I missed it: it was Jane Austen’s 250th birthday in December, on the 16th. Darn it, it would have been such a perfect opportunity to celebrate with tea and scones and an Austen movie marathon. (I think with all the DVDs I have, I could probably make it a full 24-hr one.)
The copies of the books I have are the annotated editions I got for my grad school research, more than ten years ago (I took a couple of directed studies courses on Austen, and my prof recommended those Broadview editions). I do somewhere have a really pretty matching illustrated set with gold edging, but, I mean, the text is the same, and the pretty copies have rather small print.
So then, thinking of grad school, I just went back to my research blog, quill and qwerty, and took a look at some of my ramblings there. If you want to check them out, the Austen posts are right here: https://quillandqwerty.wordpress.com/category/jane-austen/ They’re actually quite interesting, even if I say so myself. It’s been long enough since I wrote them that I forgot most of what I said there. Good points, past self!
And, hehe, some of the links I posted to other sites are still active. Like this one to the mashup of the Beauty & the Beast trailer with footage of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie. It still cracks me up every time I see it – it just works!
So, apologies, Miss Austen, for having missed your birthday. I would have liked to have celebrated with you.
Life, the Universe, and a Quarter-Millennium of Austen. Happy Belated Birthday!
