commclean485

[bloodmaarked]

➸ reading list

just added:

prophet, helen macdonald + sin blanché

our share of night, mariana enriquez

the sun and the void, gabriela romero-lacruz

a greek love: a novel of cuba, zoé valdés

the thursday murder club, richard osman

black england: a forgotten georgian history, gretchen gerzina

black people in the british empire, peter fryer

the end of men, christina sweeney-baird

the actor, chris macdonald

the black queen, jumata emill

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Violin Sect

Photo credit: Steve Jinks

Formed in 1980 and disbanded in 1981, the obscure Welsh post-punk band Violin Sect left behind just one seven-inch, “Highdays and Holidays/Rivals,” documenting their brief existence. In fact, they’ve flown so low on the radar since then that they were even overlooked for the Messthetics compilations, the CD series that brought the sounds of the many forgotten and amusingly-named UK DIY bands of their time and ilk to a (relatively) wider audience. This started to change in 2019, however, when Sect bassist Steve Walker posted a couple of previously unreleased songs that he’d dug up to Soundcloud, where Minimum Stacks label head Joe Piccirillo heard them as his label was just getting off the ground. Fast forward to 2023 and we have the Vile Insect 12-inch, featuring all four songs from the band’s short life transferred from the original ¼" tapes. The result, to Andrew Forrell of Dusted’s ears, is a mix of “dubby rhythms, scratchy post-punk guitar, whimsy and skepticism,” able to stand with Scritti Politti’s “Skank Bloc Bologna” and Swell Maps “Read About Seymour.” And thanks to this release, it’s finally in a position to reach the audience it deserves.

Although Walker’s bandmates — Steve Jinks (guitar), Phil Rimmell (drums) and Hywel Pontin (percussion and backing vocals) — were unavailable to take part, Walker has assembled a list of some of his favorite music, art and literature from his 67 years on earth for Dusted. “A snapshot within a snapshot,” if you will.

The Raincoats

I was lucky enough to catch a London gig by the Raincoats in 1979 around the time they released their first single. This year Gina Birch (bass/vocals), also 67, has released her first solo album, I Play My Bass Loud, and it’s been worth the wait. Here’s an early one from the first Raincoats LP, though.

Mica Levi — “Lips”

I got the same sort of excitement when I first heard Mica Levi, together with their bandmates in Micachu and the Shapes. Their work has continued to grow and encompasses other genres such as film soundtracks (e.g., Jackie).

Sufjan Stevens — “Video Game”

I first became aware of Sufjan Stevens with the release of Illinois and caught him at the end of his UK tour promoting it at King’s College London with a pared-down (although still with those wondrous wings) extra gig. In later years he was in Bristol on the Carrie & Lowell tour. Sublime. Here’s a later track with fabulous dancing.

Saul Leiter — In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life

I’ve spent a lifetime as a specialist nurse supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities to maintain and develop their independence together with practicing as a part time psychotherapist for the general public, within the UK’s National Health Service. During this time, I’ve drawn, painted, made music but mainly taken photos (since I was a kid with a darkroom). Maybe there’ll be an exhibition of my own one day but, like Saul Leiter, I’m used to “postponing things and seeing no reason to be in a rush.” For me, his exhibitions and photobooks have a magical quality that validate and inspire all at the same time.

Ivor Cutler

Ivor Cutler always had my heart but here’s an epic that didn’t feature on his own albums.

Angeline Morrison — The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience

In 2022 Angeline Morrison released an astonishing album… I’m afraid that I can’t stop myself recommending it to people! If you get a chance…

Paul Wright — Arcadia

Arcadia is a short film that explores Britain’s relationship with the earth, its secret pasts, hidden histories and collective amnesia using old film and TV footage in an exhilarating fashion.

Wet Leg — “Chaise Longue,” live at the BRIT Awards, 2023

A performance from the here and now, incorporating the past with the present in a truly WTF moment at the Brits!

Gretchen Gerzina — Black England

Books… so many books! So, here’s what I’m currently reading.

Anthony Gormley — Another Place

Finally… if ever in Liverpool, visit Crosby Beach and experience Antony Gormley’s sculpture. It consists of 100 cast iron figures facing towards the sea, (gradually becoming encrusted with barnacles, etc.) all modeled on Gormley’s own naked body.

[isfjmel-phleg]

With regard to the Secret Garden do you realize that it is not a novel, but a childs [sic] story though it is gravely beginning life as an important illustrated serial in a magazine for adults. … It is an innocent thriller of a story to which grown ups listen spell bound to my keen delight. Ella Hepworth Dixon said it was a sort of childrens [sic] Jane Eyre. I love it myself. There is a long deserted garden in it whose locked door is hidden by ivy and whose key has been buried for ten years. It contains also a sort of Faun who charms wild creatures and tame ones and there is a moorland cottage woman who is a sort of Madonna with twelve children—a warm bosomed, sane, wise, simple Mother thing. You only see her for a moment at the end of the book but she is the chief figure in it really. ‘Mother’ baking and washing in her cottage on the Yorkshire Moor makes all things happen merely because she is. There is a house on the edge of the moor (delightful thought) and a hundred rooms nearly all locked up—and a tiresome cry rather like the wind heard far off down mysterious corridors. And in the hidden garden—which I adore—many strange and lovely quite natural human things happen. Oh, I know quite well that it is one of my best finds.

