Margaret C. Sullivan's Blog

Whereas with these old Shades of mine,
Their ways and dress delight me;
And should I trip by word or line,
They cannot well indict me.

— Austin Dobson, “Epilogue” to Eighteenth Century Vignettes, Second Series (yep, that’s where Heyer got the title)

“He has Titian hair,” said Justin blandly. “Titian hair has ever been one of–my–ruling–passions.”

Chapter I, His Grace of Avon Buys a Soul

I have received some complaints from my Gentle Readers about some of the earlier posts in this...

Remember a while back when I wrote a blog post complaining about Sourcebooks Casablanca’s terrible rebrand of Georgette Heyer’s novels?

Well, I snarked, and now I’m going to praise. I’m working on my All of Heyer entry on These Old Shades (no, really) and I came across this cover image.

This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about! They wanted a fresh new look to appeal to younger readers, and this time they’ve...

[image error]If you are or will be in the Philadelphia area this weekend, I’ll be speaking at the Free Library of Springfield Township in Wyndmoor, PA (Montgomery County) on Saturday, June 23. Doors open at 1:00 p.m. The talk is titled “From Handmade to Digital: Jane Austen’s Publication History” and, as you might have guessed, is about the history of the publication of Jane Austen’s novels from her lifetime to the present.

During Jane Austen’s lifetime, the publication of her books was a completely manua...

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I think the world needs a dance party this week!

Since this is my birthday week, I chose songs from the 1960s, the decade of my birth. (Yes, I am an old lady.) It’s an eclectic bunch of songs, but they all  make me want to dance. And now, it’s time to dance and have some FUN! Happy Friday!

Today has been a rather melancholy and solemn day for me. When the anniversary of Austen’s death comes up every year, I rarely mark it on AustenBlog or anywhere else. To me, it’s not something to be celebrated. If Austen had lived her full threescore and ten or more, had written a couple dozen books, had lived a life long and full and successful, I think I would feel differently.  But her early death makes me angry. It’s so unfair: to Jane herself, of course, who died just short of real succe...

Sourcebooks is in the process of rebranding its editions of Georgette Heyer’s novels. I want to say up front that Sourcebooks performs a real public service in keeping Heyer in print here in the U.S. It wasn’t that long ago that, if we Yanks wished to read Heyer’s books and our public library was not well-stocked, we had to comb used-book stores and websites, sometimes paying outrageous prices due to their rarity–Heyer fans tend to hang on to their copies–or import them from the UK at conside...

One of those times was today. I went into the mailroom today to get my mail and someone had propped a package up on the mailbox where everyone leaves misdelivered stuff. It had my name on it, but someone had written on it, “Delivered to wrong apt.” The sender had not included the apartment number, so I guess it was randomly delivered to someone in the complex.

But how nice! They left it in the mailroom so I could pick it up! And then I turned it over, and it had been opened and inexpertly re...

I was thrilled to take a drive down to Baltimorerecentlyfor the opening reception for Goucher College Library’s exhibit, celebrating 200 years of Jane Austen’s novel (which actually was published in late 2015, though the title page says 2016) as well as the 200th anniversary of the , also Emma, by Mathew Carey of Philadelphia.

Though I never met her, AlbertaBurke is a personal heroine of mine.

Goucher College Library owns o...

A gentleman was strolling down a side street in Paris, on his way back from the house of one Madame de Verchoureux. He walked mincingly, for the red heels of his shoes were very high. A long purple cloak, rose-lined, hung from his shoulders and was allowed to fall carelessly back from his dress, revealing a full-skirted coat of purple satin, heavily laced with gold; a waistcoat of flowered silk; faultless small clothes; and a lavish sprinkling of jewels on his cravat and breast. A three-corn...