Claire Bellanti
President, Jane Austen Society of North America

"Mary had had her evils; but upon the whole, as was evident by her staying so long, she had found more to enjoy than to suffer. ... there had been so many walks between their lodgings and the Harvilles, and she had got books from the library, and changed them so often, that the balance had certainly been much in favour of Lyme." Persuasion chapter 14

JASNA CWNY October Meeting

'You Can Get a Parasol at Whitby’s': Circulating Libraries in Jane Austen’s Time

by

Claire Bellanti, President of JASNA

Saturday October 20, 2018 at 1 pm

Pittsford Barnes and Noble, Community Room

Please join us as JASNA Central and Western New York welcomes Claire Bellanti, the current President of JASNA to our October meeting.

About the talk

“’You Can Get a Parasol at Whitby’s:’  Circulating Libraries in Jane Austen’s Time” is an illustrated talk about an 18th century social institution that was very important to Jane Austen in her own life and her fiction, the Circulating Library.   The talk provides a brief history of the circulating library, and includes citations from Austen’s novels and letters to explain the centrality of the circulating library and other forms of sharing books in Regency England. 

About Claire

Claire Bellanti holds an M.A. in History (UNLV) and an M.B.A (UCLA).  She is retired from a 35 year career as a library professional at UCLA.  She is currently President of the Jane Austen Society of North America, and has served in other capacities on the Board of JASNA SW and the Board of JASNA since 1994.  She has written and lectured frequently about the UCLA Sadleir Collection of 19th Century Literature, including the Jane Austen contents and Silver Fork portions of the collection.   

In Persuasion it is not entirely clear how much reading Mary Musgrove actually does, since she changed her books so often. Once her status is established, she seems more interested in walking and visiting. For Fanny Price in Mansfield Park books were far more important.

"...Fanny found it impossible not to try for books again. There were none in her father's house; but wealth is luxurious and daring, and some of hers found its way to a circulating library. She became a subscriber; amazed at being anything in propria persona, amazed at her own doings in every way, to be a renter, a chuser of books! And to be having any one's improvement in view in her choice!" Mansfield Park chapter 40

For Fanny, books and the circulating library are an important part of her developing identity.

Claire Bellanti will provide us with an insightful and illustrated look at the importance of libraries to Jane Austen and to Jane Austen's works.