Assumptions are stupid things made by stupid people

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Ask me how I know!

How do you know, Mags?

Here’s how. When I was putting together the movie tie-in section for Jane Austen Cover to Cover, I really really really wanted to include a movie tie-in edition for my very favorite Jane Austen adaptation, the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. I had managed to find editions for pretty much every major adaptation of Jane Austen novels, but I could not locate any tie-in edition for P95, or even some kind of visual proof that such an edition existed but could not be purchased or borrowed. I asked around among some of my Janeite friends, but no one owned or knew of such an edition.

If it were any other adaptation, I would have let it go at that, and not mentioned it at all. However, it had become clear that the movie tie-in editions would be a big piece of the book, and the lack of a P95 tie-in made me sad. That is my favorite adaptation, and I really wanted to include it. And I had a book with a cover from the film–the published script of the film. It’s a lovely image of a candlelit Amanda Root as Anne Elliot. I decided to include that cover in place of an actual novel that I could not find, and I not only stupidly assumed that no movie tie-in edition existed, I actually wrote that in the book. What could possibly go wrong?

Now that JAC2C is out in the world, two lovely readers have written to inform me, in the gentlest way possible, that I am indeed a blockhead of John Thorpeian proportions, because there are two tie-in editions for that film! The crowd I ran with in my university days had a humorous saying for petty social humiliations, “Boy, is my face red,” and I’m saying that right now.

First, I heard from Cheryl Calwell from Australia, a member of the Jane Austen Society of Melbourne and editor of their newsletter, who sent me a photograph of this Penguin edition, which was published in the UK.

P95_Penguin

I wrote back to her, “You’ve found the unicorn!” Cheryl graciously gave me permission to include her photos of the book in this blog post.

Well, I laboured under the delusion that it was a unicorn for one day. One day, Gentle Readers! For the very next day I received another lovely email from Jolie Mohn, who sent me a scan of another P95 tie-in edition, this one published by Knopf in the U.S. It is the hardback Everyman Edition with a rebranded dust cover. Julie also gave me permission to post her scan.

p95_knopf

Knopf similarly handled tie-in editions for P&P95 and the Kate Beckinsale Emma, and both of those were easily found and included in JAC2C. Perhaps the ease of finding and acquiring those books–and I knew about them before I searched for them, because I had seen them in bookstores back in the 1990s and I knew they existed–lulled me into a sense of false security about that lack of such editions for P95. I couldn’t find them–therefore they didn’t exist! TOTAL BLOCKHEAD MOVE.

Now, it’s one thing if I had simply left out any mention of P95, which of course is what I should have done, but to be shown up as a blockhead by two different readers (and I want to stress that they both wrote really lovely emails and assured me they were otherwise enjoying JAC2C) has not been a pleasant experience. I humbly beg my readers’ pardon, and hope they will recognize that the mistake was born of love, and judge me kindly.

19 thoughts on “Assumptions are stupid things made by stupid people”

  1. S

    I am very happy to have received your book for Christmas from a dear friend, and I am not concerned about this small error. You can’t catch everything. There are a LOT of editions of Jane Austen’s books.

    But now I REALLY want these two editions of Persuasion…

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  2. S

    And now this has me thinking of the fact that when I bought this adaptation of Persuasion lo these many years ago on VHS, the picture on the cover was not even from the movie. Not the same actors, not in any way related. I never understood why…

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  4. I’m so glad to have found someone else who feels about that adaptation as I do!
    And, well, you can’t be perfect. That would make you annoying; even the best heroines have to have a flaw somewhere. So it’s all good. (Also, on having your face red: apparently Amanda Root was chosen for the role amongst other things for the ability to blush…)

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  5. Sandra

    Mags, we love you exactly as you are. Your gracious readers were indeed very gracious and now you know something that you didn’t before. Also, now you can issue JAC2CR(evised). 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

      • If there is a second edition, it will most likely be a second printing with a correction to take out my assertion that there were no tie-in editions for that film. But I doubt I’ll be able to add the images for these books, sadly.

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  7. I really appreciate all the kind words. I’ll just quote one of my favorite passages from P&P:

    “You must not be too severe upon yourself,” replied Elizabeth.

    “You may well warn me against such an evil. Human nature is so prone to fall into it! No, Lizzy, let me once in my life feel how much I have been to blame. I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression. It will pass away soon enough.”

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  8. Oh Mags, you must be kinder to yourself! There are indeed so many editions of the various novels, who could possibly catch them all? Here, here for a 2nd edition, but if not possible to add pictures, doing so on your blog for these (and dare I say any others that might surface?) will be an added treat for the buyer – you should set up a separate page just for such posts – the joys of the internet where all is available and current, when indeed anything in print cannot be by its very nature.

    Love your book – you did an amazing job – it is a privilege to have it on my shelves!

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  10. Do not fret yourself, Mags. Maybe I have also part of the blame, because when you asked me about the Spanish editions, I cannot remember if I made it clear that one collection of the 6 novels in Spanish also includes in each of the covers a picture of the adaptations and the one from Persuasion is from the 1995 film. I own them because it was the first time ever in my language that the 6 were printed by one single publishing house.

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  11. Tehotytöt

    Hey! We are discussing about Jane Austen’s books in our literature course. We would like to have your opinion, how the film versions differ from the books.

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  13. Oh, Mags, we love you, and as everyone else said, don’t be so severe upon yourself. Don’t worry about the mistake. It just gives us a chance to buy the second edition when it comes out. (I received my copy of “Cover to Cover” as a Christmas present and I’m still having fun perusing it.

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