Updates and a Correction
You may have noticed I have posted less than was usual. I’ve gone back to school after being out of school for a long time and so I have less time to find things to put in the queue. yay!
In the mean time, here is a correction to one attribution that’s kind of interesting! Or maybe it’s not interesting and I’m just a weird nerd! Who knows!
I bought Devoney Looser’s The Making of Jane Austen for its section on Austen illustration a while back and I’ve just started reading it. It explains the first English illustrations and engravings are from the Bentley editions published in the 1830′s, and the names of the artists are listed as Pickering and Greatbatch, usually attributed to George Pickering and William Greatbatch.
The attribution to George Pickering was based on a presumption by critic David Gilson and no one ever questioned it (including me!). But Looser argues that Pickering is actually Ferdinand Pickering. No spoilers! but I’m completely convinced.
Looser has kindly posted all of the Bentley illustrations on her website. If you are like me and are charmed by stories of critics dramatically writing their relatives about how Pickering’s illustrations are The Worst Thing They’ve Ever Seen and how Henry Tilney is not sufficiently adorable enough then this is a book for you.