--Frances Hodgson Burnett, October 9, 1910 letter to her English publisher, William Heinemann, quoted in an excerpt from Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Unexpected Life of the Author of The Secret Garden by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina in the Norton Critical Edition of The Secret Garden

[arabella-interstellar]

BRIDGERTON review (season one)

Charming capitalistic escapism or harmful post-racial fantasy?

Bridgerton is a Netflix original production based on the historical fiction-romance book series by Julia Quinn of the same name. In the highly competitive milieu of 1813 London´s high society, the youth from the aristocracy and upper class are introduced with the aim of finding suitable marriage partners. The story is occasionally narrated by Lady Whistledown who embodies the Gossip Girl of the nineteenth century and whose identity remains unknown. The narrative follows eight siblings of the Brigerton family, starting off with Daphne´s story in the first season. Daphne soon ends up in an unwanted engagement with a detestable lord due to her brother´s pressure. Meanwhile, Simon Basset, the new Duke of Hastings, returns to London and strikes up a faux courtship with Daphne to deter unwanted suitors and to fulfill his vow to remain unmarried. As their pretend relationship evolves, the couple unavoidably falls in love. Bridgerton offers a tantalizing glimpse into the glamorous world of Regency-era London… oh well, maybe in a parallel universe where reality takes a coffee break.

Is Bridgerton just another soapy Jane Austen-like adaptation with a little spice? Renowned for its compelling plotlines, sumptuous settings, and captivating characters, the show has also gained a lot of attention for the choice of colorblind casting. The series features a cast of mostly white and black actors, of which many are playing roles of characters that are part of the aristocracy or the upper class. The question of race is ignored throughout the story, except for a few almost invisible instances. It seems like the filmmakers were trying to create a post-racial society in the Era when the whole British economy was built upon slavery. Well, that decision is questionable, to say at least. And if they´re creating a fantasy world, where indeed there is no racial hierarchy, why was only one of the main characters black (Simon), and why weren´t, the siblings of Daphne mixed race as well, for example? And if it´s inclusivity that the filmmakers are aiming for, where are all the other races-  Asian, Latina, Middle-Eastern? Why is the representation limited to only black and white people?

Moreover, portrayals of this kind could be potentially harmful. Ignoring a huge and crucial part of Black history in the entertainment industry can cause ignorance of racism in the actual present-day society. This was highlighted by Gretchen Gerzina, an American author and academic mostly known for her work in the field of black history, “...people believe that this was the actual history. That´s the great danger. It gives people a pass to say, ´Oh, it was all right. They didn´t suffer and they were wealthy.´”

Just to set the record straight, I am wholeheartedly in favor of seeing racial diversity represented on screen, particularly in the roles portrayed by actors of color. However, when it comes to historical narratives, it´s essential to adhere to the facts. Unless the film is clearly positioned within the fantasy genre, in which case deviations from historical accuracy would be understandable. On Netflix, Bridgerton´s genres are labeled as "Romantic TV Dramas", "TV Dramas", and "TV Dramas Based on Books", therefore they avoided both labels "historical" and "fantasy". A viewer could thus assume that the racial representation is historically accurate. 

But regardless of the “inclusivity chaos”, Bridgerton can be praised for its captivatingly elegant mise-en-scéne, which is a feast for the viewer´s eyes. Its witty and very British humour, enjoyable acting performances, and dramatic storyline will make you binge-watch the whole series in a few days. Bridgerton offers escapism without the “racial burden” of the historical period, which perfectly illustrates capitalistic racial ignorance. Where we should seek the raw facts and uncomfortable truth, we get pure enjoyment with no second thoughts about the negative context. This series got me on the edge of an existential crisis… “To be, or not to be an ignorant capitalistic consumer?”

Works cited:

Gretchen Gerzina as cited in “‘why Is Bridgerton’s Race Twisting Acceptable?’ the Real Problem with the Show’s Black Fantasy.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 June 2023, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/12/bridgerton-queen-charlotte-race-black-fantasies-king-george.

[invisible-goats]

3, 16, and 20 for the end of year book ask, please!

What were your top five books of the year?

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

Black England: Life Before Emancipation - Gretchen Gerzina

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Fabulosa!: The Story of Polari, Britain’s Secret Gay Language - Paul Baker

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror - Joe Vallese (ed)

What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

I don't think any of the books I didn't enjoy were particularly hyped? I guess Death of a Nag since there was a Hamish MacBeth TV series in the 90s

What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Apprently the only book I read that came out this year was Camp Damascus, which I wasn't anticipating particularly but heard good things after it came out so picked it up from the local queer bookshop, and it definitely didn't disappoint

[randomberlinchick]

"But my high regard is not what the dead need or require, because they don’t need anything from me: they are dead. What I need from the dead, by contrast, is to try to comprehend how they lived and why, in the hope it might bring some insight into how we live and why. It’s perfectly obvious to me that white lady abolitionists were often paternalistic, that William Wilberforce’s Christian liberation theology considered negroes childlike innocents in need of protection, and that Harriet Jacobs seems to have mistaken British politeness and relative tolerance for equality before the law and full civil rights. It’s less obvious to me that my own subjectivity is so perfectly enlightened that my only attitude towards such people should be teleological pity or self-righteous contempt."

