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One can imagine that during her final illness, Jane Austen was no stranger to leeches. This method of bloodletting was so common in Great Britain (Wales especially) and France that by the 1830′s Hirudo medicinal leeches (common in Europe) were hard to find and had to be imported or home grown . Gathering leeches was [...] Read Full Story

This summer Professor Devoney Looser will be directing a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers, “Jane Austen and Her Contemporaries.” The seminar’s 16 participants will seek significant new insights about Jane Austen by reading her closely alongside now understudied (but once well-known) writers of her own day. The class [...] Read Full Story

Inquiring readers: I will be on hiatus for the rest of February. While no new posts will be added for a few weeks, I will keep contributing material to Jane Austen's World, my other blog. Also, the sidebar (at left) will be updated with new information. Thank you for visiting and for your patience! Read Full Story

My regular Jane Austen readers have been patient as I succumbed to Downton Abbey fever and began to cover events 100 years after Jane Austen’s death. Customs changed during that intervening century. Take the matter of dress. While proper Regency ladies changed their outfits from morning gowns to walking gowns when they went out, and [...] Read Full Story

We’re well into Season 2 of Downton Abbey and some obvious patterns in coupling are beginning to emerge in this historical or historic melodrama. Let’s examine how some of our favorite characters are getting on, shall we? (Caution: there will be spoilers for those who have not kept up with the series. Some might also [...] Read Full Story

In Sound Check, Marina Csomor conjectures that Elizabeth Bennet might have liked The Staves if she'd had an opportunity to listen to the trio's pretty soft voices. I think she might just be correct. Read Full Story

As viewers of Downton Abbey, we have gotten to know Highclere Castle, its setting, well.Sir Barry remodelled Highclere Castle for the third earl of Carnarvon from 1839 to 1842. The architect had just finished building the Houses of Parliament. The house once looked quite different and was Georgian in feature. Extensive renovations were made during [...] Read Full Story

The dining room wall at the Jane Austen House museum at Chawton Cottage is exhibiting a new explanatory display of Sense and Sensibility. The novel celebrated its 200 year anniversary in 2011.The designs were based on the coloured illustrations by the brothers, Charles Edmund ( C. E.) and Henry Matthew (H. M.) Brock of Cambridge. These were included in the 1908 edition of the novel published Read Full Story

Inquiring readers: Raquel Sallaberry from Jane Austen em Portugues contributed this interesting information about Port wine: Last year when I drank a Port wine I vaguely remembered having read a mention about this wine in Jane Austen, but was not sure in which of the books. When we finished the bottle, I brought it home to photograph and do research. Port wine became very popular in England Read Full Story

We’ve heard the term, “Behind the green baize doors”, but what exactly does it mean? You hear this reference most often in regard to servants and in old books. Baize was a sturdy green cloth attached to a swing door.  The insulating fabric prevented noises from disturbing the individuals on either side: The ‘Green Baize [...] Read Full Story