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RFH 2010, Arts

Annotating Austen: A cozy afternoon of books & tea

Sun, Oct 31, 2010

Annotating Austen: A cozy afternoon of books & tea

The Colgate Bookstore’s Jane Austen Book Club holds “Annotating Austen”, an author event and discussion on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. followed by a full English-style tea.

The cost for the program is $30 per person and includes admission to both portions of the day’s event. Those interested are asked to register at www.colgatebookstore.com/austen or call 228-6944  by Friday, Nov. 5.

David M. Shapard, editor of The Annotated Pride and Prejudice and The Annotated Persuasion, will speak and answer questions about the process of annotating Austen's works, lead a group discussion of the novel Persuasion and sign copies of his books.  This portion of the event will be held in the Class of 2003 Events Room, on the third floor of the Colgate Bookstore.  Copies of The Annotated Persuasion will be available at the Colgate Bookstore for 25 percent off until Nov. 13, and at full price on the day of the event.

Following the discussion portion of the program, the group will assemble for afternoon tea in a private room at the Colgate Inn, across the street from the Bookstore. Tea will include hearty vegetable soup; fresh spinach salad with candied walnuts, dried cranberries, gorgonzola cheese, and apple cider vinaigrette; assorted gourmet tea sandwiches (brie & cranberry, ham & cheddar, and vegetable); scones with clotted cream and jam; pastry selection; and assorted loose leaf or bagged tea choices.

The Annotated Persuasion contains the complete text of the Austen novel, as well as more than 2,000 annotations and illustrations on the facing pages, including explanations of historical context, citations from Austen's life, letters, and other writings, maps,  illustrations, and more.

Shapard graduated with a Ph.D. in European History from the University of California at Berkeley; his specialty was the eighteenth century. Since then he has taught at several colleges while working on annotated editions of Jane Austen novels, including the first ever fully-annotated edition of Jane Austen's most famous novel The Annotated Pride & Prejudice, The Annotated Persuasion (published October 2010) and The Annotated Sense & Sensibility (coming in April 2011).

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