Sir Walter Elliot would be most distressed
Debrett’s Peerage & Baronetage–yes, that Baronetage–has been sold to a company that plans to bring out Debrett’s-branded lifestyle magazines.
Debrett’s is the oldest reference book on the UK’s aristocracy, with origins that can be traced back to before the French Revolution and the American Declaration of Independence. John Debrett certainly stole a march on John Burke, who did not publish his Peerage until 1826.
As early as 1818, author Jane Austen was mocking the upper classes’ love of seeing their names in print with her portrait of Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall.
He never took up any book but the Baronetage, she writes at the beginning of Persuasion. There he found occupation for an idle hour and consolation for a distressed one.
Sir Walter clearly set the tone for the modern-day obsession with celebrity.
We can only guess what he would have to say about the new owners’ plans for putting Debrett’s branded lifestyle magazines on the newsstands.
We dare say that he would not think much of these new creations.
