Happy 250th Birthday Jane Austen
I must admit, while I am a huge fan of English novelist Jane Austen, I only know her work via the movie adaptations of her books. December 16th marks the 250th anniversary of her birth so I'm embracing this milestone as a launch point into Austenland.
Jane Austen completed just six works during her time and yet manages to command a legion of fans around the world. Her timeless stories have been turned into a plethora of movies, television shows, and modern adaptations in addition to being translated into multiple languages to cross cultural boundaries. Her novels implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Her plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favorable social standing and economic security. Sadly, despite her written works always centering on the pursuit of romance, Jane Austen did not marry and died at only 41 years of age. Today, she remains as popular as ever and is revered as much as any literary figure in the history of the English language. Her 250th birthday is definitely worth celebrating.
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And how beautiful is my edition of Pride and Prejudice? Purchased at a Friends of Library book sale, this 1980 Franklin Library edition has never been read. With its faux leather cover, gold edged pages, and built-in ribbon bookmark, it seemed the ideal introduction to Miss Austen. Accompanying it is an antique tea cup I acquired recently. What's Austen without a cup of tea? The cup's history demands a revealing.
According to a seller on eBay, "Crafted in the 1800s, this antique Crown Staffordshire England set adds a touch of history and elegance. The quality of the bone china ensures a delicate and lightweight feel, while the intricate design showcases the skilled craftsmanship of its time period." In the mid-18th century, English potters had not succeeded in making hard-paste porcelain (as made in East Asia and Meissen porcelain), but found bone ash a useful addition to their soft-paste porcelain mixtures. The first development of what would become known as bone china was made by Thomas Frye in 1748. His factory was located very close to the cattle markets and slaughterhouses of London and Essex, and hence had easy access to animal bones. Frye used up to 45% bone ash in his formulation to create what he called "fine porcelain".
The modern product was developed by the Staffordshire potter Josiah Spode in the early 1790s. Spode included kaolin (a soft, earthy, usually white, mineral produced by the chemical weathering of aluminum silicate minerals) so his formula, sometimes called "Staffordshire bone-porcelain", was effectively hard-paste, but stronger, and versions were adopted by all the major English factories by around 1815. Had you ever thought about the term 'bone' when discussing china? I had not. I found this fascinating.
Jane said, "To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment." That is how I plan to savor my first Austen while sipping a cup of tea. I'm so ready!
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