This is the first facsimile publication of 'Martha Lloyd's Household Book', the manuscript cookbook of Jane Austen's closest friend. Martha's notebook is reproduced to scale in a colour facsimile section with complete transcription and detailed annotation. Introductory chapters discuss its place among other household books of the long eighteenth century. Martha Lloyd befriended a young Jane Austen and later lived with Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother at the cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, where Jane wrote or revised her novels. Martha later married into the Austen family. Her collection features recipes and remedies handwritten during a period of over thirty years and includes the only surviving recipes from Mrs Austen and Captain Francis Austen, Jane's mother and brother. There are many connections between Martha's book and Jane Austen's writing, including white soup from 'Pride and Prejudice' and the author's favourites - toasted cheese and mead. The family, culinary and literary connections detailed in the introductory chapters of this work give a fascinating perspective on the time and manner in which both women lived, thanks to this extraordinary artefact passed down through the Austen family.

The story of Martha Lloyd—recipe collector, housekeeping expert, and Jane Austen’s dearest friend. Fans of Jane Austen often feel that the beloved author is like a best friend—and this book shines a light on what it meant to be exactly that. Jane Austen’s Best Friend: The Life and Influence of Martha Lloyd offers a unique insight into Jane’s private inner circle. Through this heartwarming examination of an important and often overlooked person in Jane’s world, we uncover the life-changing force of their friendship. Each chapter details the fascinating facts and friendship-forming qualities that tied Jane and Martha together. Within these pages we relive their shared interests, the hits and misses of their romantic lives, their passion for shopping and fashion, their family histories, their lucky breaks, and their girly chats. This book offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the shared lives of a fascinating pair and the chance to deepen our own bonds in “love and friendship” with them both.

Jane Austen wrote her novels in the midst of a large and sociable family. Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, friends and acquaintances were always coming and going, and eating and drinking. Fortunately one of Jane's dearest friends, Martha Lloyd, lived with the family for many years and recorded in her Household Book over 100 recipes enjoyed by the Austens. This family fare, tested and modernized for today's cooks, is reproduced here, together with some of the more sophisticated dishes which Jane and her characters would have enjoyed at balls, picnics and supper parties.

Who owns, who buys, who gives, and who notices objects is always significant in Austen's writing, placing characters socially and characterizing them symbolically. Jane Austen's Possessions and Dispossessions looks at the significance of objects in Austen's major novels, fragments, and juvenilia.

The idea for Dining with Jane Austen began with two handwritten cookbooks held within the Austen family circle. Paging through the period ?receipts? revealed instant connections with the food references in the author?s letters and novels. Now Haricot Mutton, Orange Wine, Bath Buns, White Soup, and many other foods familiar to Jane Austen can be recreated using the author?s own family recipes. Dining with Jane Austen follows the sequence of the author?s life and letters, telling her story thorough the foods on her plate. This is the first work to feature recreations of the author?s family recipes on family china in family houses where Jane Austen lived and dined.Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit Jane Austen?s House Museum and Chawton House Library in Hampshire.

'A delightful collection of Austen-inspired dishes' – Bee Wilson, Stella Magazine 'It's a great idea - a book that you can read as well as cook from, and one that, uniquely, sends you straight back to the novels themselves' – Telegraph Online 'In this charming bit of historical reconstruction, Pen Vogler takes authentic recipes from Austen's time and updates them for today. You'll find everything you need to recreate Netherfield Ball in your front room.' – Kathryn Hughes, The best books on food, The Guardian Enter Jane Austen's world through the kitchens and dining rooms of her characters, and her own family. Food is an important theme in Jane Austen's novels - it is used as a commodity for showing off, as a way of showing kindliness among neighbours, as part of the dynamics of family life, and - of course - for comic effect. Dinner with Mr Darcy takes authentic recipes from the period, inspired by the food that features in Austen's novels and letters, and adapts them for contemporary cooks. The text is interwoven throughout with quotes from the novels, and feature spreads cover some of the key themes of food and eating in Austen's time, including table arrangements, kitchens and gardens, changing mealtimes, and servants and service. Whether you are hoping to beguile a single gentleman in possession of a substantial fortune, or you just want to have your own version of the picnic on Box Hill in Emma, you will find fully updated recipes using easily available ingredients to help you recreate the dishes and dining experiences of Jane Austen's characters and their contemporaries.