Deborah YaffeSep 16Marital gift-givingAs a card-carrying Wife, I feel I must call my Husband’s attention to a recent feature in Town & Country magazine, “ 40 of the Best...
Deborah YaffeAug 8Beyond the quillJane Austen wrote with a quill pen. Most of us would agree that she managed pretty well with that particular technology. So just imagine...
Deborah YaffeJul 8MerchLast month, I had occasion to call myself “a pedantic Janeite killjoy.” (And not for the first time, as I was reminded in the comments...
Deborah YaffeFeb 22In for the quillOnce upon a time, the hottest thing in video gaming was the Nintendo Entertainment System. Back then, the pixelated graphics necessitated...
Deborah YaffeOct 26, 2023If the shoe fits. . . The annual general meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America is coming up next week in Denver, and with it that age-old...
Deborah YaffeAug 21, 2023Coveted raritiesAs regular blog readers know, I have a not-so-secret hankering for Jane Austen first editions, along with nothing like enough money to...
Deborah YaffeAug 14, 2023WallpaperingMy husband, an aspiring rock god, owns a T-shirt reading, “How many guitars do I really need? Just one more.” Many Janeites harbor...
Deborah YaffeDec 22, 2022Father knows bestAlthough Jane Austen’s novels never commanded huge print runs – the biggest, for Emma, totaled only two thousand copies -- Austen first...
Deborah YaffeOct 10, 2022Expensive thrillsFor Janeites, the Austen First Edition Thrill-o-Meter is calibrated something like this: Biggest Thrill: Austen novel first edition owned...
Deborah YaffeJun 23, 2022Regency stripteaseWhen I was a kid, I – or perhaps my sister -- owned a novelty pen bearing an image of Botticelli’s Venus in a bathing suit. (Or was it a...
Deborah YaffeMay 23, 2022Many happy returnsThe return of spring brings many pleasures. Flowers! Baby birds! And, of course, a new Jane Austen bobblehead! Back in 2020, the North...
Deborah YaffeDec 2, 2021Jane and the feathered friendJane Austen assuredly never saw a penguin: According to the Zoological Society of London, it wasn’t until 1865, nearly fifty years after...