#edwardian books

[thebeautifulbook]

THE REIGN OF KING OBERON by Walter Jerrold (London: Dent, c.1902). Illustrated by Charles Robinson.

source

[melancholyvintage]

Antique book covers

[la-belle-histoire]

Edwardian First Edition Covers of Lucy Maud Montgomery books.

The Story Girl (1911), Anne of Green Gables (1908), Anne of Avonlea (1909), Kilmeny of the Orchard (1910).

[eirene]

Bryn Mawr College Calendar 1909 Jessie Willcox Smith

[gotholsentwin]

me if you even care

[escapismsworld]

Wisteria Hysteria💜

Gardens at Iford Manor in Wiltshire, near Bath. Created by Edwardian designer Harold Peto when Iford was his home from 1899-1933.

📸Photo by @wordyelaine

📍Iford Manor Gardens, Wiltshire

[morrieandlicky]

All Different Endings of Maurice and Alec from E.M. Forster's Maurice

Having been to the King's College archive myself, as well as read the Abinger edition of Maurice (which examines the differences between various versions of the manuscripts stored at the archive), I can conclude that there are 3 main different versions of the novel: from 1914, 1932, and 1952-1959, each differing from one another in Forster's treatment of the relationship between Maurice and Alec after the British Museum.

1914 version:

Order: British Museum - Southhampton - Penge with Clive - Epilogue

NO HOTEL SCENE, NO BOATHOUSE

In this version, Maurice and Alec do not spend the night together after the British Museum; Alec asks Maurice to but Maurice refuses with a long speech about how they shouldn't be together because of their class differences. So they part ways instead.

Maurice, however, does go to the Southhampton to see Alec off. After not seeing Alec there, Maurice leaves with Reverend Borenius at end of the chapter directly to Penge to say goodbye to Clive.

The reunion between them is implied first during Maurice's farewell to Clive—"I've wired to him (that I understand why he missed the boat)"—and then specifically illustrated in the written epilogue.

1932 version:

Order: British Museum - Southhampton - Penge with Clive

NO HOTEL SCENE, NO BOATHOUSE, NO EPILOGUE

The British Museum chapter is pretty much the same as the published version.

Maurice and Alec stay the night but there is NO hotel chapter written out. Their night together is only described in 4 lines at the beginning of the Southampton chapter as an "unwise escapade".

The scene thus goes from Maurice saying "To hell with with it" directly to him at the Southampton.

The end of the Southampton chapter as well as the farewell chapter with Clive conform to the 1914 version: i.e. no boathouse reunion.

Epilogue by 1932 had already been disregarded by Forster, so the only clue we have to the reunion between Maurice and Alec is Maurice's line "I've wired to him (that I understand)".

Therefore the 1932 version is the least hopeful in regards to the happy ending between Maurice and Alec.

1950's version:

Order: British Museum - Hotel - Southhampton - Boathouse - Penge with Clive

This is basically the final and published version that we all have read.

The hotel chapter was drafted out in 1952 and added to the 1932 manuscript.

But it wasn't until 1958 that Forster was able to finally and fully pen out how Maurice and Alec reunite at the boathouse.

It must be noted that Forster had troubles finding a way to bring Maurice and Alec together, and in fact refused to reunite them for decades. The boathouse reunion, Alec sending a wire to Maurice, and Maurice not receiving that wire but instinctively knowing where Alec is nonetheless—all were only conceived by Forster in 1958.

Therefore—and this is really the most touching and important part—according to scholars and editors of the Abinger edition...

"now we shan't be parted no more, and that's finished" were by logic the very last words Forster had written for the novel. Alec's promise marks the end of Maurice's search for a friend, as well as the end of Forster's writing progess for Maurice. It is both a fictional and a real-life farewell.

[godzilla-reads]

💜 Happy February 💜

[albertvictoria-art]

Drawing some secret lines on a secret artwork...✉️

[lucky-numberme]

"I see you're trapped in my gay and stupid maze again" — Flora Sutton, probably

3/20 Queer Book Draw Challenge: A Marvellous Light by @fahye

[ID: an illustration of Edwin and Robin in the hedge maze scene. They are surrounded by a holly hedge, which reaches out to them with thorny vines. Robin is in the background, pinned against a neoclassical statue. In the foreground, Edwin kneels, face racked and hair askew. The vines are wrapped around his arms, leaving cuts and scratches. All of his focus is on a palmful of dirt in his hand. Behind them, the sky has darkened to the point of storm. End ID]

[thebeautifulbook]

CATS OF MANY LANDS by Louis Wain (New York/Paris/London: Raphael Tuck, 1914).

source

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

October: White Redux

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang / Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious

What's that, you say? A touch of black has crept into our white costumes? Oh, just ignore it. I'm sure it means nothing.

This movie is set somewhere between 1900 and 1910, but this costume really just suggests it without going for strict historical accuracy. I'm pretty sure boas like that were not for day wear, and just what is that thing on her head? Nevertheless, it's cute, and good for dancing in. Looking at this in comparison with a couple other costumes from around the same time, I'm getting the feeling that piping was a popular thing around the end of the 1960s.

Notice the faint polka dots on the bow on the bodice front!

[intheblossomtree]

[soniaromir]

yearning

@ petticoar on instagram

[cinnamonscentedpages]

currently reading Lucy Maud Montgomery again. finally time for me to take my dresses out of the closet, eat pastries and see some beauty in life even when i feel like i have no energy for it, because with Lucy you have no choice but to feel joy and love and all the good things, and i'm just so grateful she wrote the way she did, and that i get to read it

[greypetrel]

Drink to all the lassies at the Jolly Roving Tar

Small Wip (not) Wednesday. The Whale AU got into fully original work. I have almost a full plot, and thinking that for a 100% original I had to of course change some things and find another Cullen... I remembered that my toxic trait is that I recycle characters.

The only question was: But do I ship them?

(yes, I do. I sketched them in a bar and two grandpas made a face at me. Which is my signal that an LGBTQ+ design is successful. The bed keeps being only one, of course.)