This Jane Austen blog brings Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.
Ah, spring. Time to open the windows and air the rooms … and to consider redecorating. Ackermann’s Repository (1809-1829) didnt just cover fashion. The magazine also featured furniture and embroidery patterns, for example, and window treatments. This is simply a visual post. Enjoy!
… or music Jane listened to. RecentlyJane Austen’s Regency World Magazine sent a CD along with the issue. The songs include music popular in Jane’s time. I’ve included this musical number from YouTube: Thomas Arne’s “Where the Bee Sucks”, sung by a young lady named Sarah.
Cassandra Austen (Greta Scacchi) & Mrs Austen (Phyllida Law) in Miss Austen Regrets
During my morning stroll I saw crocuses, snowdrops, pansies, and daffodils in bloom. What a difference two weeks make! Spring is in the air, and the robins are pushing north.
Columbine, Lilac, Small Daisy, Peony, Sweet Briar, & Mignonnette
It is time to think about the garden, and this year I am inclined to plant a few varieties that Jane Austen and her family grew. Jane wrote to Cassandra:
Syringa, Sweet William
Some of the Flower seeds are coming up very well–but your Mignioette makes a wretched appearance. Our young Piony at the foot of the Fir tree has just blown & looks very handsome & the whole of the Shrubbery Border will soon be very gay with Pinks & Sweet Williams, in addition to the Columbines already in bloom. The Syringas too are coming out — We are likely to have a great crop of Orleans plumbs–but not many greengages–on the sandard scarcely any–three or four dozen perhaps against the wall. – Christian Encounters:Jane Austen, Leithart, p75- 76.
Greengages, Gooseberry, Wild Strawberry, & Moor Park Apricot
The excellent article, Jane Austens Flower Garden, describes additional variety of flowers, fruits, trees and shrubs and the kitchen garden. “I remember the garden well,” writes Miss Lefroy. “A very high thick hedge divided it from the (Winchester) road, and round it was a pleasant shrubbery walk, with a rough bench or two where no doubt Mrs. Austen and Cassandra and Jane spent many a summer afternoon.”
Last month I wrote about my trip to the Morgan Library in New York to view A Woman’s Wit:Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy, and of my impressions of the letters.
Exhibition room for Jane Austen's artifacts at the Morgan Library
But I didn’t mention the many other interesting artifacts: the Gillray prints of a lady dressing and Rowlandson’s caricature of The Comforts of Bath,
Progress of the Toilet, The Stays, James Gillray
the books that Jane owned,
Jane Austen's personal books, including The Spectator and Poems by William Cowper
a lovely steel engraved oval image of her,
Steel engraved image of Jane Austen and Lady Susan
an original copy of the Memoir of Jane Austen, fair copies of the first 7 letters of Lady Susan,
Viewing the Lady Susan letters on the far wall of the exhibit room
a rough 12-page fragment of The Watsons, a watercolor by Paul Sandby,
Paul Sandby's View in a Park
and a well-known image from An Analysis of Country Dances by Wilson, 1811.
Five positions from An Analysis of Country Dancing by Wilson, 1811
An account of Jane’s personal purchases of a little over 42 pounds for the year (1807), Isabel Bishop’s images for Pride and Prejudice,
Isabel Bishop's image of Jane and Bingley standing together
and the correspondence between Jane and Cassandra, her letter to Francis Talbot, the Countess of Morley and a letter from the Prince Regent’s librarian, James Clarke add to our knowledge of her world.
James Clarke's letter to Jane Austen, on the left
There were artifacts from Byron and Fanny Burney and Sir Walter Scott, and more images than I can recall so many weeks later.
The Panorama of London
William Blake and Georges Mail drew two portraits that forcibly reminded me of my internal images of Jane and Elizabeth Bennet
Georges Maile (fl. 1818–1841) Marchioness of Huntley.
Which brings me to my only (and major) disappointment with this exhibit: no catalogue. Thankfully, I can reconstruct my memory of the visit from my notes, images I have gleaned online or taken myself, and from a list provided by the Morgan Library (see the link below.) For anyone who lives within striking distance of the Morgan Library, you have until March 14th to travel to New York. The exhibition room might be small, but it is filled with treasures and is well worth the effort.
More links:
View PBS’s video of the Jane Austen exhibit at the Morgan Library on YouTube.
Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is now available! By JAW contributor Brenda S. Cox. See Review. Available from Amazon and Jane Austen Books.
Available through December 31st, 2025. Click on image for details, and share this poster with other teachers and students!
The Obituary of Charlotte Collins by Andrew Capes
Click on image to read the story.
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Project Gutenberg: eBook of Stage-coach and Mail in Days of Yore, Volume 2 (of 2), by Charles G. Harper
STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE: A PICTURESQUE HISTORY
OF THE COACHING AGE, VOL. II, By CHARLES G. HARPER. 1903. Click on this link.
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