Product Information

In order to be a true P&P fanatic, you must build a collection of P&P-related merchandise. Here are some products that will interest you. I've included links to the corresponding pages amazon.com for those of you who want to buy online.

Search for P&P items at Amazon.com

Selected items:
Movies | Books | Music | Documentaries

Movies

A&E miniseries (VCR/DVD) | BBC version | Black and White version

The BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice mini-series is available in

• box set of six videos. Box set at amazon.com
• set of two videos. Two video set at amazon.com
• digital video disc (dvd) format. DVD at amazon.com The DVD is in two volumes and is approx. 310 minutes long. Its camera angles and wide screen format make it worth watching. For example, you get to see Charlotte (off-camera in the VCR version) in Episode III when Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Darcy visit the Parsonage.

Check around, many video stores, music stores and megabookstores will order it in for you. Also check your local library. Many have the box set and all you need is a library card!

Other older versions of P&P are also available. Watch them, and compare the different interpretations. Of course, my favourite is the 1995 adaptation.

Pride and Prejudice. Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. 1940.

Pride & Prejudice. Garvie and Rintoul. BBC 1985. Recently re-released and now available at amazon.com

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Books

The Making of Pride & Prejudice by Sue Birtwistle (producer) and Susie Conklin (script editor) is a British publication published by Penguin books and by BBC books. It is a detailed and informative book detailing the making of our favourite P&P movie. I highly recommend it, as it is sure to bring you many hours of joy. ISBN 0-14-025157-X
The Making of Pride and Prejudice at amazon.com

The Jane Austen novel upon which the movie is based is available at bookstores and libraries everywhere.

The Modern Library series is the official BBC/A&E version and has Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth on the cover. Pride and Prejudice (Modern Library Series) by Jane Austen, Anna Quindlen (Introduction).
Pride and Prejudice (Modern Library series) at amazon.com

Pride and Prejudice is also available in audio versions (to listen to in the car or when (horrors!) your television is unavailable). I've included links to three versions. Start your collection now!

• BBC Version. Patricia Hodge (Reader) 1995. Pride and Prejudice (BBC Radio Presents) at amazon.com
• Audio 1998 version. Irene Sutcliffe (Reader). 1998 version at amazon.com
• CD 1996 version. Jenny Agutter (Reader). 1996 version at amazon.com

   

  

Many people, inspired by Jane Austen's masterpieces have decided to write novels inspired by her works, including sequels. If you're dying for new P&P adventures, here's where to go... Maybe you'll be inspired to write your own version!

• The Diary of Henry Fitzwilliam Darcy by Marjorie Fasman
  paperback edition | hardcover edition
  This is the story of P&P from Darcy's perspective - in diary format. I think it starts the story from when he was a child.
  
  
• The Bar Sinister, Pride and Prejudice Continues by Linda Berdoll
  Book Description from Amazon's website: THE BAR SINISTER is an affectionate, if tongue in cheek, furthering of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Although this story is rather epic in scope, thanks to a playful tweaking of the language, it never quite qualifies as outright drama. Indeed, the author has sought to have a bit of fun with not only the language but Austen's characters as well by taking them where others have not yet dared. Not surprisingly, this audacity has incited a bit of outraged swooning amongst Jane Austen purists. (To any souls possibly affronted, we extend our sincere apologies and gently advise against purchasing this book.) But those readers who like their stories vivid, lovers earthy and comedic adventures hilarious, have embraced THE BAR SINISTER whole-heartedly. As this is not your mother's Jane Austen, READER DESCRETION IS ADVISED.
  
  
• Presumption : An Entertainment A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice by Julia Barrett
  A story of Georgiana Darcy. It was a little more casual than Pride and Prejudice in style. I liked it and found it quite amusing.
  
  
• Old Friends and New Fancies : An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen by Sybil G. Brinton, Ted Bader.
  Editorial Reviews: The London Times, 1913 Miss Brinton takes the original form of continuing the fortunes of the characters [of Jane Austen] and devising marriages... Book Description This is a reprint of the first sequel ever written to any of Jane Austen's books. It weaves favorite characters from all six of Jane Austen's novels into a riotous, but pleasurable story. As with all of Jane Austen's stories, this has a happy ending. This book was originally printed in 1913.
  
