Chawton House Library ~ What’s On ~
July - December 2016
www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
Chawton House Library conserves a unique collection of women’s writing (1600-1830) within the Elizabethan manor house once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward. The Library, house and grounds are open to the public from 21 March to 28 October 2016 on Monday to Friday 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm and Sunday 11.00 am to 5.00 pm. Garden tours (standard admission price + £1) also take place on the first Sunday of every month. House & Gardens Gardens Only Admission fees are: Adult £7.00 £4.00 £3.00 Free Child (6-16)
Exhibitions Access to these exhibitions is free as they are included in our normal admission price
Emma at 200: from English Village to Global Appeal 21 March - 25 September This celebratory exhibition features our own Emma-related treasures as well as unique manuscripts loaned to us from private collections and research libraries around the world. From perspectives of the time such as Charlotte Brontë’s thoughts on reading Emma, to contemporary retellings in films and comic books, we explore the novel’s enduring, international appeal.
Artist In Residence Exhibition ‘It’ (is all about the) Books
28 September - 28 October Angela Thames, our Artist in Residence for 2015-2016, has researched a selection of our rare and first edition books to create a unique body of artists books and prints. Her work has been inspired by authors of the long eighteenthcentury including Alphra Behn, Mary Hearn and Ann Mary Hamilton.
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
june
08 JUN 22 JUN 04 JUL 18 JUL 6.30am to 8.00am walk, followed by 8.15am breakfast
Early Morning Rambles ‘Elizabeth continued her walk alone, crossing field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles with impatient activity, and finding herself at last within view of the house, with weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.’ Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice, first published in 1813 A unique opportunity to see the historic estate in the early morning, guided by Garden Manager Andrew Bentley. Escape the everyday hustle-andbustle of life’s stresses and absorb the calming beauty of nature at the day’s beginning. Find out more about the fascinating history of the grounds, including the ‘wilderness’, the ‘ha-ha’, and the additions made by Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen, later Knight, which include the walled kitchen garden, shrubberies and parkland. Enjoy the new Elizabeth Blackwell herb garden and take in the views across the South Lawn, then relax in the Old Kitchen with a hearty full English breakfast. Stout footwear is essential. Tickets: £12; Students/Friends £10 (includes full English cooked breakfast in the Old Kitchen after the walk - please inform us of any dietary requirements when booking)
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
july
07 JUL 6.30pm drinks reception for 7.00pm talk
Evening Talk Charlotte Lennox, Shakespeare, and the Independent Mind Susan Carlile (California State University, Long Beach) What does it mean to be a ‘genius’? The London author Charlotte Lennox (c. 1729 - 1804), who lived in America for several years and was an inspiration to Jane Austen, grappled with this question. Her prolific publishing career reveals a mind constantly wrestling with the origins of invention. This talk will offer an overview of Lennox’s career, with special attention to her ground-breaking study of Shakespeare’s source material. Susan Carlile, a former Chawton House Library Visiting Fellow, is Professor of English at California State University, Long Beach. She edited Masters of the Marketplace: British Women Novelists of the 1750s and co-edited Charlotte Lennox’s 1758 novel Henrietta. Her critical biography Charlotte Lennox: An Independent Mind will be published this year with University of Toronto Press. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
july
10 JUL 31 JUL 14
AUG
28 AUG 11.00am to 5.00pm
Strawberry Picnics inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma (1816)
‘Mrs. Elton, in all her apparatus of happiness, her large bonnet and her basket, was very ready to lead the way in gathering, accepting, or talking – strawberries, and only strawberries, could now be thought or spoken of. “The best fruit in England – every body’s favourite – always wholesome. These the finest beds and finest sorts. – Delightful to gather for one’s self – the only way of really enjoying them...”’ Jane Austen, Emma, first published in 1816 Inspired by the publication of Jane Austen’s Emma 200 years ago, Chawton House Library invites you to bring a picnic and enjoy our beautiful grounds, just as the inhabitants of Highbury planned to enjoy Donwell Abbey and Box Hill. Sample our strawberries which will be on sale in the garden, and visit the Old Kitchen for homemade cakes. Tickets: Normal admission prices apply
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
JULY
23 JUL 10.00am to 6.00pm
