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The Burney Journal

@burneyjournal.bsky.social

An annual publication of twenty years' standing, publishing peer-reviewed scholarship on the Burney family and their circles. Available in print subscription and online open-access formats. https://theburneyjournal.library.mcgill.ca/about/submissions.

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Announcements | The Burney Journal

SUBMISSION WINDOW NOW OPEN. We are now welcoming submissions for Issue 21 of the Burney Journal (June 2026). Please see the 'Submissions' tab for Author Guidelines, instructions, and a checklist. The deadline for submissions is 1 November 2025.
theburneyjournal.library.mcgill.ca/announcement

23.07.2025 07:29 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1
Preview
The Burney Journal Vol. 20 (2025) Published June 9, 2025

You can find all of these, and also browse open access back-issues of our Journal, by going to theburneyjournal.library.mcgill.ca/issue/view/56. Enjoy! and please share our articles with anyone whom you think might be interested. #FeelTheBurn (7/7)

10.06.2025 07:14 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
Image of the front cover of Rebecca Romney's Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend

Image of the front cover of Rebecca Romney's Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend

The final contribution to this issue of the Burney Journal is my own longform book review of Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend, by Rebecca Romney. In “Brushes With Burney” I take Romney’s book as a departure point to reflect on the importance of first encounters with Frances Burney and her writing, on Burney’s “value” within the rare book marketplace, and on the benefits of high-quality trade writing for Burney scholarship.

The final contribution to this issue of the Burney Journal is my own longform book review of Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend, by Rebecca Romney. In “Brushes With Burney” I take Romney’s book as a departure point to reflect on the importance of first encounters with Frances Burney and her writing, on Burney’s “value” within the rare book marketplace, and on the benefits of high-quality trade writing for Burney scholarship.

The final contribution is Sophie Coulombeau's review of Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend, by @rebeccaromney.com. (6/7)

10.06.2025 07:12 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
In the “Year in Burney Studies 2022-24” Deborah Barnum contributes a heroic three-year bibliography of monographs, articles, chapters, radio programs, theses, and dissertations published since 2021. Featuring 122 entries in total, the bibliography brings us fully up to date and continues the Journal’s valuable record of scholarly and creative activity relating to Frances Burney and her family. At a time when many institutional libraries (including my own) are facing budget reductions and making cuts to resources such as the MLA International Bibliography, and when many other search engines are presenting results skewed and corrupted by experiments in Artificial Intelligence, the “Year In Burney Studies” is a more valuable resource than ever.

In the “Year in Burney Studies 2022-24” Deborah Barnum contributes a heroic three-year bibliography of monographs, articles, chapters, radio programs, theses, and dissertations published since 2021. Featuring 122 entries in total, the bibliography brings us fully up to date and continues the Journal’s valuable record of scholarly and creative activity relating to Frances Burney and her family. At a time when many institutional libraries (including my own) are facing budget reductions and making cuts to resources such as the MLA International Bibliography, and when many other search engines are presenting results skewed and corrupted by experiments in Artificial Intelligence, the “Year In Burney Studies” is a more valuable resource than ever.

In the “Year in Burney Studies 2022-24” Deborah Barnum contributes a heroic 3-year bibliography of monographs, articles, chapters, radio programs, theses & dissertations addressing the Burneys which have been published since 2021: 122 entries in total! Esp valuable for reasons outlined below...(5/7)

10.06.2025 07:08 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
Cecilia and the Eighteenth-Century Breakfast MADELINE MAYA Abstract: This article explores the tonal, structural and conceptual importance of the breakfast table scene within Frances Burney’s second novel, Cecilia (1782). Building on Sarah Moss’s work exploring ambivalent attitudes to food within Burney’s life writing, I show that within Burney’s fiction the breakfast table scene often operates as a site of discomfort, anxiety and entrapment. Moreover, I suggest, in dialogue with other recent readings of Cecilia that have highlighted key scenes as particularly crucial to the novel’s structure, that the breakfast scene acts as a “hinge” (to re-purpose Arnold Palmer’s term), which opens the door on a new character, development, or section of the plot; it is a narrative signal that an important shift is about to take place.

