The following books and other resources have been referenced in various episodes of My Cousin Jane.
Note: Some of the links on this page may be affiliate links. This means that every time you click on one and then buy something, I get paid billions of pounds by a secret organization trying to bring back the Regency period…or I get a few fractions of a cent from a company like Amazon, one or the other.
A Dance with Jane Austen: How a Novelist and Her Characters Went to the Ball
by Susannah Fullerton
Drawing on contemporary accounts and illustrations, and a close reading of the novels as well as Austen's correspondence, Susannah Fullerton takes the reader through all the stages of a Regency Ball as Jane Austen and her characters would have known it.
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What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew
by Daniel Pool
For anyone who has ever wondered whether a duke outranked an earl, when to yell “Tally Ho!” at a fox hunt, or how one landed in “debtor’s prison,” this book serves as an indispensable historical and literary resource. Author Daniel Pool provides countless intriguing details (did you know that the “plums” in Christmas plum pudding were actually raisins?) on the Church of England, sex, Parliament, dinner parties, country house visiting, and a host of other aspects of nineteenth-century English life—both “upstairs” and “downstairs.
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The Oxford Guide to Card Games
by David Parlett
The first book to explore the history of cards in the West, this attractively illustrated volume is both informative and entertaining. Whether your favorite game is Poker or Pinochle, Cribbage or Gin, Contract Bridge or Crazy Eights, you will find much here to fascinate and amuse.
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The Companion to Irish Traditional Music
by Fintan Vallely
The Companion to Irish Traditional Music is a landmark, easy to use A-Z format for studying, exploring and researching one of Ireland’s most universally recognisable cultural expressions. This second edition is not only revised but also greatly expanded, and has much new information, including material never before printed and unavailable elsewhere.
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Jane Austen's Letters
by Deirdre Le Faye
Jane Austen's letters afford a unique insight into the daily life of the novelist: intimate and gossipy, observant and informative--they read much like the novels themselves. They bring alive her family and friends, her surroundings and contemporary events, all with a freshness unparalleled in modern biographies. Most important, we recognize the unmistakable voice of the author of such novels as Pride and Prejudice and Emma. We see the shift in her writing from witty and amusing descriptions of the social life of town and country, to a thoughtful and constructive tone while writing about the business of literary composition.
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Pride and Prejudice: The Complete Novel, with Nineteen Letters from the Characters' Correspondence, Written and Folded by Hand
Curated by Barbara Heller
Step inside the world of Pride and Prejudice, one of the most beloved novels of all time. Jane Austen’s classic tale follows the ups and downs of the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, two unforgettable characters who come alive in their letters and other writings. Nothing captures Jane Austen's vivid emotion and keen wit better than her characters' correspondence. As you read this deluxe edition of the novel, you will find pockets throughout containing replicas of all 19 significant letters from the story, re-created with beautiful calligraphy and painstaking attention to historical detail.
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Martha Lloyd's Household Book: The Original Manuscript from Jane Austen's Kitchen
by Martha Lloyd, Julienne Gehrer, and Deirdre Le Faye
Martha Lloyd first befriended a young Jane Austen in 1789 and later lived with Jane, her sister Cassandra, and their mother at the cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, where Jane wrote and revised her novels. Eventually, Martha married Jane’s brother Francis Austen, making her an authority on day-to-day life in the Austen family.
Martha Lloyd’s Household Book is a remarkable artifact, a manuscript cookbook featuring recipes and remedies handwritten over thirty years. Passed down through the Austen family, the Household Book offers unprecedented access into the family home. In this first facsimile publication, Martha’s notebook is reproduced in color, accompanied by a complete transcription and detailed annotations.
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