Today I bring you not an elegant person – although I did discover this morning that I can sit down in my new skirt, it is just that the waist is so high, and a splendid thing it is too, or was till the gloss went off the day totally; but maybe it is best even on a glossless day (I’m told the weather’s nice out there), even especially then, to be wearing a very nice Prince-of-Wales check linen pencil skirt, fully lined.
Er, where was I. No, I bring you an elegantly dressed book. Three volumes, one novel, a hardback original. Marbled. Calf-spined. Gold-etched. Inscribed. And in pretty good nick! One of only 12 presentation copies printed (which was sold today for £180,000; imagine being able to buy it!). It is an old friend; it is our Emma. Handsome, clever and rich. (And my much-vaunted waist is so high, it’s almost an empire line…)
The year is 1815…
