Photos from the Jane Austen Festival 2009

The Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England is in full swing and concludes this Sunday, September 27th. Check out a photo slideshow of the Grand Regency Promenade and a real-life Regency wedding held last Saturday by following this link to Austenprose.

Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose

The Jane Austen Centre's July Newsletter Arrives

The Jane Austen Centre’s July 2008 issue of their newsletter arrived in my mail box this morning, and it has some very interesting links and articles to read at their website and online. Here are a few of the highlights. Check it out!

The Jane Austen Centre Gift Shop has been renovated! Easier, faster and fun. Who could ask for more Jane stuff all in one place?

The Regency Debutante: An online article from their online magazine by Linore Rose Burkard looking at how Regency debutantes are different from other fictional heroines?

What’s in the next Regency World Magazine? A must have magazine for all Janeites. Learn about eating in Jane Austen’s times, the Regency World Awards, and the Jane Austen Festival taking place in Bath in September.

Take the Pride and Prejudice Quotes Quiz: Do you know who said, “If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy…I would keep a pack of foxhounds and drink a bottle of wine every day.”? Test your knowledge of one of the most quotable books in Austen’s oeuvre.

If you love keeping in the know of all things Austen, then you too can receive the complete monthly newsletter by signing up at The Jane Austen Centre’s wonderful website.

Posted by Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Cookery Books

Although England was at war with France during the Regency Era, the upper crust considered it fashionable to hire a French chef. This common practice was considered a folly by cookery book author, Hannah Glasse, who said her fellow Englishmen "would rather be impos'd on by a French Booby, than give Encouragement to a good English Cook!"

For the more ordinary households, the most popular cookery books of the day were written by women: Eliza Smith,1727; Hannah Glasse, 1747; and Elizabeth Raffald,1769. Hanna's wildly popular book was reprinted 17 times between 1747 and 1803! In those days, the authors borrowed recipes liberally from each other, but Mrs. Glasse's recipes were more detailed and clearly written than most. "I have attempted a Branch of Cookery which Nobody has yet thought worth their while to write upon...My Intention is to instruct the lower Sort [so that] every servant who can read will be capable of making a tolerable good Cook."



Reading Hannah's recipes, we can see how much our tastes in food have changed. Her Cookery Book included recipes for Jugged Pigeons,Potted Venison, Fried Celery, Tipsy Cake (depicted above), and Salamangundy (a salad made with cucucumber, apples, grapes, herring, red cabbage, hard boiled eggs, and cooked fowl.)As to how the food of the day tasted, here are Jane Austen's words, scribbled to Cassandra in 1808:

"The Widgeon and the preserved ginger were as delicious as one could wish. But as to our black butter, do not decoy anybody to Southampton by such a lure, for it is all gone ..."

From Food: and Cooking in 18th Century Britain: History and Recipes, Jennifer Snead, English Heritage, ISBN 1 85074 084 4

• The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, 1747


• Regency Cookery Course


• Regency Recipes


• Regency Dinner Parties and Etiquette


• Vinegar Pie


• Food History Site

Jane Austen Online

The Jane Austen novels available as podcasts or audio files on Librivox are:

Emma
Northanger Abbey
Pride and Prejudice

Books that are being taped:

Lady Susan
Mansfield Park
Persuasion
Sense and Sensibility

The completed audio books can be downloaded for free at this site: http://librivox.org/


The complete novels can be downloaded at two sites:

Project Gutenberg
Bibliomania

Jane Austen and Bath

Jane Austen and Bath from Ellen Moody's website leads to a fascinating article and photographs of the places in Bath Jane Austen visited or wrote about. Most of the photos were taken during the 1940's or before.

An English Meal

Louis Simond, An American in Regency England, describes a meal with his host and hostess as thus:

"The master and mistress of the house sit at each end of the table--narrower and longer than the French tables--the mistress at the upper end--and the places near her are the places of honour. There are commonly two courses and a dessert. I shall venture to give a sketch of a moderate dinner for ten or twelve persons. Although contemporary readers may laugh, I flatter myself it may prove interesting in future ages."

First course (not in order)
Oyster Sauce, Fish, Fowls, Soup, Vegetables, Roasted or Boiled Beef, Spinage, Bacon, Vegetables

Second Course (not in order)
Creams, Ragout a la Francoise, Pastry, Cream, Cauliflowers, Game, Celery, Macaroni, Pastry.

Dessert (not in order)
Walnuts, Raisins and Almonds, Apples, Cakes, Pears, Raisins and Almonds, Oranges

"Soon after dinner the ladies retire, the mistress of the house rising first, while the men remain standing. left alone, they resume their seats, evidently more at ease, and the conversation takes a different turn--less reserved--and either graver, or more licentious."

Click on more links to food in the Regency Era:
Historic Food Links
The Food Timeline
Food and Drink in Regency England
The Art of Cookery
History of Tea in Britain

About the Art of Cookery: 'The Art of Cookery', written by Hannah Glasse, was published in 1747. It was a best seller for over a hundred years, and made Glasse one of the best-known cookery writers of the eighteenth century. As Glasse explains in the preface, the book was intended to be an instruction manual for servants - 'the lower sort' as she called them. During the 1700s there was a fashion for books of this kind, which were designed to save the lady of the house from the tedious duty of instructing her kitchen maids."