Full story here.

[eurekavalley]

If you’ve watched the wildly-popular Netflix series Bridgerton or the wonderful film The Personal History of David Copperfield starring Dev Patel, you might have experienced and appreciated what today’s podcast guest saw: People of color in a fictionalized dramatization of 18th and 19th Century Britain. But in Gretchen Gerzina’s case - and unlike most of us - she knows the back stories of the real lives of Black residents of Britain in those eras.  Professor Gerzina says she is drawn to “biographies and lives of those who cross boundaries of history, time, place or race” - that’s on her website - and her work is all about this.

(Her work Black London is available for free from Dartmouth College Library!)

[cupofteajones]

For the Love of the Regency: 10 Nonfiction Books Perfect for Bridgerton Fans

Excited that #Bridgerton Season 2 hits #Netflix today? After you binge watch the entire season, why not immerse yourself in Regency History with these nonfiction books! #bridgertonseason2 #books #TVSeries #regency

The Regency Era is a hot topic right now, especially with the highly popular Netflix series, Bridgerton making waves with audiences. So, of course, there will be a high enthusiasm for regency romances, from the classics (like Jane Austen) to the contemporary authors (like Alyssa Cole and Julia Quinn). But haven’t you ever wonder what the Regency era really was like? Want to discover the…

[blackbritishreader]

Why Black British History Matters: An American Perspective University of Central Lancashire, UK March 16th, 2017

Professor Gretchen Gerzina (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is visiting UCLan (University of Central Lancashire) to deliver a keynote address on ‘Why Black British History Matters: An American Perspective"

This talk is in part of a one-day symposium on 'What’s Happening in Black British History?’

Event info

FYI: Professor Gerzina’s BBC radio documentary Britain’s Black Past is still available on iPlayer:  http://blackbritishreader.tumblr.com/post/153377966850/professor-gretchen-gerzina-explores-a-largely 

[rivkat]

Read the whole thing, but:

But the significance of this knowledge is not solely that we get to feel superior to them. As cathartic as it is to prosecute dead people, after the fact – in that popular courtroom called “The Right Side of History” – when we hold up a mirror to the past, what we should see most clearly is our own reflection. The judgment goes both ways. Why didn’t every man, woman and child in Georgian England drop everything and dedicate their lives to the abolishment of slavery? Good question. I like to imagine the students of the future asking similar questions about us. Why did we buy iPhones when we knew the cobalt inside them could have been mined by children for subsistence wages? Why did we love cheap clothes when we knew yet more children made them? Why did we buy plastic water bottles, every day, for decades, when we knew they were environmentally disastrous? Now, as it was then, a minority of people do indeed dedicate their lives – and risk their livelihoods – to confront these things “too big to be seen”. Whatever the ideological imperfections of such people, they are at least doing what the great majority of people don’t do, which is, something. To realise that olden-timey people were self-contradictory hypocrites is like realising that bears shit in woods.

[pentecostwaite]

Thank you for the tag, @goldandnavy!

Favorite Color: For a long time I told myself it was green, when I was going through an embarrassingly naive Celtic Phase (TM) in high school. Then I convinced myself it was blue, because blue is Masculine and I Am A Masculine. Now I know it’s red, because gender doesn’t have a color and red makes me feel happy.

Currently Reading: Mr. & Mrs. Prince by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina in tandem with For Adam’s Sake by Allegra di Bonaventura. Both are social histories of 18th-century free and enslaved people of African descent living in New England. I’m trying to figure out a framework for writing about my own work in this field, so I’m reading as many similar studies as I can.

Last Song: “Lucky” by Hem. I bought this album when I was in graduate school and it instantly transports me back to my first late winter in Toronto, freezing to death in my bachelor apartment under street level, wrapped in a blanket, drinking too many toddies, and feverishly writing papers.

Last Series: My spouse and I just revisited the Granada Holmes series (Jeremy Brett) that I loved as a weirdo kid in the 1980s. I would beg to stay up and watch the series on PBS. And once I learned to program the VCR, going to bed and knowing there would be a Holmes episode waiting for me in the morning was a joy beyond belief. The series is every bit as good as I remembered it, and with the insight of an adult, so much better.

Last Film: We are rewatching Pirates of the Caribbean and pretending there were no sequels made, and that is a wonderful alternate universe to live in.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Savory, hands down.

Currently Working On: Mining 18th-century account books from my small New England hometown to find evidence of enslaved residents, and to learn about their lives and the kinds of labor they were made to perform. So far, in just one account book, I’ve found over 180 references to enslaved people. The history of slavery has been pretty much ignored in my hometown, and I’m working with the local museum (where I had my first job as a teenager!) to make these materials and my research available online for anyone to access. 

tagging just 5 this time around: @acrossthewavesoftime @chiropteracupola @exhausted-eternally @paulineagain @sir-bertrandbell

[amarguerite]

I've only ever read fiction before but I've been wanting to try some non fiction too, so both I guess.

Hmm ok so for fiction:

Stuff written during the Regency:

Evelina by Fanny Burney. Epistolary novel and coming-of-age novel about a young country miss who goes to London and has to learn social rules. I don't think Burney's stuff aged as well as Austen's, but this one if my favorite of hers.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The OG. The beginning of science fiction, arguably, depending on how you feel about Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World, or that thing Cyrano de Bergerac wrote where he says he flew to the moon using some geese.

