SHARON LATHAN’S NEW BOOK!
Yes, you read the title correctly! I have something new on the market. Whoot! This time around (as I continue to work on my novel) I created a non-fiction picture and history book. A “coffee table” book of sorts, simply not as ginormous as the usual tabletop display photo book. Better yet, my book is beautiful and a delightful conversation starter for guest, but won’t take up all the surface space. LOL!
What did a Regency lady do all day? In between changing her clothing and sitting for her necessary toilette, surely she sought a variety of amusements to relieve the boredom in a world without television or the internet?
Magazines from the period contained colorfully detailed hand-painted prints of women and men wearing the latest fashions. Oftentimes the drawn models displayed the garments while engaged in daily activities or popular entertainments. What a marvelous way to peek into the past and answer the above questions!
REGENCY PRINTS REFINED: A LADY’S DIVERSIONS is a photo book with 36 prints from Costume Parisien, La Belle Assemblée, Ackermann’s Repository, and other magazines published from 1790 to 1825. With the marvels of modern graphic design, each print has been painstakingly freed from the impurities of time, beautifully revealing the original precision and elegant taste. They have been refined!
Gorgeous full-page images from the era of Jane Austen, and a bit of history too. Fabulous! How can one resist?
I hope you won’t resist!
I am very proud of this book. I know readers are anxious for a new novel from me, specifically the second part of my betrothal period duo. It will come in time! And now I can make that statement with more confidence. Embarking on this non-fiction, graphic book has been wonderfully therapeutic, and restored my passion in a marvelous, surprising way. Rather than delve into that, let me share how this book (and hopefully a series) originated.
As most of you are aware, I am a Pinterest addict. Indeed, I have 71 boards and nearly 12,000 pins! Sharon’s Pinterest. One of my boards is dedicated to “Regency Fashion Plates & Drawings.” It was this collection, and my skills in digital design, that prompted me to volunteer to tackle a project for the 2015 JASNA Annual General Meeting (AGM) hosted by the Greater Louisville JASNA Region, of which I am a proud member. Coordinators Bonny Wise and Alana Gillett wanted to decorate the luncheon and banquet tables with Regency prints specifically depicting people engaged in activities of some sort, as per the AGM theme “Living in Jane Austen’s World.”
I was happy to take on the task, but never dreamed the simple behest to re-size and polish twenty-five plates for 5×7 framed photos would lead where it did. Before I finished the AGM project I had accumulated over 650 prints on my Pinterest board, and refurbished 105 plates so that each table will have a unique print! Plus, I discovered a new passion!
The bummer, as I saw it, was that the 105 superbly reimagined prints resembling weeks of painstaking work would be seen and enjoyed by no one, other than the JASNA AGM attendees. Oh, the tragedy! That is where the idea of this book came from. How about a full-color photo book? Fabulous idea! To make it extra special I’ve added a bit of history and fashion descriptions for each print.
NOTE: This book is designed for perfection as a printed photo book. However, it is available as an eBook at the usual places. Keep in mind that the prints are in color and large. Older devices, or those only in B&W will not look as nice, or may not work at all.
I’m sure this is a beautiful book as I love all things of this age. I have to say it. I can’t wait to the second part of the Courtship Please, I can hardly wait.
Picking a favorite theme for a future book was hard, I can spend hours paging through old fashions. It’s so fun to imagine favorite Regency characters doing the same–exclaiming over new fashions with a friend, maybe planning a new costume for the upcoming ball!
I adore the old fashions too, Mary, and never tire of flipping through them. Thanks for your feedback on a future book, but sadly the interest in this volume has been minimal so I can’t see publishing any more. 🙁
Only ONE theme for a future book? But I want all of them!
Thank you for the generous giveaway.
Marilyn
I am so happy to see a new release!! It is unique and the cover is beautiful! Congrats on your new achievement!!!
I’m a die-hard Pinterest addict, and this book is so much like many things I see there. What fun!
Congrats on the release of your non-fiction title, Sharon. All your hard work paid off with this beautiful and fabulous book. Keep up the good work!
This book looks awesome! Now if only I had a coffee table to put it on. I am amazed at how much work you must have put into it!
Thank you for the giveaway!
What an accomplishment! I love the fashion plates and have been searching for just the right ones to buy and frame! I plan to add them to my collection of miniature portraits on my wall. I would love to have the chance to win your book.
fun idea
I love all your work and am so excited to see something new! Congrats on another wonderful accomplishment!
This sounds delightful and special. Congratulations.
This sounds lovely (And I WILL be one of the 650 attendees at the JASNA AGM). Are you familiar with the book Mrs. Hurst Dancing: And Other Scenes from Regency Life, 1812-23 by Diana Sperling and G. E. Mingayds? It is the same idea using watercolours by a young Regency woman whose delightful notebook of Regency life was discovered & published in 1981.
IT looks lovely. I know it took sometime to collect and organize the illustrations.
Looks like a lovely book
What a terrific idea, Sharon!
So wonderfully excited for this book. What a marvelous idea! Exactly my kind of coffee table book! Thank you for doing all the work of putting it together.
This looks like it would have been a ton of fun to do, Sharon. I can only imagine the great totes and mugs you’ve made for yourself!
This is fantastic. The research would have been amazing too I think.
What a brilliant idea I love your ideas and books too.But I also do genealogy and your messages and pictures are ultra helpful when padding out my family from the Regency period
Thank you again and I should love to win this book
Genealogy is so tough. I applaud you, Lynne. I have tried to get into it, even registered at Ancestry.com, but never make it beyond 3 or 4 generations. LOL! It is way easier to do it with make-believe people. Ha!
You keep it up Sharon,you are an immense help to me and I am sure others too
I would SO love to have this book! I enjoyed reading about how you developed it.