1830s Silk and Leather Shoes, Or Slippers, American. Flat black shoes with ankle ties and square toes. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
Music history from the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Pianos, pianofortes, harps, viols, violins played during Jane Austen’s times. Musical Instruments were so important in most of the more affluent households in history that large industries grew all around the world to manufacture instruments, musical accessories, and to print sheet music. Musical instruction and encouragement could be found everywhere and both young ladies and gentlemen were encouraged to have musical appreciation. And of course, playing music was on the list of social requirements for all young ladies desirous of becoming a wife and homemaker.
London became Europe’s leading centre for the manufacture of scientific instruments and this led to the manufacture of more musical instruments as well as factories developed and rail transport helped the faster distribution of goods to regional areas. One of the first places that music was used to tell stories and to share enjoyment was in Christmas music. Because music was such an integral part of households, music was always a feature in Magazines. There were advertisements everywhere for musical instruments for sale, for sheet music, and for music lessons. And of course, of most interest to the ladies were the hundreds of fashion plates included in magazines where people were depicted with their musical instruments.
books2read.com/suziloveMusicGeneral
books2read.com/suziloveMusicPiano
books2read.com/suziloveMusicViolins
This book shows how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through past centuries. Corsets flattened breasts and accentuated rounded hips or pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line depending on the fashions of the time and the desired silhouette. Includes corsets through the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian Eras and Jane Austen’s lifetime. Overview of corsets through history, including the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian Eras and Jane Austen’s lifetime. History Notes Book 14.
https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook14
1800s Typical Cold Collation Dishes served during the 1800s. These are the sort of dishes Jane Austen’s family would have eaten on a regular basis. Pigeon Pie, Raised Game Pie, Cutlets and Peas, Prawn Bouquet, Creamed Chicken, Plover’s Eggs, Lamb Cutlets, Stuffed Larks, Piped Ham, Boned Capon. From: 1860 Mrs. Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management.
19th Century Mid. The Music Room By George Goodwin Kilburne (1839-1924). Oil On Panel, 30.4 X 40.6cm. Via Wikimedia Commons commons.wikimedia.org (PD-ART)
Drama and romance at the duke’s snowbound British country estate. Michael Brandon travels to introduce the woman he loves to family but is shocked when his missing brother arrives. December Scandal Book 3 Scandalous Siblings https://books2read.com/suziloveDS
Excerpt: 1844 Martin House, England.
Michael Brandon strolled after Cayle St. Martin, the Duke of Sherwyn, when the duke strode to the hallway to greet the latest group of travelers. They’d be, like him, grateful to accept the duke’s hospitality because they’d all become stranded after heavy snowfalls had led to rapidly rising water levels and an impassable local bridge.
He leaned on a wall and watched Mason, the efficient butler at Martin House, ease open the massive front door while three footmen braced their shoulders against the door to stop it blowing fully open. The house had already been full of family members gathered for Christmas, but with the addition of several groups of half-frozen travelers arriving every hour during the afternoon, the house’s walls must be groaning under the excess number of guests needing beds.
Several massive rooms in Martin House had been opened and warmed for the weary travelers who had descended on the duke and his family, but those large fires needed constant feeding with logs of wood. Therefore, Sherwyn couldn’t risk a barrage of snow and sleet blowing inside his house from the courtyard because, in such inclement weather, his footmen might not be able to collect more firewood for another week. Little wonder then that the duke hovered near the front entrance and supervised each subsequent arrival, his charming duchess by his side to add her won welcome.
Michael and his party had been the first to beg assistance from Sherwyn this afternoon, as he’d known that Sherwyn had left London a week earlier and would already be in residence at his country home. There had been a flurry of social events in London over the past two weeks before the Ton left the city and retreated to their country estates to wait out the colder months. Though this extreme weather had caught everyone by surprise.
It was barely mid December and the nearby bridge usually served the locals well through that month and into the New Year. Water levels normally only rose and covered the bridge after the snowstorms of January. Michael and Cayle were long time friends and so he knew Cayle had loathed this house, his family seat, when his father and stepmother had been in residence, but now that Cayle was the duke, and a married man, he had decided to turn this house into a more welcoming family gathering place. Even with the influx of visitors, invited or not, the staff here were jolly and efficient, a rare combination in the serving ranks.
https://books2read.com/suziloveDS December Scandal, Book 3, Scandalous Siblings.
1800s Typical Game Bird Dishes Served during the 1800s. These are the sort of dishes Jane Austen’s family would have eaten on a regular basis. Banded Partridges, Roast Partridges, Roast Surrey Fowl, Larded Guinea Fowl, Roast Plovers, Stuffed Capons, Roast Gosling and Roast Pigeons. From: 1850s- 1860s Mrs. Beeton’s Books of Household Management. via Google Books (PD-150)
18th – 19th Century Seals For Letters and Posting. Used to seal hand written letters in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Definition: Wax Seals: Pressed onto a letter or envelope to show that a document is unopened or to verify the sender’s identity. A signet ring or was seal is pressed into a dollop of hot wax to seal a letter or envelope closed.
1830s Man’s Double-Breasted Frock Coat, English. Double-breasted frock coat with a nipped-in waist. The broad lapels are faced with silk velvet. This gentleman’s frock coat has a crescent-shaped breast pocket and two larger curved pockets on the front of the skirts. Woolen beaver cloth trimmed with silken velvet.
The waisted frock coat came into fashion in about 1816 and became an enduring style. Typically it had a narrow waist and full skirts hanging vertically in front. The frock coat was worn for everyday purposes such as morning dress, usually with a top hat, cane and trousers. By 1830 frock coats were made in a variety of designs according to taste, fashion or type of activity. This example has an out-breast pocket, a feature which appeared on coats during the 1830s. This coat was given by Messrs Harrods Ltd. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk.
What did the lady of the house use to pen notes in Bridgerton and Jane Austen’s years? What sat on the desk of Jane Austen’s male contemporaries when they managed household and estate accounts? books2read.com/SuziLoveWritingTools. Writing Tools, History Notes Book 13.