Women and Shakespeare Day Conference Shakespeare is celebrated for having created some of Western theatre’s most iconic female roles, yet characters such as Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew and Isabella in Measure for Measure continue to perplex as much as they fascinate readers, audiences, and theatre practitioners. His works have inspired a rich tradition of women’s writing and in the theatre women such as Ellen Kean, Ellen Terry, and Edy Craig have been influential in shaping Shakespeare in performance. In the year of the 400th anniversary of his death, this event will consider the part women have played in constructing Shakespeare’s reputation and ensuring his ongoing fame. The event will conclude with a Jubilee Promenade Performance of the most iconic of Shakespeare’s women, directed by Elaine McGirr (Royal Holloway, University of London) and will include both silent tableaux and characteristic speeches from the original plays and eighteenth-century adaptations. Speakers include: Ailsa Grant Ferguson (University of Brighton): ‘Original’ practice? Allfemale Shakespeare from suffragettes to Smooth Faced Gentlemen Gail Marshall (University of Leicester): Women and Shakespeare in 1859 Fiona Ritchie and Peter Sabor (McGill University): Shakespeare in the letters, journals and novels of Frances Burney and Sarah Harriet Burney Ann Thompson (King’s College London): The Taming of the Shrew: the play we love to hate Tickets: Delegate £45 Student/Friend £35
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
JULY
24 JUL 10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3.30pm
Embroidery Workshops Join us for this unique opportunity to get hands on with history and learn how to embroider a handkerchief using rare eighteenth-century patterns from the long-running monthly Lady’s Magazine (1770-1832). Led by Royal School of Needlework graduate Charlotte Bailey, you will learn, or be given opportunities to develop, historical needlework skills by working on one or two motifs using three simple stitches (stem, satin and French knot). All materials are provided, and even though you will not be able to finish your work in the hour-long workshop, you can complete it at home. Should you wish to, you would be welcome to display your efforts as part of the ‘Stitch Off’ display in the Oak Room at Chawton House Library’s ‘Emma at 200’ exhibition which runs until 25 September 2016. Numbers are strictly limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. Charlotte Bailey is a freelance hand-embroidery artist (convinced she was born in the wrong time period!) with a passion for historical technique combined with contemporary application. She graduated from the Royal School of Needlework where she also had the privilege to work on the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress. During her time working at prestigious London-based ateliers Hand and Lock she also worked on fashion commissions from Louis Vuitton and Mary Katrantzou. Tickets: £25 including materials
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
september
06 SEP 6.30pm drinks reception for 7.00pm talk
Evening Talk Clare Harman on Charlotte Brontë ‘Three rounds of applause…for Claire Harman’s superb retelling of Charlotte’s story.’ (Mark Bostridge, The Spectator) Join us for an evening with Clare Harman, former Chawton House Library Visiting Fellow and distinguished literary biographer of Jane Austen and others. As Charlotte Brontë’s most recent biographer, Clare will be talking about the Victorian novelist in the bicentenary year of her birth. There will also be the opportunity to see Charlotte Brontë’s letter on reading Jane Austen’s Emma, on loan from The Huntington Library in California, as part of Chawton House Library’s ‘Emma at 200’ exhibition. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
september
15 SEP 6.30pm drinks reception for 7.00pm talk
Evening Talk Remembering Dorothy Leigh’s A Mother’s Blessing (1616): A 400th Anniversary for Shakespeare’s ‘sisters’ in 2016 Dr Ailsa Grant Ferguson (University of Brighton) This year, 2016, serves sharply to highlight the eclipse of significant early modern female authorship behind the blazing star of a certain male counterpart. It also brings to sharp focus the idea of memory and commemoration in dealing with those women writers that carved out a new path to publication. A Mother’s Blessing, by Dorothy Leigh was first published 400 years ago in 1616. A book of religious instruction left for her three sons, but always destined for publication, the Blessing was reprinted at least 23 times between 1616 and 1674 and remained a stalwart of many a home’s library for well over a century. Join us to consider Leigh’s works and reflect on how we should remember ‘Shakespeare’s sisters’ in 2016. Dr Ailsa Grant Ferguson is a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at the University of Brighton, specialising in Shakespeare, early modern drama and seventeenth-century women’s writing. Her particular research interests lie in Shakespeare and early modern women’s writing, selective public memory and the idea of posthumous writing and cultures of commemoration. Her book, Shakespeare, Cinema, Counter-Culture is published by Routledge and her next two books, The Shakespeare Hut and Shakespeare and Gender (with Kate Aughterson), will both be published by the Arden Shakespeare in 2017. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
SEPTEMBER
18 SEP 10.00am to 2.00pm
