Book Review

“Oh! I am delighted with the lesser-known prints and photographs of But in a book!” costumes, objects, architecture, art, and novel that manuscripts. assiduously Northanger Abbey: An Annotated tracks its Edition. Although her images and notes are numerous, Wolfson is not heavy-handed characters By Jane Austen; edited by Susan J. Wolfson. and wields her role as editor with a light t h r o u g h The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, touch. Her lively introduction ranges Bath’s city 2014. 363 pages. expeditiously across the terrains of streets and 105 color illustrations; 1 map. Hardcover. $35.00. composition and reception histories, e n v i r o n s Review by Janine Barchas. demonstrating how Austen “takes the (and Wolfson acknowledges Austen’s pulse of the times.” Wolfson’s witty topographical fidelity in her notes), a The latest installment of “The Jane reader of this otherwise richly augment- Austen Annotated Editions” from commentary shares with Austen’s own narrator a sense of fun that is rare in ed edition could benefit from more, and Belknap Press of Harvard University more detailed, maps of how Bath looked Press offers up just the type of sumptuous an editor, a role usually associated with unforgiveable acts of humorless historical in Austen’s time. With an illustration reading experience that we’ve come budget that allows for color images of to expect from this series. Northanger correction or persnickety explanation. Putting aside Wolfson’s fondness for the a “turban,” “bow window,” and “hya- Abbey is the fifth novel in the series, with cinth,” more might have been done to Mansfield Park promised as sixth and rhetorical question and the oft-repeated phrase “frame-breaking,” her editorial satisfy current curiosity about Austen’s last in 2015. Smartly annotated by Susan geographical precision. Because this is J. Wolfson, the refashioned Northanger voice is fresh and jargon-free even when it rehearses accepted academic the only volume in the Annotated Austen Abbey shows off this series’ hallmark series advertised as sporting “1 map,” I production values. wisdom. Fundamental explanations of tone and content in Northanger Abbey was hoping for a facsimile of a turn-of- Printed in the series’ distinctive, upsized, are salted with unexpected comparisons the-19th-century folding map of Bath fa- square format on thick creamy paper, to Harriet Smith in Emma (hailed as miliar to Austen. I remain unsure which the Northanger Abbey text is richly Catherine Morland’s intellectual twin), unique feature “1 map” refers to; is it re- illustrated with paintings, museum- the “sucker punch” wit of Oscar Wilde, ally the diminutive 4 x 4 map of Bath on quality photographs, and colorful and “Wollstonecrafted logic.” page 76? Regency prints. A pleasure to turn, Similarly, a handful of illustrations reach these luxurious pages will satisfy even Wolfson is also to be commended for her relative transparency (relative to for odd specimens. For example, Wolfson the most book-hungry Janeite—and at glosses Mrs. Allen’s comical satisfaction a reasonable price. This is just the type other editors in this same series) of professional editorial practices. The that “the lace on Mrs. Thorpe’s pelisse of chocolate-box of a book that you will was not half so handsome as that on want to savor while curled up on the “Note on the Text” not only identifies the specific copy of the first edition, her own” with an exemplar of this style sofa. Or, to put it another way, this paper of long coat. While the nearby picture edition is everything that a Kindle, bless dated December 1817, that she used as her copytext, but the Postscript to of a pelisse is welcome, why show a its little electronic chip for convenience random survivor on a fashion museum and cost, is not. the Introduction confesses the practice of silently correcting “obvious flubs.” mannequin when Jane Austen’s own This beauty of an edition also has muscle Having retained original spelling and photogenic pelisse survives intact in and brains. The many illustrations punctuation, Wolfson dares to strike Hampshire? But perhaps this is mere Wolfson provides are not gratuitous out on her own with “slightly more quibbling. but work in tandem with her contextual conservative principles” than practiced In sum, Wolfson’s smart and gorgeous annotations to facilitate a better by Chapman and others. She claims that new edition of Northanger Abbey is a understanding of both Northanger she offers “fresh considerations” in the must-have for anyone who looks forward Abbey’s imagined world and Austen’s editorial handling of the text, but because to reading or rereading this novel in time real one—without making you get her local adjustments are hidden and not for its bicentenary. You are in for a treat. up from that sofa to Google a term acknowledged in individual notes (in or allusion. Whether you are a first- such silence lies the bibliographical rub) Janine Barchas is the author of Matters of time reader of Austen’s mock-Gothic her otherwise meticulous Northanger novel or a committed repeater, you Fact in Jane Austen: History, Location, and Abbey is unlikely to become the next Celebrity and the creator of “What Jane will find yourself eagerly sampling this scholarly edition of reference. Saw” (www.whatjanesaw.org), a digital edition’s bounteous margins. Along With so many riches, it seems almost un- recreation of the 1813 exhibition attended with the expected family portraits and by Austen. familiar views of Bath there are also grateful to mention missed opportunities. JASNA News 19