Sandy Lerner, savior of Chawton House, now Library, author of the P&P sequel, Second Impressions, visited Goucher last night to give a talk, a reading, and sign copies of her book.
Sandy Lerner at Goucher, image @Christine Stewart
About Sandy Lerner
If you’re not familiar with Lerner: “Lerner in 1992 bought and restored an estate once owned by Jane Austen’s brother, called Chawton House, in Hampshire, England. She has transformed it into the Center for the Study of Early English Women’s Writing, and is currently underwriting the digitization of the works of female authors who lived in England between 1600 and 1830. The 10,000 volumes, not all of them novels, include works by Austen, Mary Shelley, Frances Sheridan and Maria Edgeworth, among many others, as well as a collection of cookbooks by Quakers.” (Piedmont Maverick by Suzanne Gannon). Lerner co-founded Cisco Systems with her (now ex) husband, and later a cosmetic company called Urban Decay, which sold unusual (at the time) nail colors like green and blue. Their slogan was ‘Does Pink Make You Puke?’ She once posed naked on horseback for Forbes Magazine. In short, she is an interesting, eccentric, wicked smart woman who owns a farm in Ayrshire, Virginia. She bought a 125 year lease on Chawton House in 1993.
My friend Clare and I went to the talk at Goucher College in the (still shiny and new!) Athenaeum. This is where Alberta Burke’s famous Jane Austen Collection is housed. The Batza Room, where the Jane Austen Scholars talk every two years, was packed (50-75 people). So were the chairs. We were all pretty much sitting on top of each other, so that made it rather unpleasant when a man reeking of onions and gin sat down next to poor Clare. She bore it bravely, but we joked about how much we wished women still carried lavender scented handkerchiefs to bury their noses in.
Goucher’s president Sanford (Sandy) Ungar was there, which always signals that the visitor is a big deal, as if we didn’t know! Outside the door, the table was laden with the very prettily bound books (sort of blue and leathery looking) and elaborate bookmarks from Chawton Library, which you received when you bought the book. I couldn’t get a clear shot of the table because of the swarm of people.
Sandy Lerner at Goucher College
When Lerner took the podium, the first thing she said was that she had just decided what she was going to talk about, which might give you an indication of how well prepared she was. Clare and I enjoyed the talk, for what it was, a quick summary of her love of Austen and buying Chawton and what it is today, and a quick recap of writing the book, with some lamenting about not receiving the proper reviews, how agents and editors won’t talk to her, because she self-published. I think she spoke for, maybe 15 minutes? (My notes on her talk will follow the post.) There was an awkward pause and she offered to read, but didn’t have a book (!). One was borrowed from the audience and she read for 10 minutes, a very quick scene between Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Colonel Fitzwilliam.
Read more for my notes about writing the book on my blog, Embarking on a Course of Study: http://www.embarkingonacourseofstudy.com/2012/10/sandy-lerner-visits-goucher-second-impressions.html
Jane Austen's World 
Thank you so much for writing about this. I only wish I would have known about it because I live 15 minutes away!
Sandy Lerner has also been very active in the Middleburg, VA community with her “agricultural” business which features the humane treatment of animals. She also established the Hunter’s Head Tavern, very much an English style pub with excellent food, a store in the town of Middleburg which features products from her farm, and restored an elegant house near Upperville, VA and stables which contain her fabled carriage collection. She also is active in a group which promotes early nineteenth century dancing! If you check out my daytripping web site, http://www.daytrippingmetro.com, you will find pictures of the establishments on the Middleburg page. Middleburg, Upperville and the surrounding Fauquier County countryside is very much like the English countryside.
Interesting. I love the remark about the man. I guess we can take some comfort that even a woman as famous as Lerner is has trouble with editors and agents.
Thank you for this article, Vic! I was so pleased to read it, as Sandy Lerner is going to be speaking and doing a book signing of SECOND IMPRESSIONS at our JASNA meeting in 2 weeks. We are very excited about it, and your article just whets the anticipation!
I look forward to hearing about the other talk on money as well. Thanks to you both!