Chawton House Library Fun Ride Our annual fun ride returns with a rare chance to hack through over six miles of beautiful and normally restricted parkland with cross country jumps for the more experienced rider. The first riders will start at 10.00am and the last at 1.30pm. Refreshments will be available all day and the house and the gardens will be open from 11.00am until 5.00pm. Tickets: £15 (including a £2.50 fee for St John Ambulance) Entry to the gardens is free for riders and their helpers Tickets will be available to buy online until Tuesday 13 September at 5.00pm. After this time, they will be available on the day for £20.00 For more information and conditions of entry, please see our website
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
SEPTEMBER
25 SEP 4.00pm talk followed by drinks and canapés
Afternoon talk Publishing women: John Murray and a remarkable publishing success story David McClay, John Murray Archive Curator As our ‘Emma at 200’ exhibition draws to a close, we will be waving goodbye to the letters from the John Murray archive at the National Library of Scotland that have been on loan to us since March. Whilst Jane Austen is perhaps the most famous of John Murray’s early nineteenth-century authors, the world of publishing was one of the few places in which early nineteenthcentury women could truly flourish. Murray was at the forefront of publishing a whole range of women’s works, including scientists, travellers, cookery book writers, children’s authors, poets and novelists. David McClay, John Murray Archive Curator, explores some of these fascinating stories behind some famous, and some forgotten, authors. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
SEPTEMBER
29 SEP Image credit: Comtesse de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762–1848) Artist: Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris) Date: 1789 Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
6.30pm drinks reception for 7.00pm talk
Elizabeth Carter as Minerva
Evening Talk Women Artists in the Age of Jane Austen Dr Emma Barker (Open University) During Jane Austen’s lifetime, it was much more difficult for a woman to become an artist than a writer. Women were largely excluded from the institutions of the art world, but a few nevertheless succeeded in making a career and a name for themselves. This talk will consider the life and work of a number of these women, including Angelica Kauffman, who became a founder member of the Royal Academy, but will focus particularly on the French painter, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, who recently became the first historical woman artist to have her work celebrated in a major art exhibition in Paris, and in New York. Emma Barker is Senior Lecturer in Art History at the Open University. She is author of Greuze and the Painting of Sentiment (Cambridge, 2005) and the editor of Art and Visual Culture 1600-1850: Academy to Avant-Garde (Tate, 2012). Her other publications include ‘Women artists and the French Academy: Vigée-Lebrun in the 1780s’, in Gender and Art, ed. Gill Perry, Open University/ Yale University Press, 1999. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
OCTOBER
06
OCT 5.30pm garden tour followed by 6.30pm drinks reception and 7.00pm talk
Evening Talk with Garden Tour From Grene Mead to Dream Meadow - Discoveries in the Hampshire Landscape Professor Timothy Mowl (University of Buckingham) ‘Mowl walks the landscapes whose gradual unfolding he charts, instantly lifting his prose from the wryly academic to the genuine celebratory’. (Times Literary Supplement) Join us for an evening with Professor Timothy Mowl, an architectural and landscape historian, to rediscover some of Hampshire’s lost landscapes from the exquisite landscape of Lancelot Brown at Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey) to the unlikely sketch of poet Alexander Pope as a virile god. As an author of the fourteenth volume of the Historic Gardens of England series, Timothy’s talk will explore his tantalising, erudite and entertaining journey through Hampshire’s rich garden history, bringing to life a thousand years of Hampshire landscapes. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
OCTOBER
14
OCT
15 OCT Placing Charlotte Smith Conference Canon, Genre, History, Nation, Globe Two hundred and ten years after Charlotte Smith’s death, and nearly a decade after the publication of The Works of Charlotte Smith, Smith scholarship is coming of age. This conference will convene at Chawton House Library to explore the latest research on Smith and her places. What are we learning about her place in the canon, or in the development of various genres? What sort of commentary does her placement of characters in history offer? What attitudes do her works demonstrate about place and the idea of a polis/ nation? Where are the places Smith is or might be memorialized? What are the various meanings of the natural place she explores in her fiction, poetry, journalism, and children’s literature? Is there now such a thing as a global Smith? In addition to panel presentations and discussions, the conference will feature performances of musical settings of Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets and of ‘Beachy Head’. The conference will also feature a discussion about founding a Charlotte Turner Smith Society. For full programme details, tickets and list of speakers, please see our website
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
october
18 OCT 1.30pm to 4.00pm
