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

February 7, 2016
12:00 to 3:00 pm 

Marcello’s Lincoln Park 
645 W. North Avenue
Chicago, IL

JASNA-GCR welcomes members and guests to our 2016 Winter Meeting - a special luncheon and presentation by JASNA President, Claire Bellanti. 

“’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 central to Jane Austen in her own life and in her fiction, the Circulating Library. Bellanti provides a brief history of the circulating library, the development of the novel, publishing in the period, and the interactions between women and the novel. The talk includes citations from Austen’s novels and letters to explain the importance of the circulating library and other forms of sharing books in Regency England.