 3y
See All 9 Comments
Chrissyreadit How do I get to live this life style? 3y
LeahBergen I don‘t have children but clearly I need some staff. 😆 3y
Gissy And in these days...almost everything is done by a single person...in a smaller house yes, but one single person 🤔 3y
mabell @AlaMich @CrowCAH @merelybookish @Chrissyreadit It sounds overwhelming 😳 But at the same time, I‘d be willing to give it shot 😆 3y
mabell @LeahBergen I don‘t know about Johnny, but I could do with at least a couple of nannies for Bell and Ted! 🤣 3y
mabell @Gissy In this house, we have two people trying to run it. And not well. 😆 All I‘d need is a maid, a cook would be nice, maybe a gardener, oh and a housekeeper. I wouldn‘t be greedy 😄 3y
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mabell
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“When Catherine Morland attends her first ball in the Upper Rooms at Bath in Northanger Abbey, the ball-room is so crowded that she can see very little of the dancers except ‘the high feathers of some of the ladies‘.”

#balls #200PnPcovers #PnPCovers

CrowCAH Aye, wear a tall feather in your hat, so people can find you among the crowd! 🪶 3y
mabell @CrowCAH Ha didn‘t think of it that way! 3y
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CrowCAH
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CrowCAH
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#BookBub Deal!!!

$1.99 on #Amazon

Hurry and snag your copy!

#Pemberlittens

Sparklemn Thanks for the deal notification! 😊 3y
CrowCAH @Sparklemn no problem! I appreciate my BookBib deals emails, I‘ve downloaded so many more ebooks and added them to my TBR! 3y
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Ninja2020
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In a reading slump at the minute, hoping this gets me back on track. #Austen

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CrowCAH
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Deblovestoread Thank you! 4y
CrowCAH @Kdgordon88 you‘re welcome; spreading the Jane love! 😊 4y
55 likes2 comments
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Lcsmcat
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#pemberlittens This is on sale as an eBook from #Amazon, #Nook, #Kobo, #applebooks or #google. However you read ebooks. Also Love & Friendship is on for 99 cents. I don‘t know if this is US only or if it‘s available internationally.