Friday and Saturday were a blur of sales and breakout sessions! Beth and I were able to get away to see Juliette Wells' talk on "Imagining Jane and Cassandra." She compared modern interpretations of the relationship between Jane and her beloved older sister. Beth and I were sitting next to each other, as usual, scribbling notes to each other in the margins of our pads ("that was funny!" or "I wish that lady would move her head!"). But this made it very difficult to control our emotions when the speaker played clips from some of the movies that showed just how close the sisters were, and how devastated Cassandra was by the loss of her Dear Jane. We found ourselves silently sobbing, and then laughing at ourselves and each other for being such Mariannes! So on Saturday we went to the sibling rivalry talk. There weren't any tears in that one! Sally Palmer discussed the rivalry between different sets of siblings in the novels, and expertly related it ...

Today we had the pleasure of selling our books, instead of the grueling task of unloading them from our truck and setting them out on our tables. From our stations in the Regency Emporium, we met many Janeites who were just as thrilled as we were to be here in Philadelphia. Attendees who were already registered today had the option to take a tour of Winterthur , the estate of Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969), which hosts a great collection of the antique furniture and objects collected by his family. Of course, the highlight of the day was seeing Elizabeth Garvie, our personal favorite "Eliza Bennet," speak. She was interviewed by Dr. Elisabeth Lenckos (below, R), and was equal parts fascinating, inspirational, and moving. I will post a few snippets of her speech later, but here is a short clip to whet your appetite! (You will probably need to turn your volume up, since it was a very large room.) We will be posting a photo album during the next few days, when we get a few fr...