19th Century Late Mechanical Tantalus, French. Ormolu, Bronze, Crystal, and Gilt with a lock and key to open. Earlier versions of this type of small drinks cabinet would have been used in most households during Jane Austen’s times, unless the householders were teetotalers. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Tantalus: A small wooden cabinet containing drink decanters. The box has a lock and key to keep unauthorised people from drinking the contents e.g. servants and younger sons, yet still allowing the decanters of drinks to be on show. The word, Tantalus, is a reference to the unsatisfied temptations of the Greek mythological character Tantalus. Patented in the UK in 1881 by George Betjemann, a cabinet maker from the Netherlands, whose workshop was on Pentonville Road, London from the 1830s.
1845 Woman’s Dress, Probably Made In England. Silk Taffeta and glazed linen plain weave. via Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA. collections.lacma.org
George Bryan “Beau” Brummell (June 7th 1778 – March 30th 1840) Arbiter of men’s fashion and friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV. Established mode of dress for men that rejected overly ornate fashions for understated but perfectly fitted and tailored clothing. Look based on dark coats, full-length trousers rather than knee breeches and stockings, with immaculate shirt linen and an elaborately knotted cravat. 1855 Engraving of Beau Brummell from an article in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.
1807 Game of Billiards By Louis Leopold Boilly, French. Ladies playing billiards as they did in Jane Austen’s time. via Heritage Museum, Russia ~ heritagemuseum.org
1715-1790 ca. Miniature Sable Pocketbook, France. Glass beads strung on linen, or sablé, woven silk and metallic binding. Miniature envelope-style pocketbook. Polychrome opaque and translucent glass beads strung with linen thread, held together by interlocking looping stitches, or sablé. Designs on white ground, cupid shooting arrow at blue and red hearts. Borbon arms surmounted by coronet, red heart with five keys. Gilt-galloon binding. Blue silk taffeta lining. Cardboard foundation. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. mfa.org
1823 Couple In Walking Dress, French, as worn in Europe and England in the Regency Era. Redingote, or Coat, with matching hat, neck frill of Gros de Nice lace. Gentleman in tailcoat, short length brown trousers, yellow vest, high white cravat, top hat and black shoes. via Modes Françaises L’Indiscret, France.
1818 ca. Lemon Dress, England. High-waisted, or Empire style, as worn in the times of Jane Austen, or Regency Era. Linen and lace dress with short puffed sleeves. via Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA. collections.lacma.org. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
What did an older lady do in the Bridgerton family’s and Jane Austen’s times, or the early 1800s. An easy to read overview of what an older lady did, wore, and how she lived in the early 19th Century. Information for history buffs and pictures for readers and writers of historical fiction. Older Lady’s Day, Regency Life Series, Book 5, by Suzi Love. books2read.com/suziloveOLD
Through historic images, historical information, and funny anecdotes, it shows how an older lady in Jane Austen’s times fills her day, where she goes, and with whom she spends her time. This light-hearted look at the longer Regency years is an easy to read overview of what people did and wore, and where they worked and played. There is plenty of information to interest history buffs, and lots of pictures to help readers and writers of historical fiction visualize the people and places from the last years of the 18th Century until Queen Victoria took the throne.
“Be warned, my lord,” the woman said. “I shall return. Tomorrow. Early. Very early. And if you refuse to speak with me, I’ll haunt your house until you are prepared to listen to me.”
Justin Tremayne, Viscount Hawkesbury, felt the air suck out of the room. Movements ceased, breaths held, no one spoke. Every person in the room, including the courtesans, was aware of the reason he’d spent four years debasing himself before the wealthiest members of the ton.
The reason he forced himself to get out of bed each day, to place one foot in front of the other and go through the rituals, the pretense of living a normal life. Why he arranged wild bedroom antics for women and men that he barely knew and certainly didn’t like or respect. His guilt festered like an open wound and the pain never lessened. His obsession was to locate his mother and two sisters, to bring them home, and try to make amends for his absence at the time his deranged father had evicted them.
Unable to reply, he shook his head, robbed of coherent thought, unable to believe her declaration. Unable to convince himself it wasn’t another misery-causing lie. Unable to gather the energy to conclude his night’s business. Nothing mattered above the bait she dangled before his nose, the thing he yearned for more than any other—to bring his family back to him. This tiny despot had forced him into negotiating with her.
“Bart, Thomas. I ask you to leave me to my visitor. Then I’m off to find my bed.”
1810 January 1st. West India Docks, London. By Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Charles Pugin. Printed in 1810 By Rudolph Ackermann in Microcosm Of London, or London In Miniature. Volume 1. Aquatint showing warehouses at quayside and several West Indiamen moored alongside. Warehouses held thousands of tons of cargo, including sugar, rum, molasses, coffee, spices and hardwood. Docks were constructed by powerful group of businessmen led by Robert Milligan, wealthy merchant and ship-owner outraged at losses suffered due to theft and delay at riverside wharves. via National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, U.K. ~ collections.rmg.co.uk