Manfred by Lord Byron. I have a real soft spot for this uber dramatic, Gothic closet drama in verse. It is really nuts, but a real fun read.

Endymion by John Keats. Another epic poem, one which gives us "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." Contains what I think are some of Keats's most beautiful images outside La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Ode to a Nightingale.

Honorary mention to Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe here, which I loved as a kid, but I suspect did not age well. It's one of those novels that was really progressive, for 1819, in its treatment of Jewish characters, but I'm willing to bet that if you looked at it now, it would be Bad.

Stuff written about the Regency, much later:

Life-Mask, by Emma Donoghue. Warning, this book is extremely long and slow-paced, but so, so good. So chockful of details and complicated relationships between historical figures, and insights into the world of the Regency stage. Focuses half on the actress Elizabeth Farren and her rise in the world and eventual marriage to an Earl, and half on the lesbian sculptor Anne Damer.

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. It's a silly, fluffy romp about a spunky ingenue getting a fashionable himbo to help her have a Season in London. Great escapism.

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. The first of a twenty book epic adventure series, and the one you really need to read if you want to understand where everyone is on the ship at any given point in time.

Horatio Hornblower by C. S. Forster. Another epic naval adventure series. Not quite as fun as Master and Commander as the main character's very gloomy and depressed all the time, but my introduction to the Age of Sail, so it still holds a place in my heart.

In terms of Regency romances, I'm fond of Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, and Carla Kelly, but their historical accuracy is... suspect at times.

Honorable mention to the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwall, which I devoured, and love for their battle sequences... but every single female character gets a really raw deal in every single book. The BBC series is real fun, and features a young Sean Bean wearing very tight pants and shouting, "Bastard!" across the Iberian Peninsula.

Non-fiction:

Dress in the Age of Jane Austen by Hilary Davidson is my favorite book about the Regency ever, ever, ever. It's very serious fashion history that manages to touch on every aspect of Regency life. SO HELPFUL for fic stuff.

Black London by Gretchen Gerzina. Available free as an ebook!

I'm really fond of Elizabeth Longford's two volume biography of Wellington, Kate Williams’s biography of Emma, Lady Hamilton, and William Hague's biographies of William Pitt the Younger (Prime Minister for the early part of the Regency) and William Wilberforce (British politician credited with ending slavery). I have a love-hate relationship to Amanda Foreman's biography of Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire because it's a gripping read, but it felt at times like the author was really in love with her subject and let that bias her interpretation of sources.

[ijustkindalikebooks]

Interesting things I read this week.

[nellygwyn]

BOOK RECS

Okay, so lots of people wanted this and so, I am compiling a list of my favourite books (both fiction and non-fiction), books that I recommend you read as soon as humanly possible. In the meantime, I’ll be pinning this post to the top of my blog (once I work out how to do that lmao) so it will be accessible for old and new followers. I’m going to order this list thematically, I think, just to keep everything tidy and orderly. Of course, a lot of this list will consist of historical fiction and historical non-fiction because that’s what I read primarily and thus, that’s where my bias is, but I promise to try and spice it up just a little bit. 

Favourite fiction books of all time:

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock // Imogen Hermes Gowar

Sense and Sensibility // Jane Austen

Slammerkin // Emma Donoghue 

Remarkable Creatures // Tracy Chevalier

Life Mask // Emma Donoghue

His Dark Materials // Philip Pullman (this includes the follow-up series The Book of Dust)

Emma // Jane Austen

The Miniaturist // Jessie Burton

Girl, Woman, Other // Bernadine Evaristo 

Jane Eyre // Charlotte Brontë

Persuasion // Jane Austen

Girl with a Pearl Earring // Tracy Chevalier

The Silent Companions // Laura Purcell

Tess of the d’Urbervilles // Thomas Hardy

Northanger Abbey // Jane Austen

The Chronicles of Narnia // C.S. Lewis

Pride and Prejudice // Jane Austen

Goodnight, Mr Tom // Michelle Magorian

The French Lieutenant’s Woman // John Fowles 

The Butcher’s Hook // Janet Ellis 

Mansfield Park // Jane Austen

The All Souls Trilogy // Deborah Harkness

The Railway Children // Edith Nesbit

Favourite non-fiction books of all time

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman // Robert Massie

Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King // Antonia Fraser

Madame de Pompadour // Nancy Mitford

The First Iron Lady: A Life of Caroline of Ansbach // Matthew Dennison 

Black and British: A Forgotten History // David Olusoga

Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court // Lucy Worsley 

Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Katherine Howard, the Fifth Wife of Henry VIII // Gareth Russell

King Charles II // Antonia Fraser

Casanova’s Women // Judith Summers

Marie Antoinette: The Journey // Antonia Fraser

Mrs. Jordan’s Profession: The Story of a Great Actress and a Future King // Claire Tomalin

Jane Austen at Home // Lucy Worsley

Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames // Lara Maiklem

The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth // Anna Keay

The Marlboroughs: John and Sarah Churchill // Christopher Hibbert

Nell Gwynn: A Biography // Charles Beauclerk

Jurassic Mary: Mary Anning and the Primeval Monsters // Patricia Pierce

Georgian London: Into the Streets // Lucy Inglis

The Prince Who Would Be King: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart // Sarah Fraser

