1800s Silver and Carved Mother of Pearl Writing and Desk Set, French. Wax Seal, Dip Pen and Letter Opener in the style that Jane Austen would have used to write her novels and her letters. via Ruby Lane Antiques. rubylane.com. books2read.com/SuziLoveWritingTools
19th Century Inkwell and Tomb of the Scipios Grand Tour Souvenir, Italian. The type of Grand Tour souvenir collected by travelers in Jane Austen and Bridgerton Times.
Siena marble with ink wells and pen holder. Lid removes to reveal pair of ink wells and pen holder. Scipios were a family of Roman war heroes and generals. Tomb of Scipios erected around 150 B.C.E and copied many times. 18th-19th Centuries, tomb models were favorites of Grand Tour souvenir hunters. The sort of exotic item a gentleman in Jane Austen’s times might send back to England during his Grand Tour of Europe and Asia. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
18th Century Mid. Nécessaire, London, England. Wood, shagreen, silk, tortoiseshell with gold mounts, steel. Includes: pen knife, beard trimmer, scissors, bottles, paper cutter, 6 razors, hone, strop. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
Definition Shagreen: A type of rawhide, or rough untanned skin, originally made from the back of a horse or a wild donkey. In the 18th century, the skin of a shark or stingray also began to be called shagreen.
18th Century Mid. Gentleman's Toiletry Nécessaire Of Shagreen and Tortoiseshell, England. #GeorgianEra #Travel #Antiques books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel Share on X
1800 ca. Ormolu Ink Stand with Lid, French. Ormolu ink stand in the shape of a globe surrounded by three rams head pen supports with animal legs and hoofs on a tripartite base. The top is removable revealing a silvered compartment with containers for sand and ink. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Definition Ormolu: Gold colored alloy of copper, zinc, and tin used in decoration and for making ornaments. Ormolu is used in mounts i.e ornaments on borders, edges, and as angle guards) for furniture, especially 18th-century furniture, and for other decorative purposes. Its gold colour may be heightened by immersion in dilute sulfuric acid or by burnishing.
1830 ca. Rosewood and Inlaid Brass Inkstand, England. Each side has cut-glass inkwells with brass inlaid tops and pen trays, so ideal for a partners desk. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Writing and Publishing? Tips and Tricks in Self Publishing: Absolute Beginner’s Guide. Information, contacts, and checklists steer you towards professionally produced books. Helps both fiction and non-fiction authors and available in digital and paperback. Co-Authored by two Australians: multi-published Imogene Nix and best-selling and award winning Suzi Love. books2read.com/selfpublishing
How did people travel in past centuries? What did they take with them to make their long journeys easier? Travel by road, ship, canal, or railway all took a long time and had dangers so people learned to prepare. And then, in the nineteenth century, road improvements, inventions, and scientific developments made travel more pleasurable. Travel and Luggage By Suzi Love History Notes Book 10 books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel
Horse Power To Steam. Various alternatives to horse power were tested in London’s streets during the 19th century. Steam powered road engines and trams proved too heavy and damaged the roads. Stationary steam engines were used to haul trams attached to a cable but these were only really effective on hills that we too steep for horses. There were also experiments with trams driven gas engines and battery electric power. but was successfully developed. Petrol engines were still primitive and unreliable in the 1890s. In 1900 the reliable horse still dominated the streets of London but new technology was to revolutionize road transport.
19th Century Early. Gilt and Patinated Bronze Inkstand , or Encrier, or a little reservoir of ink. Rectangular base mounted with a round lidded ink pot with a porcelain container and a sand pot, each raised on winged lion feet, centered by a palm decorated columnar carrying handle, with two pen holes. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
The type of inkstand that households woulds have in Bridgerton and Jane Austen households for writing letters and keeping track of estate matters.
Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, and silks and decorated them with jewels and engraving. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have used writing boxes, linen boxes when travelling, boxes to hold their food and drink supplies while traveling by carriage, and decorative boxes to keep letters, ribbons, gloves, hairpins etc. Boxes, Cases, and Necessaires By Suzi Love, History Notes Book 11. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases.
1808 Silver Wax Jack, Irish. By Robert Breading (active 1775–1822) Dublin. via suzilove.com and Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
How did Jane Austen seal her letters? Wax was melted by lighting the tip of a coiled wax length. This is called a wax jack. The melted wax blob was placed on the outside of a letter or document. A personal desk seal or a fob seal was pressed into the wax to identify the sender or owner of the document. Aristocrat families had their own coat of arms and others may have had their initials or their name on the seal.