  
• Consequence, or, Whatever Became of Charlotte Lucas? by Elizabeth Newark, Hugh Thomson (Illustrator), Allen Nomura (Photographer)
  
  
• Desire and Duty : A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Ted and Marilyn Bader
  Well-researched story of Georgiana Darcy. Read my review of Desire and Duty.
  
  
• Lady Catherine's Necklace by Joan Aiken
  From Booklist: Aiken's latest sequel to Jane Austen's work centers on Pride and Prejudice's Lady Catherine de Bourgh and the inhabitants of Rosings Park. During an unusual April snowstorm, Ralph Delaval and his sister Priscilla have a carriage accident and arrive at Rosings seeking aid. Elegant and polite, they are allowed to stay, but most of the household is suspicious of their motives. Lady Catherine's daughter Anne does not trust Mr. Delaval, and when he suggests the demolition of a cottage that is inhabited by friends of Anne's late father, she becomes distraught because the two painters and a young gardener are her only friends. Lady Catherine then embarks on a journey; a diamond necklace of hers is declared fake, and a letter arrives informing the family that Lady Catherine has been kidnapped. Everyone is thrown into an uproar, except Anne, who relishes her unexpected freedom. Aiken has fashioned a charming variation on Austen's work that will give Austen fans a chance to revisit some old friends. Patty Engelmann
  
  Book Description Joan Aiken, one of Jane Austens most sparkling successors, takes up Austens pen yet again, this time continuing where Pride and Prejudice left off. In Austens classic novel, the arrogant Lady Catherine de Bourgh tries vehemently to prevent the betrothal of her nephew Mr. Darcy, whom she had intended for her daughter Anne, to the less socially connected Elizabeth Bennet. Defeated, she retreats to her grand estate - Rosings Park. This enchanting sequel tells the story of what happens one balmy April day when a sudden blizzard disrupts the weather, causes a carriage accident, and affects the lives of all those involved in a most amazing way.
  
  

Search for more P&P books at Amazon.com

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Music

The Pride and Prejudice CD soundtrack (EMI/Angel Records/BBC. #7243 8 36090 2 4) contains the music written by Carl Davis for the production (i.e. the opening music, the score/background music). It doesn't have any of the dance music in it.
Pride and Prejudice: The Original Soundtrack from the A&E Special Presentation at amazon.com

If you prefer the dance music in the movie, The Pride and Prejudice Collection (available on CD or cassette) contains a selection of dances popular in the 18th and 19th centuries (as played at the Netherfield Ball).

The music is arranged by country dance specialist David Fleming-Williams and is played by his Pemberley Players (two violins, flute, piano and cello). Dances include Grimstock, The Comical Fellow, My Lord Byron's Maggot and Sellengers Round.

The recording is available from St Leonard's Hospice in York, which receives 55% of profits from sales. (Check the website for a short sample from the CD.) Samples of the music are available on the website. The easiest way to order your CD which will be dispatched by air mail to anywhere in the world is by printing out the Credit Card Order Form and sending it to the address on the form.

Cost CD: £12.00, cassette: £8.00.	Post & Packing UK & Europe: £1.00 per item Rest of the World: £2.00 per item
For UK residents, UK cheques should be made out to "St Leonard's Hospice" and sent to: P& P Collection St Leonard's Hospice Fund Raising Centre 14 York Road Acomb York YO24 4LU.	In the US and Canada you can also order from: The Country Dance and Song Society 132 Main Street PO Box 338 Haydenville, MA 01039-0338 Tel: 413 268 7426

E-mail The Fund Raising Centre at: SLHFRC@MSN.com for further details and lower postal charges on multiple orders.