Wedlock: How Georgian Britain’s Worst Husband Met His Match // Wendy Moore

Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from the Stone Age to the Silver Screen // Greg Jenner

Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum // Kathryn Hughes

Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey // Nicola Tallis

Favourite books about the history of sex and/or sex work

The Origins of Sex: A History of First Sexual Revolution // Faramerz Dabhoiwala 

Erotic Exchanges: The World of Elite Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century Paris // Nina Kushner

Peg Plunkett: Memoirs of a Whore // Julie Peakman

Courtesans // Katie Hickman

The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in mid-Nineteenth Century England

Madams, Bawds, and Brothel Keepers // Fergus Linnane

The Secret History of Georgian London: How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital // Dan Cruickshank 

A Curious History of Sex // Kate Lister

Sex and Punishment: 4000 Years of Judging Desire // Eric Berkowitz

Queen of the Courtesans: Fanny Murray // Barbara White

Rent Boys: A History from Ancient Times to Present // Michael Hone

Celeste // Roland Perry

Sex and the Gender Revolution // Randolph Trumbach

The Pleasure’s All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex // Julie Peakman

LGBT+ fiction I love*

The Confessions of the Fox // Jordy Rosenberg 

As Meat Loves Salt // Maria Mccann

Bone China // Laura Purcell

Brideshead Revisited // Evelyn Waugh

The Confessions of Frannie Langton // Sara Collins

The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle // Neil Blackmore

Orlando // Virginia Woolf

Tipping the Velvet // Sarah Waters

She Rises // Kate Worsley

The Mercies // Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Oranges are Not the Only Fruit // Jeanette Winterson

Maurice // E.M Forster

Frankisstein: A Love Story // Jeanette Winterson

If I Was Your Girl // Meredith Russo 

The Well of Loneliness // Radclyffe Hall 

* fyi, Life Mask and Girl, Woman, Other are also LGBT+ fiction

Classics I haven’t already mentioned (including children’s classics)

Far From the Madding Crowd // Thomas Hardy 

I Capture the Castle // Dodie Smith 

Vanity Fair // William Makepeace Thackeray 

Wuthering Heights // Emily Brontë

The Blazing World // Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle

Murder on the Orient Express // Agatha Christie 

Great Expectations // Charles Dickens

North and South // Elizabeth Gaskell

Evelina // Frances Burney

Death on the Nile // Agatha Christie

The Monk // Matthew Lewis

Frankenstein // Mary Shelley

Vilette // Charlotte Brontë

The Mayor of Casterbridge // Thomas Hardy

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall // Anne Brontë

Vile Bodies // Evelyn Waugh

Beloved // Toni Morrison 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd // Agatha Christie

The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling // Henry Fielding

A Room With a View // E.M. Forster

Silas Marner // George Eliot 

Jude the Obscure // Thomas Hardy

My Man Jeeves // P.G. Wodehouse

Lady Audley’s Secret // Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Middlemarch // George Eliot

Little Women // Louisa May Alcott

Children of the New Forest // Frederick Marryat

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings // Maya Angelou 

Rebecca // Daphne du Maurier

Alice in Wonderland // Lewis Carroll

The Wind in the Willows // Kenneth Grahame

Anna Karenina // Leo Tolstoy

Howard’s End // E.M. Forster

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 // Sue Townsend

Even more fiction recommendations

The Darling Strumpet // Gillian Bagwell

The Wolf Hall trilogy // Hilary Mantel

The Illumination of Ursula Flight // Anne-Marie Crowhurst

Queenie // Candace Carty-Williams

Forever Amber // Kathleen Winsor

The Corset // Laura Purcell

Love in Colour // Bolu Babalola

Artemisia // Alexandra Lapierre

Blackberry and Wild Rose // Sonia Velton

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories // Angela Carter

The Languedoc trilogy // Kate Mosse

Longbourn // Jo Baker

A Skinful of Shadows // Frances Hardinge

The Black Moth // Georgette Heyer

The Far Pavilions // M.M Kaye

The Essex Serpent // Sarah Perry

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo // Taylor Jenkins Reid

Cavalier Queen // Fiona Mountain 

The Winter Palace // Eva Stachniak

Friday’s Child // Georgette Heyer

Falling Angels // Tracy Chevalier

Little // Edward Carey

Chocolat // Joanne Harris 

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street // Natasha Pulley 

My Sister, the Serial Killer // Oyinkan Braithwaite

The Convenient Marriage // Georgette Heyer

Katie Mulholland // Catherine Cookson

Restoration // Rose Tremain

Meat Market // Juno Dawson

Lady on the Coin // Margaret Campbell Bowes

In the Company of the Courtesan // Sarah Dunant

The Crimson Petal and the White // Michel Faber

A Place of Greater Safety // Hilary Mantel 

The Little Shop of Found Things // Paula Brackston

The Improbability of Love // Hannah Rothschild

The Murder Most Unladylike series // Robin Stevens

Dark Angels // Karleen Koen

The Words in My Hand // Guinevere Glasfurd

Time’s Convert // Deborah Harkness

The Collector // John Fowles

Vivaldi’s Virgins // Barbara Quick

The Foundling // Stacey Halls

The Phantom Tree // Nicola Cornick

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle // Stuart Turton

Golden Hill // Francis Spufford

Assorted non-fiction not yet mentioned

The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World // Deborah Cadbury

The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History to the Italian Renaissance // Catherine Fletcher

