Victoria here.  I love to travel.  Any place, anytime. 

As long as it starts or ends in London.

 I travel for fun, to study history and biographies of famous people, to sort out the eccentricities of the natives and the visitors alike, and — I admit it — to peruse the  gift shops wherever I go.  Ordinarily I am not a very good shopper.  To me, most shopping is in the ERRAND category, to be dispensed with quickly and with a minimum of fuss.  BUT!  Not so when I am in a museum…or a stately home…or a cathedral…or a palace…or in Liberty of London.

I love to take lots of pictures, abetted by the wonders of the digital camera, with which you can delete any picture you don’t like immediately and try it again.  Snap, snap, snap.  Of course, my husband tells me I have way too many pictures and that I will soon fill up my hard disk, but I can’t wait to be at it again.  He especially laughs at all the flower and garden pictures I take.  A rose is a rose is a rose, he says.  But I know that one rose comes from Cadogan Square.

Or from the heart of Bloomsbury:

Or from Windsor Castle.

Another one comes from Hatfield House!  No two are the same. 

Another favorite of mine is wisteria.  I can’t resist grabbing the camera and shooting away when I encounter those dripping purple blossoms.

And did I mention how much I love to browse in the gift shops?  We all know that every one of those items is probably available on line — and if I ordered it, I wouldn’t have to crowd my suitcase with new possessions.  But I am helpless in the face of that sign: This Way to the  Gift Shop.

I love to visit in the winter…

…spring

…summer

…and autumn 

I love to visit castles

…Palaces

…Stately Homes

…Cottages 

 …Villages

…Towns

…Cities

…Roman Sites

…Medieval sites

…Tudor sites

…Georgian sites

…Regency Sites

…Victorian Sites

…Small Museums

…Huge Museums

 …Art Galleries

And did I mention gift shops?

Of course, I also love the food.

…The Ubiquitous Full English Breakfast

…Sunday Roast

…Tea in all varieties

…and the ultimate in shopping for the gourmets and gourmands among us, Fortnum and Mason.

Best of all: Bookstores!

Sorry, I can’t add more now —

too busy browsing the shelves!  See you in England!!

Hugs, Victoria

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Letting in the Hoi Polloi: 1945-1970 

Part One 

by Guest Blogger Jennifer Jermantowicz

Visit her website here.

During my search for descriptions of British Regency fashion, I read that prolific author Georgette Heyer often referred to her collection of ‘Ackermann’s Repository’. However, an intact copy of this regency periodical is difficult to find and expensive. Single fashion prints sometimes appear on eBay, but this is not enough for a comprehensive study.

Half Dress, January 1812

With the advent of the internet, it’s much easier to track down unusual resources. Many organizations and libraries are scanning copyright free works, and placing them online. One of the best places to find these documents is the Internet Archive ( http://archive.org ), a non-profit digital library of cultural artifacts.

Thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Library and support from the Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation, every single issue of Ackermann’s Repository from 1809 – 1829 is available for free download at the Internet Archive. Unfortunately, the archive is frustrating to navigate. To make research easier, I created an organized list with direct links to each issue of Ackermann’s Repository at the Internet Archive.

Morning Dress, 1813

I am delighted to share this resource from my blog ( http://pasaii.com/where-to-download-ackermanns-repository/ ) with the readers of Number One London. I hope that it helps many more writers and passionate researchers of this amazing period of British history.

Head Dresses, 1814

Ackermann’s Repository at Archive.org

THANK YOU, JENNIFER!

This year we are celebrating the bicentennial of Mansfield Park, Jane Austen’s third published novel — but the first she wrote completely in her maturity.  Both of her previous published works, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice were revised versions of works she had written before she was 25.

Mansfield Park might be the least beloved of the Austen novels, primarily because the heroine Fanny Price, is difficult to adore like we adore Elizabeth Bennett or admire, as we do Elinor Dashwood.  Fanny is repeatedly described as weak and meek.

Only, it seems in the presence of Edmund Bertram, her cousin, does she express her opinions.  But her moral certitude is seen by many readers as over the top. She seems a prude, yet she assesses character clearly.  She allows herself to be bossed around by Mrs. Norris, yet she stands up to Sir Thomas when he tries to convince her to marry Henry Crawford. 

Mary Crawford is a much more attractive character, lively and independent.  But perhaps too much so.  Mary’s views of society and morality are selfish, narrow and downright ignorant- as are many of the other leading characters: Sir Thomas, Lady Bertram, Tom, Maria, and especially Henry.

Yet Fanny is the only character who actually achieves what she wants…with the possible exception of her brother, William. I am not sure exactly where or how I got this idea, but the more I think about it, the more it seems valid.  What do you think?  Is Fanny the sweet child who confirms in almost all ways, and receives her greatest desire, the love of Edmund ?  Or is she silently and covertly manipulating the situation until she has him hooked, a sort of passive-aggressive witch?

Mansfield Park was begun about February of  1811 and completed in summer of 1813.  It was published in 1814, by Thomas Egerton, who had also put our her previous novels. After he published Emma in 1815, the more prestigious publisher, John Murray, issued a second edition of MP in 1816.

Unlike most of Austen’s other novels, Mansfield Park has not enjoyed numerous  significant modern adaptation for movies or television.  The best of the three versions is the BBC’s MP, which came out in 1983.  Although the acting and script are very good, the production values are not up to HD, sad to say.  I thought Sylvestra LeTouzel’s Fanny was a tour de force, as was Anna Massey’s Mrs. Norris.  It is available on DVD and well worth watching.

The 1999 film, the work of director Patricia Rozema, is frankly just not Mansfield Park at all. Fanny morphs into a young Jane Austen, writing some of her letters and early works.  It was filmed at Kirby Hall, an interesting partial ruin of a house, which was the only good part of it, at first glance.
After my first viewing, I read more about Rozema’s vision for the film and when I watched it again, I could see some of her points, including her points on the evils of slavery. But it wasn’t — and isn’t Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

When the 2007 television version starring Billie Piper was screened, I was appalled.  And I haven’t given it a second try.  Piper may be popular and an excellent actress — but the part was not Fanny Price at all.  If some of you  loved it, please tell me why — I might even give it another try!  or not.

While I was playing around with my unhappy ideas about these adaptations, I came across a blog from Barnes and Noble that ranks the leading men in Austen’s novels.  To inject a note of fun in this post, take a look and click here.

Do you agree???  Wentworth over Darcy? Bingley over Tilney? What are they thinking?

Anyway, the best thing to do is READ the novel.  Enjoy it on several levels: the beauty of the prose, the excellent delineation of character, the subtlety of the references to current events in that moment of history, and much much more
.

A very worthy blog can be found here. Sarah Emsley teaches at Harvard and concentrates her activities on Jane Austen and Edith Wharton.  She and her many guest bloggers will discuss many fascinating aspects of this 200-year-old novel that still excites readers and scholars today.  Sarah Emsley has a slew of cover pictures on her Pinterest page as well.

Finally, I hope you can join us when the Jane Austen Society of North America holds the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Montreal next October 10-12, 2014.  I am looking forward very much to the events planned, among which will be my presentation along with Kim Wilson.  for More Information, click here.

Later on I will tease you a bit about our upcoming talk.. But for now, enjoy all the info on Mansfield Park, which can be found all over the blogosphere.