The New Jane Austen - Products

Jane Austen's work has been around for a couple hundred years and since then they have dedicated many wonderful products and items to her and I would like to share with you some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy the fabulous items I have found for you.

Jane Austen Rice Portrait Greeting Cards by loudesigns
Browse Jane Cards

Jane Austen 2 Apron by AbundanceLoveTrip
Design my own apron online at Zazzle.

Everyman is surrounded by a neighborhood of vol... tee shirt by loudesigns
See other Jane T-Shirts

Creepy Jane Austen New Year's invite by loudesigns
View more Jane Invitations

Emma by loudesigns
Find unique Christmas ornaments at Zazzle.com

Northanger Abbey T-shirts by AbundanceLoveTrip
Create a unique customizable t shirt at Zazzle

Talk Like A Pirate

This design is of my own.

No one can say that Pirates did not exist during the lifetime of Jane Austen and in the honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day  I would like to quote the Jane Austen movie Emma 1996 with Gweyneth Paltrow as Emma Woodhouse and Jeremy Northam as Mr. George Knightley (his first name was in the book, not the movie.) "We have not idea who here parents are, they could be Pirates."

http://www.squidoo.com/talk-like-a-pirate-day-arrr this is my talk like a pirate lens.

What Did She Look Like?

This silhouette was found in one of Jane Austen's books and is believed to be Jane Austen.

What do we really know about one of the most famous English woman authors of all time and can what we know of her inform us of what she looked like.  There are several sketches and paintings, many were published well after her death so they can't be trusted.  Her sister Cassandra Austen painted one of only known paintings done when she was alive, but Cassie wasn't the best painter of people and Jane was getting older when she sat for the portrait.

This is the portrait of Jane Austen by her sister.

This is called the Jane Austen Rice painting, it was owned by Henry Rice who was a distant relative of the late great Jane Austen and this painting was by Ozias Humphry in 1790, when Jane was a mere 15 years old.  The family has always believed in this painting and so do I.

Jane was tall, had brown hair and brown eyes.  She was fashion forward and said to be nice looking.

I go into far more detail and have far more paintings and portraits in this lens http://www.squidoo.com/jane-austens-portrait

My Favorite Book

I had never been a great reader, however in the15th year of my life that changed a bit and I read my first novel for my own amusement and not a book I couldn't stand for homework or a book report.  This book was Pride and Prejudice.  I had watched Pride and Prejudice (1995) which many will say is the best version there is, with a group of girls at a sleepover.  Yes I used to watch Regency England movies at parties while drinking grape juice and eating crumpets, but I was an odd teenager.

This book did not so much give me a love of reading, it gave me the love of reading Jane Austen and this splendid piece of work remained my favorite book for 12 years, but when it was replaced it was yet another Jane Austen story that took its place in my heart.  Persuasion is about a girl who is slightly passed her prime and may never enjoy a second bloom as they would say of spinsters in those days.  She had been in love with a young Naval Officer, but was persuaded to give him up by her family.  Tides do turn, because Ann's father has spent the family almost into ruin and they have to (let out) or rent out their family home.  Wentworth the man she gave up is now in terms of money more than twice the man her father is.  Wentworth ignores her out of spite, however other men are trying to win her over.  One is a depressed seaman who lost the love of his life to illness and now reads heart wrenching poems and novels.  The other is William Elliot a very rich distant cousin, but does he want her heart or her father's title, or both.

There are many twist and turns in this final novel of Jane Austen.

If you'd like more information on the novel and where to find it you can just click on the link right here. http://www.squidoo.com/persuasion-movie-reviews  You can also read the reviews on the three Persuasion movies and read more about the book.

This portrait which is standing in for dear Captain Wentworth is Alexander Mackenzie and was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence in the year of 1800.

   

My favorite opening of any of Jane Austen's novel, is probably not what you might think.  Some books are dry like Sense and Sensibility, "The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex."  Some are fabulously clever like Pride and Prejudice.  "IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."    I love this line, but I also love humor and there is only one opening line that makes me want to giggle, but this book is full of quirky lines that could go in a Gothic Comedy Adventure novel. 

“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her. ”

"A family of ten children will be always called a fine family, where there are heads and arms and legs enough for the number; but Morlands had little other right to the word."



"Such were her propensities — her abilities were quite as extraordinary. She never could learn or understand anything before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid."



These lines are all from the first page of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. This was the first book she wrote, but it wasn't published until a year after her death in 1818.  Unlike Pride and Prejudice there are only two movies connected to this book, both by PBS and here is the link to my detailed reviews for both of them and a short synopsis of the novel. 

http://www.squidoo.com/northanger-abbey-movie

 The Picture is believed to be Jane Austen by her own hand.

Jane's views on Cottages was, and I am quoting her.

“I am excessively fond of a cottage; there is always so much comfort, so much elegance about them. And I protest, if I had any money to spare, I should buy a little land and build one myself, within a short distance of London, where I might drive myself down at any time, and collect a few friends about me and be happy. I advise everybody who is going to build, to build a cottage.”

This was taken from her novel Sense and Sensibility.  I am responsible for this drawing of Jane Austen.