All the King's Women: Love, Sex, and Politics in the life of Charles II // Derek Jackson

Mozart’s Women // Jane Glover

Scandalous Liaisons: Charles II and His Court // R.E. Pritchard

Matilda: Queen, Empress, Warrior // Catherine Hanley 

Black Tudors // Miranda Kaufman 

To Catch a King: Charles II's Great Escape // Charles Spencer

1666: Plague, War and Hellfire // Rebecca Rideal

Henrietta Maria: Charles I's Indomitable Queen // Alison Plowden

Catherine of Braganza: Charles II's Restoration Queen // Sarah-Beth Watkins

Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses // Helen Rappaport

Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832 // Stella Tillyard 

The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of the Jamaican Slave who Became Samuel Johnson’s Heir // Michael Bundock

Black London: Life Before Emancipation // Gretchen Gerzina

In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon’s Wars, 1793-1815

The King’s Mistress: Scandal, Intrigue and the True Story of the Woman who Stole the Heart of George I // Claudia Gold

Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson // Paula Byrne

The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England // Amanda Vickery

Terms and Conditions: Life in Girls’ Boarding School, 1939-1979 // Ysenda Maxtone Graham 

Fanny Burney: A Biography // Claire Harman

Aphra Behn: A Secret Life // Janet Todd

The Imperial Harem: Women and the Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire // Leslie Peirce

The Fall of the House of Byron // Emily Brand

The Favourite: Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough // Ophelia Field

Night-Walking: A Nocturnal History of London // Matthew Beaumont, Will Self

Jane Austen: A Life // Claire Tomalin

Beloved Emma: The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton // Flora Fraser

Sentimental Murder: Love and Madness in the 18th Century // John Brewer

Henrietta Howard: King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant // Tracy Borman

City of Beasts: How Animals Shaped Georgian London // Tom Almeroth-Williams

Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion // Anne Somerset 

Charlotte Brontë: A Life // Claire Harman 

Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe // Anthony Summers

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day // Peter Ackroyd 

Elizabeth I and Her Circle // Susan Doran

African Europeans: An Untold History // Olivette Otele 

Young Romantics: The Shelleys, Byron, and Other Tangled Lives // Daisy Hay

How to Create the Perfect Wife // Wendy Moore

The Sphinx: The Life of Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough // Hugo Vickers

The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn // Eric Ives

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy // Barbara Ehrenreich

A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie // Kathryn Harkup 

Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II // Linda Porter

Female Husbands: A Trans History // Jen Manion

Ladies in Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day // Anne Somerset

Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country // Edward Parnell 

A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles // Ned Palmer

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine // Lindsey Fitzharris

Medieval Woman: Village Life in the Middle Ages // Ann Baer

The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York // Anne de Courcy

The Voices of Nîmes: Women, Sex, and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc // Suzannah Lipscomb

The Daughters of the Winter Queen // Nancy Goldstone

Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency // Bea Koch

Bess of Hardwick // Mary S. Lovell

The Royal Art of Poison // Eleanor Herman 

The Strangest Family: The Private Lives of George III, Queen Charlotte, and the Hanoverians // Janice Hadlow

Palaces of Pleasure: From Music Halls to the Seaside to Football; How the Victorians Invented Mass Entertainment // Lee Jackson

Favourite books about current social/political issues (?? for lack of a better term)

Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power // Lola Olufemi

Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Worker Rights // Molly Smith, Juno Mac

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race // Reni Eddo-Lodge

Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows // Christine Burns

Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism // Alison Phipps

Trans Like Me: A Journey For All Of Us // C.N Lester

Brit(Ish): On Race, Identity, and Belonging // Afua Hirsch 

The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence, and Cultural Restitution // Dan Hicks

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living // Jes M. Baker

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminists Forgot // Mikki Kendall

Denial: Holocaust History on Trial // Deborah Lipstadt

Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape // Jessica Valenti, Jaclyn Friedman

Don’t Touch My Hair // Emma Dabiri

Sister Outsider // Audre Lorde 

Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen // Amrou Al-Kadhi

Trans Power // Juno Roche

Breathe: A Letter to My Sons // Imani Perry

The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment // Amelia Gentleman

Happy Fat: Taking Up Space in a World That Wants to Shrink You // Sofie Hagen

Diaries, memoirs & letters

The Diary of a Young Girl // Anne Frank

Renia’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust // Renia Spiegel 

Writing Home // Alan Bennett

The Diary of Samuel Pepys // Samuel Pepys

Histoire de Ma Vie // Giacomo Casanova

Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger // Nigel Slater

London Journal, 1762-1763 // James Boswell

The Diary of a Bookseller // Shaun Blythell 

Jane Austen’s Letters // edited by Deidre la Faye

H is for Hawk // Helen Mcdonald 

The Salt Path // Raynor Winn

The Glitter and the Gold // Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough

