Solitary Elegance is pleased to announce a new gallery: Looking back at Ackermann's Repository. The original Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c. was published monthly from 1809-1829 and featured a pair of fashion plates in addition to other illustrations and articles covering a variety of topics. These delicate aquatint illustrations and lovely fashions continue to delight and inspire us two hundred years later. Throughout 2009, new desktop wallpapers will be posted each month showcasing two fashion plates: one from 1809 and the other from a different year during Jane Austen's lifetime. Enjoy a year-long tour through this popular late Georgian-Regency publication! Many thanks to the Jane Austen Centre for the mention in their January newsletter, and welcome to all the new visitors!

Older housekeeping news (look here for information about Wishbone's Jane Austen episodes, PBS Masterpiece's Complete Jane Austen, and Crystallised Beauty, the ITV Jane Austen season theme music)

	Looking back at Ackermann's Repository (last updated 28 June 2009) Every month in 2009 look here for a new desktop wallpaper featuring the fashions of Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c. from 1809 and later years during Jane Austen's lifetime.
	Northanger Abbey Adaptations Page (last updated 18 February 2009) A list of the various Northanger Abbey radio, stage play, and TV/film adaptations, with links to reviews, pictures, cast lists and more. Compiled and reviewed by a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant NA fangirl.
These pages primarily feature the lovely watercolor illustrations by Charles Edmund (“C.E.”) Brock, but include assorted odds and ends relating to the novels as well ... whatever catches my interest and is unlikely to be included on other Austen pages.

	Sense & Sensibility 1908 edition, 24 watercolors			Emma 1909 edition, 24 watercolors
	Pride and Prejudice 1907 edition, 24 watercolors coming soon!			Northanger Abbey 1907 edition, 24 watercolors
	Mansfield Park 1908 edition, 24 watercolors			Persuasion 1909 edition, 24 watercolors

This not-for-profit site was created to provide information in the following areas:

(1) A collection of educational and research resources relating to Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen's often overlooked and underrated work

(2) For the enjoyment of Austen, Brock, and fashion plate fans, my collection of C.E. Brock watercolor illustrations (a complete set for each novel) and a selection of images from my fashion plate collection.

I used Pia Frauss' Jane Austen font to create the titles and headings, and the backgrounds are from the Oxford Illustrated editions of Jane Austen's novels.

A note regarding image use: Several donors have shared their collections on this site and their generosity should be respected.

Do feel welcome to use the Brock illustrations for your nonprofit projects (academic papers, noncommercial web sites, avatars, icons), and please do give credit to Solitary Elegance as the image source.

Please do NOT download every single image and put the whole collection on your site, and do NOT use them for any commercial or for-profit website or project. Likewise, by downloading the desktop wallpapers on this site, you agree to use them for personal or noncommercial purposes only.

 

 

Heather Laurence (also known as Heather L) has lived most of her life in Seattle, Washington, leaving only long enough to earn a BA in Classical Studies from Brigham Young University. Like Northanger Abbey's Catherine Morland, she enjoys country walks and horrid novels. She also writes for AustenBlog. Heather currently lives in Seattle with her husband, two sons, and two Ragdoll cats.

When not pretentiously referring to myself in the third person, I take pleasure in a great many things. I've always been an avid reader, but didn't discover Jane Austen until my mid-twenties. Since then I've been making up for lost time. Learn more about me from my personal blog, but be advised that most of the blog posts are geared toward family and friends. My embroidery blog follows my progress through cross-stitch, Hardanger, and the occasional quilting project.