The Telegraph has an article about disagreements over the identification of portraits of historical figures, including the late kerfuffle over the Rice Portrait.

A painting billed by Christie’s as “one of the most important portraits in the history of English literature” went unsold in New York last month. The portrait was described as “the only known oil painting of Jane Austen”, but doubts had been cast on the subject’s identity by costume historians who said that the dress was of the wrong period.

Well, there was that, and there was the rather dodgy “somebody said it was Jane Austen 100 years ago and we’ve just always assumed” business as well. We all know what happens when one assumes.

Even though the arguments presented in the sale catalogue seemed fairly conclusive, Christie’s estimate of £200,000 to £400,000 betrayed a certain hesitancy. Had it been universally accepted as a portrait of Austen it could have been worth millions. But no one - not even those who believed in it - was prepared to make the first bid.

Actually there were four bids, and bidding came close to £400,000.

The sale of The Rice Portrait may not, however, end in tears. Christie’s says that there was interest in buying the painting after the sale. Offers are thought to have been close to the low estimate of £200,000. Whether or not an offer is accepted is now up to the owner - but, should the sale go ahead and costume history be revised, it could prove a very canny investment.

We understood the minimum estimate to have been £400,000, but never mind. We want to know who is buying it, though! A museum? A private individual who will hold it hostage from ravenous Janeites? Stay tuned…the soap opera obviously isn’t over yet.

…in preparation for a flood of new books just hitting the shelves and coming in the next few months. We’ve updated the sidebar with lots of new stuff. (We use links to Amazon.com, when available, for our own convenience; as always, please patronize the online or brick and mortar bookseller of your choice, as AustenBlog has no retail affiliation at this time. If you’re buying online, booksprice.com, the service we linked yesterday, might be helpful in searching out the best price for a particular book. Again, no affiliation, we just thought it was kinda neat.)

Newly released books include a couple of re-releases of critical works, A Fine Brush on Ivory by Richard Jenkyns and Tony Tanner’s Jane Austen. The new release of J.E. Austen-Leigh’s Memoir with the horrifying cover art is out as well (we have this version, which has lots more than just the Memoir.) If they were going to mess with Jane, why didn’t they photoshop out the bally wedding ring?

Some less scholarly works include the Editrix’s own The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World (perhaps you’ve heard of it?); one can now take a peek inside courtesy of Amazon.com; Dear Friend of AustenBlog Diane Wilkes’ Tarot of Jane Austen, which not only offers the opportunity for self-insight via the tarot, but insight into Jane Austen’s novels via the accompanying book; and 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen by Patrice Hannon, reviewed a little while ago and highly recommended.

New paraliterature includes the U.S. release of Amanda Grange’s excellent Mr. Darcy’s Diary (published in the UK as Darcy’s Diary); Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride by Helen Halstead (previously published as A Private Performance); The Second Mrs. Darcy by Elizabeth Aston (recently reviewed); and the first volume of Susan Kaye’s Frederick Wentworth, Captain series, None But You (thanks to Alert Janeite Lyra for sending the link to this book). Another fiction title that is not new but that we’ve just heard about is Pemberley Manor by Kathryn L. Nelson, a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. We hope to have reviews for several of these books in the upcoming weeks.

We are very pleased about a couple of re-releases coming out in August, Jane Austen and Food by Maggie Lane and Jane Austen and the Theatre by Paula Byrne. Another fun re-release is Patrice Hannon’s Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine’s Guide to Life and Love, which AustenBlog reviewed a while back. A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith by Lori Smith (who maintains the Jane Austen Quote of the Day Blog) will be out in October, and looking even further ahead, Kim Wilson (author of Tea With Jane Austen)’s In the Garden With Jane Austen will be out next year. Another title that made us giggle is Jane Austen (Very Interesting People) by well-known Austen scholar Marilyn Butler, apparently part of a series about, well, very interesting people. And just in time for a Certain Film, a paperback release of Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence and a companion volume, Becoming Jane: The Wit and Wisdom of Jane Austen by Anne Newgarden.

For the Austen paraliterature fans, there’s plenty coming up for you as well. We are looking forward most particularly to Captain Wentworth’s Diary by Amanda Grange and the Gothic Classics graphic novel that will include versions of Northanger Abbey and The Mysteries of Udolpho. (Why NA and Udolpho? Because they GO TOGETHER, that’s why. Sorry, after a Certain Made-Up Story Biography we read this week, we felt that needed to be said.) Shannon Hale’s novel Austenland will be out this month, and Laurie Viera Rigler’s Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict in August. Lost in Austen by Emma Campbell Webster, which is not a novel but an interactive adventure, also will be out in August.

The AustenBlog reviewing staff will be busy in the upcoming months, we think! And we invite readers to send their reviews as well.