Sandy Lerner is certainly in a strange situation regarding publishing. It’s true that when you self publish, you mostly won’t get reviewed in the press. I’m not sure why she’s in that category, since she used Chawton House Press, and although it’s small, you’d think other books they choose to publish would get at least some specialist reviews. so why not hers? On the other hand, she’s certainly doing an excellent job of getting her book promoted and known about in the niche market, if no other. And she has another benefit, which she may not even realize she has – that most of the people who do write about her book, whether on blogs or in Austen publications, will write puffery, not a straight, honestly analytical review, because of who she is. (Sorry, it’s elephant in the room time, and that’s telling it how it is.) All these problems would presumably have been avoided if she’d published with a commercial press, but it’s a choice. Why shouldn’t she publish with her own, wonderfully well named. Chawton House Press if she wanted to? They did a gorgeous job, and the book is very handsomely produced, much better quality than a commercial press would have done. Victoria Connelly is doing a fascinating ongoing series on her blog about authors who are having the “indie publishing” (i.e., self publish) experience in this new age of publishing. it would be interesting if she would interview Sandy, whose publishing journey is unique.
Vic, I will be interested to read your thoughts on Sandy Lerner’s JASNA AGM talk. She said a few things I didn’t agree with either.
“And she has another benefit, which she may not even realize she has – that most of the people who do write about her book, whether on blogs or in Austen publications, will write puffery, not a straight, honestly analytical review,”
Diana, i quite agree. There is too much ,”puffery,” in writing reviews . It’s as though the publishing companies pay people to back their book and just write inconsequential comments. “Oh it”s just lovely and the cover is a beautiful pastel shade of blue. It will go with your curtains etc etc”
To be anywhere near decent as a review the reviewer should attempt to answer some questions that the text raises and there should be an analysis of what the text says and doesn’t say.. Writing reviews for friends doesn’t help I think. You are shackled in your comments from the start. .
Tony, so much writing reviews for your friends goes on in the Jane Austen world, it sometimes makes my head spin. In fact, since most of these books don’t get conventional print reviews, almost all the reviewing is of this sort: “You praise my book, I’ll praise yours, and everyone benefits,” is the idea. Amazon’s the worst, five star fulsome praise from the authors’ friends (which can be discounted), and a few one-star reviews from trolls with an axe to grind (also to be discounted). It’s natural that no one wants to write anything less than high praise for a friend, as the result is that you inevitably lose the friend; but it’s not very professional behavior. This, however, is the ethos of the book blogger world, where all is praise: many book bloggers say they won’t even review a book unless they have mostly good things to say. So then what’s the point? Well, promotion is the point. Blogging, and book blogging, are essentially all about promotion, rather than real criticism. Only as a general thing, of course, with all the exceptions you could name.
Now that I’ve (I hope) got your ear, Tony, I have a question I’ve been wanting to ask an 18th century London expert. On the Austen lists we are reading one letter a week, and we’ve got to #84, the famous one where JA visits Charlotte Craven and jokes about the naked cherubs on the ceiling as a fine study for girls. Now I know Charlotte was at a boarding school at 22 Hans Place run by Dominque St Quintin, son of the owner of the Abbey School in Reading which Jane herself attended nearly 30 years before. But it seems to me I remember that the school building at Hans Place was, or had been, something important – perhaps that’s why the structure was so grand. Henry Austen’s lodgings were quite nearby, and opened, I think, onto gardens (Ranleigh?), but what was the once-grand building that was now a school? Byron’s quarters? Landsdowne? Help! And thanks. – Diana
Diana,,Hans Place was first developed in 1770 by Henry Holland who leased the land from Earl Cadogan and he sublet it in building plots on 99 year leases. This was a way of obtaining finance to build his great house.
In the middle of the square a garden was created with a lake and various exotic trees. Ranelagh gardens are not connected to Hans Place. Ranelagh was south of Kensington in Chelsea next to the river. It was close to where The Chelsea flower show is held each year in the grounds of The Royal Hospital
I don’t think there was a great house in the square itself though.. By the way, number 23 Hans Place is next door to Henry’s house at number 22..
I haven’t got your e-mail address Diana so I have sent a load of stuff connected with letter number 84 to Vic. I have asked her to forward it to you.
All the best,
Tony.
Thank you so much, Tony, I can’t wait to read it all, how kind! My email address for future reference is birchalls@aol.com. I understand the gardens behind Hans Place are still laid out much as they were in Austen’s day, and I shall try to have a look when I’m over there in June.