ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

Chawton cottage.    I'm sure many people are, like me, enjoying watching the TV dramatisation of Gill Hornby's novel "Miss Austen", which centres on Jane Austen's elder sister, Cassandra.    I have not, alas, read the book. I intend to do so but for now will be content to enjoy Keeley Hawes' performance as Cassandra in later life, and the very atmospheric recreation of the Regency world. The casting of Jane Austen herself is certainly rather surprising, not at all like the classical beauty we are used to seeing on the £10 banknote. Patsy Curran has an expressive and distinctly comical face, far darker than most portrayals of the authoress.    If you know anything about Jane Austen you will be familiar with the story of how her elder sister's fiancé died before they could be married, leaving her to remain "Miss Austen" for life. After Jane's death Cassandra destroyed an unknown number of her sister's letters, cutting out passages from the ...

An interesting little document has turned up for sale at a London dealer's.  It is a receipt by an engraver for a payment of £100 for the work of preparing an engraving from Sophie de Tott's painting of the Prince de Condé. The receipt is dated 16th June 1802, soon after the portrait was painted. The purpose was to make reproductions of the painting and sell them widely. The interesting thing is that it seems that De Tott herself had to pay the engraver in advance for doing this. presumably she had a contract that gave her a percentage of the profits, but nevertheless she was having to make a considerable investment in the expectation of doing that. this little slip of paper is now on sale for £280 which in relative terms is worth far less than £100 was in 1802. Sophie-Ernestine de Tott, French émigrée artist.] Signed Autograph order for David Morier to pay Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz for Francisco Bartolozzi’s engraving of her painting of the Prince de Condé. With de Queiroz...