Journals and Letters // Fanny Burney

Educated // Tara Westover

Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading // Lucy Mangan

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? // Jeanette Winterson

A Dutiful Boy // Mohsin Zaidi

Secrets and Lies: The Trials of Christine Keeler // Christine Keeler

800 Years of Women’s Letters // edited by Olga Kenyon

Istanbul // Orhan Pamuk

Henry and June // Anaïs Nin

Historical romance (this is a short list because I’m still fairly new to this genre)

The Bridgerton series // Julia Quinn

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover // Sarah Mclean

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake // Sarah Mclean

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics // Olivia Waite

That Could Be Enough // Alyssa Cole

Unveiled // Courtney Milan

The Craft of Love // EE Ottoman

The Maiden Lane series // Elizabeth Hoyt

An Extraordinary Union // Alyssa Cole

Slightly Dangerous // Mary Balogh

Dangerous Alliance: An Austentacious Romance // Jennieke Cohen

A Fashionable Indulgence // KJ Charles

[librelivrevivre]

Books and podcasts about black history/struggle around the world

BOOKS

- Paris Noir: African-Americans in the City of Light by Tyler Stovall

- Invisible Woman: Growing Up Black in Germany by Ika Hugel-Marshall

- Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany by Hans J. Massaquoi

- Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer

- Black Britannia: A History of Blacks in Britain by Edward Scobie

- Hitler's Black Victims: The Historical Experiences of Afro-Germans, European Blacks, Africans, and African Americans in the Nazi Era by Clarence Lusane

- Black London: Life Before Emancipation by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina

- Daughters of Africa by Margaret Busby (Editor)

- Black Poppies: Britain's Black Community and the Great Warby Stephen Bourne

- Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga

- Black France / France Noire: The History and Politics of Blackness by Trica Danielle Keaton (Editor)

- Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography by Mark Mathabane

- Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa by Antjie Krog

- No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu

- I Write What I Like: Selected Writings by Steve Biko

- Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

- Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

- Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

- Black in Latin America by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

- African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean by Herbert S. Klein

- Landscapes of Freedom: Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia by Claudia Leal

- The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution by Julius Scott

PODCASTS

- Talking Heads

- Jesus & Jollof

- Not Another Book Podcast

[my18thcenturysource]

Our Collective 18th Century Library

This is a selection of books about the 18th century fashion, history, beauty, and life. Most of them in my personal library or have consulted but have not bought (yet). This post is going to be edited with more books added and reblogged for all to see, that’s why I called this post “our collective 18th century library”, from me to you all and then for you all to all of us.

Please add other books you have in your collections or you’ve read! And if you could keep the format (cover photo, book info, a little comment, the themes we can find in the book, and the link of where to find them), it will be consistently useful for everyone!

Let’s start:

ART

Casta Painting: Images of Race in Eighteenth-Century Mexico, by Ilona Katzew, Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN-10: 0300109717

Casta painting is a whole genre created in Mexico for depicting the population of the New Spain, and it’s whole purpose was to show the Spanish King what an organised viceroyalty it was, and how everyone has their proper place, even if that was not entirely true.

Themes: fashion (for visual reference), castas, race, Mexico, New Spain, Viceroyalty, the Americas, Mexico City, art, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Waterstones

Painted in Mexico, 1700-1790: Pinxit Mexici, edited by Ilona Katzew, Prestel Publishing, 2017, ISBN: 978-3-7913-5677-8

The book from the exhibition about art made in Mexico City during the 18th century.

Themes: art, portraits, casta painting, Mexico, Mexico City, Viceroyalty, New Spain, the Americas, castas, religion, catholicism, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / Amazon (Spanish version) / Target /  Waterstones

HISTORY

A History of Private Life, Volume III: Passions of the Renaissance, Edited by Roger Chartier, Series edited by Phillippe Ariès, Harvard University Press, 1993, ISBN 9780674400023

The life or ordinary people from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, centered in Europe and especially France, you’ll read about the everyday lives of women and children, common men, education, marriage and well, the private life. This whole series (of 5 volumes) is worth each penny.

Themes: everyday life, history, women, Europe, France, children, education, Renaissance, Enlightenment, 16th century, 17th century, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / Harvard University Press

A History of Private Life, Volume IV: From the Fires of Revolution to the Great War, Edited by Michelle Perrot, Series edited by Phillippe Ariès, Harvard University Press, 1993, ISBN 9780674400030

The first part is 18th century and deals with life pre, during and after French Revolution.

Themes: everyday life, history, women, Europe, France, children, education, Enlightenment, French Revolution, Victorian, Belle Epoque, WWI, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century.

Available at: Amazon / Harvard University Press

Black London: Life Before Emancipation, by Gretchen Gerzina, Rutgers University Press, 1995, ISBN-10: 0813522722

A glimpse into the lives of the thousands of Africans living in eighteenth century London.

Themes: everyday life, history, race, black, African, England, London, slavery, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / You can also download it for FREE (ha! who needs Amazon now?)

Historia De La Vida Cotidiana En México 3: El siglo XVIII: entre la tradición y el cambio, by Pilar Gonzalbo Aizpuru, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2012. ISBN-10: 9681677188

Common life in Mexico during the 18th century, from fashion, food and the markets, to the everyday life of mining cities, children and monks. This is book is a key reference for starting to read about the life of common people in the New Spain. Part of a series from the prehispanic times to the 20th century.