Cecilia and the Eighteenth-Century Breakfast MADELINE MAYA Abstract: This article explores the tonal, structural and conceptual importance of the breakfast table scene within Frances Burney’s second novel, Cecilia (1782). Building on Sarah Moss’s work exploring ambivalent attitudes to food within Burney’s life writing, I show that within Burney’s fiction the breakfast table scene often operates as a site of discomfort, anxiety and entrapment. Moreover, I suggest, in dialogue with other recent readings of Cecilia that have highlighted key scenes as particularly crucial to the novel’s structure, that the breakfast scene acts as a “hinge” (to re-purpose Arnold Palmer’s term), which opens the door on a new character, development, or section of the plot; it is a narrative signal that an important shift is about to take place.

In “Cecilia and the Eighteenth-Century Breakfast,” Madeline Maya explores the tonal, structural and conceptual importance of the breakfast table scene within Frances Burney’s second novel, Cecilia: or, Memoirs of an Heiress (1782). (4/7)

10.06.2025 07:04 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
General d’Arblay’s Mementoes of a Military Life MIRIAM AL JAMIL Abstract: Later in life, General Alexandre d’Arblay became acutely aware that his wife’s literary fame might eclipse his own military honors in the eyes of posterity, and he became anxious that his son Alex should have some evidence of his achievements after his death. His trip to Paris in 1817 was made in part to have a portrait painted by Horace Vernet to commemorate his military status. This article examines the portrait, alongside a panoramic sketch of the field of Waterloo that d’Arblay made, to argue that the production and curation of these military mementoes were originally intended to fashion a legacy of his achievements, independent of his wife’s literary fame, for the benefit of his son.

General d’Arblay’s Mementoes of a Military Life MIRIAM AL JAMIL Abstract: Later in life, General Alexandre d’Arblay became acutely aware that his wife’s literary fame might eclipse his own military honors in the eyes of posterity, and he became anxious that his son Alex should have some evidence of his achievements after his death. His trip to Paris in 1817 was made in part to have a portrait painted by Horace Vernet to commemorate his military status. This article examines the portrait, alongside a panoramic sketch of the field of Waterloo that d’Arblay made, to argue that the production and curation of these military mementoes were originally intended to fashion a legacy of his achievements, independent of his wife’s literary fame, for the benefit of his son.

Figure 1. General Alexandre D’Arblay. Horace and Carle Vernet, 1817, Oil on canvas, 52 x 44.5 cm. Author’s own photograph. Image provided by kind permission of Parham House, Sussex.

Figure 1. General Alexandre D’Arblay. Horace and Carle Vernet, 1817, Oil on canvas, 52 x 44.5 cm. Author’s own photograph. Image provided by kind permission of Parham House, Sussex.

Figure 2. Display format at Parham. Author’s own photograph. Image provided by kind permission of Parham House, Sussex.

Figure 2. Display format at Parham. Author’s own photograph. Image provided by kind permission of Parham House, Sussex.

Figure 3. The case containing the medals. Author’s own photograph. Image provided by kind permission of Parham House, Sussex.

Figure 3. The case containing the medals. Author’s own photograph. Image provided by kind permission of Parham House, Sussex.

In “General d’Arblay’s Mementoes of a Military Life,” Miriam Al Jamil examines several little-known material objects relating to General Alexandre d’Arblay, Frances Burney’s husband, in a quest to draw d’Arblay’s biography out from the prism of his wife’s writing. (3/7)

10.06.2025 07:02 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
“Grateful acknowledgements to Captain Burney”: Poetry and History in Mary Russell Mitford’s Christina, the Maid of the South Seas GEOFFREY SILL Abstract: In 1811 Mary Russell Mitford published Christina, Maid of the South Seas, a poem which drew inspiration from a report in the Quarterly Review of the discovery of a settlement on Pitcairn Island founded by surviving mutineers from the Bounty. For assistance with the historical notes, she enlisted James Burney, a retired Royal Navy captain turned naval historian. Between them, Mitford and Burney drafted forty-seven notes of varying lengths which were appended to the four-canto poem in the published version. Analysis of selected notes reveals the tensions between the sensibilities of the poet and the historian, and raises questions about gender, generational, educational, and philosophical differences in the collaboration. These differences helped to shape the balance between romance and history in the emerging literature of the South Pacific.