Sheet music for the Pride and Prejudice theme song by Carl Davis is available. (Do you remember what it sounds like? Check the main page for a sound clip!) It can be ordered at a music store. Here's the information you need:

Faber Music, London
Publisher number 50482660
ISBN for the piano version 0571 51625 4
Also available for:
Violin and Piano 0571 51625 5
Flute and Piano 0571 51625 6
Clarinet and Piano 0571 51625 7
Cost is $4.95 US

Also available from Faber: Jane Austen's World. This book includes music from Pride and Prejudice as well as three other of the recent Jane Austen adaptations (Emma, Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility). ISBN 0 571 51793 5.

Another piano book is: Jane Austen The Music. JA The Music (intermediate to advanced level) is more challenging than JA's World (elementary to intermediate level). For example, the P&P main theme (opening theme) in The Music is the same as on the CD (not the case with the Faber edition). All the music in JA The Music is arranged for solo piano. It has also music from Sense and Sensibility. I don't think it is available in North America but yo may be able to buy it over the internet. Try http://www.musicroom.com

It has in it from P&P: Main theme Elizabeth observed Canon Collins The Gardiners Rosings Farewell to the regiment (not included in the film!) Pemberley Thinking about Lizzy Lydia's wedding Double wedding

And from S&S: Weep you no more sad fountains A particular sum Patience My Father's Favorite All the delights of the season Steam engine Willoughby Excellent notion Combe Magna There is nothing lost The Dreame

By the way, also of interest to pianists is "Film Themes of the Nineties" which has music from The English Patient, Shindler's List, Sense and Sensibility, The Silence of the Lambs, etc.

Other recordings of interest...

• The Jane Austen Companion The program highlights popular music from Austen's time by Mendelssohn, Haydn, Fasch, J.C. Bach, Boyce, Schubert and others.
  The Jane Austen Companion at amazon.com
  
  
• Jane's Hand - The Jane Austen Songbooks. Vox Classics, # 7537. It has a total playing time of 77 minutes. The CD features songs by various composers performed by soprano Julianne Baird and guest artists -- songs which were favorites of Austen's, sufficiently enough for her to transcribe them note for note in her own songbook.

  The music includes songs by Handel ("Silent Worship"); Gluck (What Alas Shall Orpheus Do?"); Storace ("Tho' You Think By This To Vex Me"); and individuals like Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire ("I Have a Silent Sorrow Here.") Recommended by a visitor to the site.
  Jane's Hand - The Jane Austen Songbooks at amazon.com
  
  

• Piano Classics from the World of Jane Austen.   Performer: Karlyn Bond

  This CD features classical piano music accurately reflecting the musical milieu of Jane Austen's period and social sphere. This music may be heard as emanating from the elegant drawing rooms graced by many of Austen's immortal and pianistic heroines. All musical selections are drawn from Austen's personal library, social sphere, or time period.

  The CD contains 73 minutes of music by well-known and lesser-known composers, including four complete sonatas, and premiere recordings of works by Cramer, Clementi, and Schobert. Includes a 16-page booklet featuring gorgeous color photography, a bibliography, and in-depth program notes discussing Jane Austen's pianistic background, the role music performance fulfills in Austen's plot/character development and social satire, historic/stylistic sketches of each piece, and the artist's personal speculations as to who might have played what, where, and under what circumstances.
  Piano Classics from the World of Jane Austen at amazon.com  
  
  

• English Country Dances / The Broadside Band (at amazon.com)   Some more English Country Dance music.

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Documentaries

Perspectives on Pride and Prejudice Educational set (BBC Educational Development Unit, 1995).
The set examines the use of irony in P&P and looks at the life and times of Jane Austen. Its contents include a 75 min. video containing interviews with most of the major actors in the movie and Sue Birtwistle (producer). Andrew Davies (screenplay) comments on his interpretation of the novel and there are clips from the earlier movie versions of Pride and Prejudice. There is also a 60 minute audiotape with commentary on the series, excerpts of Jane Austen's letters, readings by Faye Weldon and a reading by Jennifer Ehle. The set also contains a 80 page workbook with black and white photos from the series. The teacher's guide provides background, critical reviews, extracts, and activities.