An update…. the story so far.

Half way through the year and the Rendell household undergoes a complete upheaval – we pack up in Spain (where it is too darned hot) and head back to the UK (where it is generally wet, dull and anything but hot….). A time to review the year so far, and plan ahead:

• I have finished the manuscript for “An Illustrated Introduction to the Georgians” and will be submitting it to the publishers immediately on my return. I don’t yet have a specific publication date for it, but it will be some time this autumn.
  

  Sorry about the brown triangles – they won’t be in the next book!

• I have decided that my next book will be on sex, scandal and satire in the 18^th Century. Publishers seem interested in the synopsis I have submitted, so fingers crossed. It is a huge project but one with great scope for lots and lots of lovely Rowlandson, Gillray, Newton and Cruikshank prints, as well as loads of scurrilous tit-bits from the Georgian gutter press. At this stage all I would say is: thank goodness for the American libraries such as Lewis Walpole, or the Library of Congress, or the Yale Center for British Art – there is no way I could justify a hundred or more colour illustrations if I were having to pay for them at a minimum of £75 each. At least the American institutions I have mentioned are free, and their service is amazing.

• Lots of talks lined up for the summer – about three dozen. Not too bad except that some are morning and evening on the same day! When I do one on the origins of the circus at London’s Guildhall (29^th July – link here) I am doing another one that morning in the Cotswolds on “Life in a Cotswold Village 250 years ago” – so it will be a bit of a rush.
• This week I did a public lecture, here in Spain, on the Abolition Movement in Britain. A bit heavy on a hot day! Not a topic I will choose to repeat, though it was exceptionally well received. Normally you get loads of questions – this time there was a dumbstruck silence before people could recover!
• Other talks are mostly to WI’s, Probus Groups and Family History Groups, but I am looking forward to the challenge of doing one as a public lecture at the Holburne Museum at Bath (22 September at 15.00) on 18^th Century silhouettes and paper-craft! Now, what I know about paper-cutting can fit on the back of the proverbial postage stamp so I may just have to wing it! I just knew that being a bull-sh***ing lawyer would stand me in good stead one day!

• While in Bath I will definitely call in at the excellent museum at One Royal Crescent – they have a must-see exhibition on ‘Georgian Tarts’ (O.K., ‘Portrait of a Lady?’) which I am looking forward to, and will blog about.
• I am also hoping to get to Berrington Hall, a wonderful Palladian house near Leominster belonging to the National Trust, preferably while their exhibition of costumes from The Duchess is still on. I believe it runs until the end of June – and later in the summer there is an exhibition of costumes from the BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice.
• Another possibility is a visit to the National Circus School, linked to my book on Philip Astley. Sales are reasonable rather than spectacular, but it is something of a niche subject! I rather fancy getting the chance to look behind the scenes at how artists learn the tricks of their trade! Just as long as I am not expected to try the high wire……
• Kindle sales of  The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman seem to outnumber printed sales by ten to one. It is a shame really, because the e-format has far fewer illustrations than the printed book, but download speeds were a consideration.

Ah well, enough updates! Time to head for the ferry, then it is off to Canada and the wilds of Alaska ….