Book-making workshop with Artist in Residence, Angela Thames Join our Artist in Residence for an afternoon learning how to make your own book. Angela is running a creative workshop to introduce non-adhesive and long stitch book-making techniques using a variety of paper and envelopes. She uses this process in her own work and will showcase her own unique hand-made artists books. Angela graduated from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham in 2006 with a degree in Fine Art and has been printmaking and making artists books in her studio in East Hampshire ever since. She has taught workshops across the South East of England and her work can be found in public and private collections in the UK and Italy. Tools and materials are supplied. We advise booking early, as places are limited. Tickets ÂŁ25; Students/Friends ÂŁ18.50
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
OCTOBER
21
OCT
23 OCT Normal opening times
National Apple Day Celebrations Celebrate one of the nation’s favourite fruits with a walk through our Orchard, join our apple tasting to learn about different varieties and pick some apples to take home. The Old Kitchen will also be selling apple-inspired treats. Normal admission applies
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
november
17 NOV 6.30pm drinks reception for 7.00pm concert
Evening Concert ‘My dear Charlotte’: Conversations on poetry, music, and dance in the Jerningham family correspondence. Penelope Cave and Katrina Faulds (University of Southampton) The letters and journals of the Jerningham family, located in the Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham and Staffordshire Record Office, offer a rich resource for the study of elite British family life. At the centre of the correspondence of this large Roman Catholic family is Charlotte Jerningham, who went on to become the wife of Sir Richard Bedingfeld of Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk. Besides maintaining an extensive communication with her mother, Charlotte also received letters from a cousin in Vienna who wrote marches, an uncle who was a harp-playing poet, her daughter who became a nun in Belgium and her future sister-in-law, who was a highly talented pianist. Penelope Cave and Katrina Faulds will perform some of the music relating to this family on the early nineteenth-century piano on loan to Chawton House Library from the University of Southampton, in addition to recitations of poetry by Edward Jerningham, who was the most notable member of the family, in his day. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
november
24 NOV 6.30pm drinks reception for 7.00pm talk
Evening Talk ‘On This Day in 1816’: The Bicentenary of Frankenstein’s Composition ‘It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils’ Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818 In May 1816, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont moved to Geneva where they would live near Lord Byron and his physiciancompanion, Dr. John William Polidori. Over the next few weeks, this group of young intellectuals spent almost all their time together, sailing on Lake Geneva by day, and reading and conversing in the evenings. One night in late May or early June, a ghost story writing competition began. Inspired by this, the 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley) conceived what is now one of the most iconic tales in English literature. Frankenstein was published anonymously nineteen months later. This talk celebrates the bicentenary of the composition of the Romantic period’s most famous novel, and this fruitful period of creativity for both Shelleys in 1816. The event will include a reading of the preface and the introduction of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the most famous scene in the novel when the creature awakens (‘It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils’), and excerpts from Percy Shelley’s ‘Mont Blanc’. Two scholars, Anna Mercer, University of York and David Higgins, University of Leeds, will give short talks on the Shelleys’ collaborative literary relationship, and 1816 as ‘the Year Without a Summer’. Tickets: £11; Students/Friends £8.50 (includes drinks and canapés)
To book: Visit www.chawtonhouselibrary.org
DECEMBER
03 DEC 7.00pm to 10.00pm
Christmas Fundraising Supper Save the date for our annual Christmas Supper to raise funds for Chawton House Library ‘At Christmas everybody invites their friends about them, and people think little of even the worst weather.’ Mr Elton in Jane Austen’s Emma, first published December 1815 Join best-selling award-winning historical novelist Edward Rutherfurd for a Christmas feast in the magical setting of Chawton House Library, with crackling open fires and oak-panelled rooms decked with Christmas splendour. More information coming soon to our website
Call 01420 541010 Email info@chawtonhouselibrary.org
Chawton House Library is a UK registered charity that depends on philanthropy. If you can help us maintain access to our library collection, please donate or become a Friend of Chawton House Library by calling 01420 541010 or visiting the website.
Home to early English women’s writing Chawton House Library, Chawton, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 1SJ T: 01420 541010 E: info@chawtonhouselibrary.org W: www.chawtonhouselibrary.org Registered Charity Number 1026921 Registered Company Number 2851718