“Grateful acknowledgements to Captain Burney”: Poetry and History in Mary Russell Mitford’s Christina, the Maid of the South Seas GEOFFREY SILL Abstract: In 1811 Mary Russell Mitford published Christina, Maid of the South Seas, a poem which drew inspiration from a report in the Quarterly Review of the discovery of a settlement on Pitcairn Island founded by surviving mutineers from the Bounty. For assistance with the historical notes, she enlisted James Burney, a retired Royal Navy captain turned naval historian. Between them, Mitford and Burney drafted forty-seven notes of varying lengths which were appended to the four-canto poem in the published version. Analysis of selected notes reveals the tensions between the sensibilities of the poet and the historian, and raises questions about gender, generational, educational, and philosophical differences in the collaboration. These differences helped to shape the balance between romance and history in the emerging literature of the South Pacific.

Figure 2. The Fleet of Otaheite, assembled at Oparee. After William Hodges, Review of the War Galleys at Tahiti (c.1766). Richard Bentley and Sons, London, 1883. Private Collection.BURNEY JOURNALVOLUME 20

Figure 2. The Fleet of Otaheite, assembled at Oparee. After William Hodges, Review of the War Galleys at Tahiti (c.1766). Richard Bentley and Sons, London, 1883. Private Collection.BURNEY JOURNALVOLUME 20

Figure 1. Mary Russell Mitford, engraved by James Thomson. The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, vol.48 no. 7 (July 1831). Private collection.SILLGRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Figure 1. Mary Russell Mitford, engraved by James Thomson. The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, vol.48 no. 7 (July 1831). Private collection.SILLGRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In “‘Grateful acknowledgements to Captain Burney’: Poetry and History in Mary Russell Mitford’s Christina, the Maid of the South Seas,” Geoffrey Sill examines an Oceanic literary-historical collaboration between Mary Russell Mitford and James Burney, published in 1811. (2/7)

10.06.2025 06:58 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
The Burney Journal Vol. 20 (2025)

We're happy to announce that Volume 20 of the Burney Journal is now officially published! We're an open access journal, so you can find digital versions of all contributions freely available online here : theburneyjournal.library.mcgill.ca/issue/view/56 Here's an overview of what we've got... (1/7)

10.06.2025 06:53 — 👍 6    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 0

Enormous thanks to: our editorial team, our peer reviewers, our digital support team at McGill, and @comicprintinguk.bsky.social for excellent print design and production!

06.06.2025 17:19 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1

This vol contains three wonderful research articles looking at the fiction of Frances Burney, editorial activity of James Burney, & material mementoes of Alexandre d'Arblay. Plus a bumper bibliography of Burney publications 2022-24, & longform review of @rebeccaromney.com's JANE AUSTEN'S BOOKSHELF.

06.06.2025 17:17 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
Post image Post image Post image Post image

They're alive! Vol 20 of the Burney Journal is now winging its way to our Society officers. If you're a member of the Society, you can expect to soon receive your copy at the Annual Conference, the Southampton Symposium, or in the post. And the open access digital files will go online this week!

06.06.2025 17:15 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 1

Issue 20 will be coming very soon: watch this space!

19.05.2025 09:54 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

We also publish reviews of books addressing the Burneys (Elements and Pivots are fine). If you would like to send us a book for review, or to put yourself forward as a reviewer, please get in touch: burney.editor@gmail.com

19.05.2025 09:53 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

If you have a piece of scholarship on Burney(s), please consider us as a home for it. We can offer supportive editorship and relatively quick turnaround for manuscripts that pass our peer review process (submission window June-November, publication June the following year).

19.05.2025 09:50 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
Submissions | The Burney Journal

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically on our website:
theburneyjournal.library.mcgill.ca/about/submis....
We accept submissions f/ 5,000 to 7,500 words as a rule. Submissions must follow MLA guidelines and the journal
style sheet.

19.05.2025 09:48 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

The Burney Journal invites submissions on all aspects of the
Burneys’ lives and careers in a variety of disciplines, including literature, history, art, music, and politics. We support & advocate for 18thc studies broadly, and particularly author studies, women's studies, and cultural studies.

19.05.2025 09:47 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Hello Bluesky! This is the official account for the Burney Journal. We've been publishing peer-reviewed scholarship on the Burney family and their circles for twenty years now. The Journal is is available in print subscription and online
open-access formats.

19.05.2025 09:46 — 👍 7    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0

@burneyjournal is following 18 prominent accounts