“Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.” Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice (1813) #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #Quote


“Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.” Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice (1813) #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #Quote


1800 Guitar, Probably Naples, Italy. The sort of guitar people in Jane austen’s era would have played in their homes. Spruce, ebony, ivory, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and brass. This highly decorated guitar is an early example of a six-string, single-course guitar. The elaborate decoration features classical figures, musical instruments, and floral motifs made from ebony and fit into an ivory ground covering the back, sides, neck, and headstock of the guitar.
A second guitar at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments features the same decoration, only in reverse, indicating that the decoration was made at the same time by cutting through thin layers of stacked ebony and ivory. A portrait in the center of the upper back is believed to be of Giovanni Paisiello based on his 1791 portrait. Paisiello was a composer of opera and many of his works were transcribed for use on other instruments and his pieces were a favorite of guitarists.
The fingerboard is covered with tortoiseshell over read paint with an ivory satyr inlaid where the neck meets the body. A carved wooden rosette may be a replacement and is surrounded by an ivory hexagon with ebony inlaid instruments and flowers matching the back. The decorative style is evocative of so-called Baroque guitars of the seventeenth century. The six-string, single-course guitar became popular in Naples at the end of the eighteenth century and then spread throughout the rest of Europe replacing the earlier five and six double-course guitars. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. books2read.com/suziloveMusicGeneral










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.


19th Century Mother Of Pearl Carnet De Bal Or Dance Card, French. via Ruby Lane Antiques.


1804 Fawn Drap Riding Habit in Jane Austen style. High-waisted dress with a full skirt and train, skirt buttoned at the side, long straight sleeves, velvet snug hat, Fichu around her neck, riding crop, two views of hairstyles. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Male tailors made most women’s riding habits during the Regency years and they were constructed similarly to men’s riding outfits. Generally in two pieces, a jacket and a skirt, and with a shirt with a frilled collar or front opening underneath. The trains of a habit could be caught up for walking, usually with a button and loop, and unhooked and let down so that the skirt flowed over the woman’s legs when she rode side saddle. Due to the numerous wars during the early 1800s, it was seen as patriotic for women to add military style touches to outfits in support of military men. The shoulder and cuff trims resemble the epaulettes and coat trims of a military uniform.


1800s Early Amputation Instruments used by Alexander Jack in Jane Austen’s times. Jack was a ship’s surgeon aboard H.M.S. Shannon and used by him in the battle between the Shannon & the American frigate the USS Chesapeake on June 1st, 1813, during the War of 1812. via Old Operating Theatre, London.
Jane Austen’s brother, Francis William Austen, was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in the British Royal Navy on 27 April, 1863. He had been a Royal Navy Captain from 1799 to 1830, age 25 to 56, Rear Admiral in 1838, age 64, Full Admiral in 1848, age 74. This is the type of medical instruments found on all of his ships.
In Jane Austen’s time, amputations were carried out frequently to prevent infections that could kill.


1817 May Pink Evening Dress, English. A white lace dress over a blush-coloured satin slip. The dress is disposed round the bottom of the skirt in festoons, which display a little of the slip; each festoon is ornamented with a bouquet of blue-belles, pinks, and rose-buds. The festoons are surmounted by a rollio of intermingled pink and white saton. We refer to our print for the form of the body, which is novel and tasteful. The sleeve is very short and full; it is finished at the bottom by quillings of blond. The hair is dressed in a plain braid across the face, and a few loose ringlets at the sides. The hind hair forms a tuft, which is concealed by the head-dress, a high wreath of fancy flowers. Pearl necklace. White kid slippers and gloves. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.


1895 Nursing Corset, French. via Montgomery Ward and co. Catalogue. Boned, soft and pliable busts, French sateen covered strips.
Definition Montgomery Ward: World first American mail order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001.
Corsets 1880-1900 History Notes Book 20 This book shows how a fashionable silhouette became of paramount importance and how a well-fitted corset became a fashion essential. As well as a decorative fashion item, tight lacing gave a narrow waist and the desired feminine form under clothing. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook20


1820-1840 ca. Reticule, Or Purse, France. Bag of plain weave white moiré silk embroidered in colored silks using satin, stem, knot and couching stitches. Shape is five-sided, flat, with a scalloped top. Borders of flower wreaths. Embroidered on one side with a greyhound and with a long-tailed bird on the other. Worked as two separate panels, joined. Lined in pale blue taffeta. Blue and white silk cord. via Cooper Hewitt, New York City, USA. collection.cooperhewitt.org
Definition Reticule: Bag or purse, often with a drawstring to pull closed and usually made of cloth or covered cardboard and often decorated with beading or embroidery. A reticule, or purse, or handbag, was usually carried by a woman during the Regency period to carry all their daily necessities. Earlier, women used pockets that tied at the waistline and were hidden in the folds of their skirts. Empire style, or early 1800s, high-waisted dresses made it impossible to either sewn in a pocket or to tie on a pocket. So women began carrying small, decorated bags called Reticules, or ridicules, which generally pulled close at the top with a drawstring. http://books2read.com/suziloveReticules


19th Century Early. Ladies blue leather boots, Probably British. Side inserts and loops for pulling up. The style of boots the Bridgerton ladies and Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have worn when walking in the countryside. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A. metmuseum.org