Themes: fashion, food, everyday life, New Spain, Mexico, Viceroyalty, The Americas, castas, mining, religion, catholicism, education, childhood, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / Cambridge University Press / Fondo de Cultura Económica

FASHION

Auguste Racinet. The Costume History (Bibliotheca Universalis), Françoise Tétart-Vittu, Taschen, 2019, ISBN-10: 3836555409

I wanted to describe my undying love for this book, but I’m just gonna copy Taschen’s description: “Racinet’s Costume History is a landmark in the study of clothing and fashion. This reprint presents Racinet’s exquisitely precise color illustrations, as well as his delightful descriptions and witty commentary. From Eskimo attire to high French couture, this is an unrivalled encyclopedia for students, designers, artists, illustrators, and historians, and anyone interested in style.” So, yeah, this 19th century book rules.

Themes: fashion, interior design, furniture, 18th century, 19th century, fashion history, ancient times, middle ages, renaissance, baroque, rococo, victorian, menswear, womenswear.

Available at: Amazon / Taschen

Costume in Detail: 1730-1930, Nancy Bradfield, Quite Specific Media Group Ltd, 1999, ISBN-10: 0896762173

Focused on womenswear, Nancy Bradfield shares with all of us detailed illustrations and descriptions, as well as good information about fashion, garments, shapes, finishings, etc, of extant garments in private collections. A wonderful reference book for reproducing fashion and for illustrations or authors who want to give their character accurate fashion.

Themes: fashion,womenswear, extant garments, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century.

Available at: Amazon / Book Depository

Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century, by Harold Koda, Andrew Bolton, Mimi Hellman, Metropolitan Museum of Art 2006, ISBN-10: 0300107145

The book from a long gone exhibition at the Met Museum, it has extant clothes, good info, and the links between fashion and furniture design that make us perceive both as purely 18th century.

Themes: fashion, interior design, furniture, museum collections, extant garments, exhibition, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fashion, A history from the 18th to the 20th century, by Akiko Fukai, Taschen 25th anniversary edition, 2007.

A basic fashion history book starting in the 18th century from the amazing collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute.

Themes: fashion, womenswear, menswear, embroidery, accessories, museum collection, extant garments, England, France, Europe, undergarments, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century.

Available at: Amazon in 1 volume and 2 volumes set.

Gallery of Late-Seventeenth-Century Costume: 100 Engravings, Caspar Luyken, Dover Publications, 2003, ISBN-10: 0486429865

Reprint of a collection of plates by Dutch engraver Caspar Luyken published in 1694. It shows men and women of different social classes and occupations. A key reference when looking for 17th century contemporary source material.

Themes: fashion, menswear, womenswear, Dutch, engraving, plates, 17th century, baroque, late 17th century, contemporary source.

Available at: Amazon / Dover Books

Historic Costumes and How to Make Them (Dover Fashion and Costumes), by Mary Fernald and Eileen Shenton, Dover Publications, 2006, ISBN-10: 0486449068

From the Middle Ages to the 19th century fashion, this book is a nice resource for theatrical costuming and has good but basic bits of historical fashion information. I recommend not to buy with no previous patternmaking and fashion background, since the diagrams are quite vague, and the descriptions even more. I personally only have used this book for reference of Medieval and early Renaissance fashion (which to be fair, are quite simple). Also, it is centered in English fashions.

Themes: fashion, theatre, menswear, womenswear, middle ages, renaissance, tudors, elizabethan, georgian, victorian, 15th century, 16th century, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century.

Available at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Dover Publications / Waterstones

How to Read a Dress, A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century, Lydia Edwards, Bloomsbury Academic, 2017, ISBN-10: 1472533275

This books is very pretty and rather basic, it could be a really nice starting point for anyone getting an interest in fashion history. I’ve read reviews that it is “insultingly basic” which I do not get, I mean, if you cannot explain something in such a basic way that a child can get it, then you do not really master that subject. This books has pretty interesting info and it is a walkthrough of key silhouettes and extant garments, so it is not deeply detailed nor shows each and every silhouette of every decade of every century.

Themes: fashion, womenswear, gown, dresses, extant garments, museums, Europe, 16th century, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century.

Available at: Amazon / Bloomsbury

Men's Garments 1830-1900: A Guide to Pattern Cutting and Tailoring, R. I. Davis and William-Alan Landes, Players Press, 1996, ISBN-10: 0887346480

A whole book only for menswear starting with the Regency silhouette and its very particular form until the turn of the 20th century. Yes. It is pretty good, I have to say, for all our Victorian outfit needs for the gentleman. I recommend this book (and the 2nd one on 19th and 20th centuries) for people with some knowledge of construction, grading, fitting, patternmaking, and tailoring, since it does not offer much sewing advice.

Themes: fashion, menswear, accessories, patternmaking, plates, 19th century, 20th century.

Available at: Amazon / Waterstones

Men's Seventeenth & Eighteenth Century Costume: Cut and Fashion, R. I. Davis and William-Alan Landes, Players Press, 2000, ISBN-10: 0887346375

My personal love for menswear is fueled by this book that details the suits, coats and tailcoats from the 17th and 18th centuries. It includes military fashion and other everyday clothes like breeches, capes, waistcoats, etc. via plates, figures, diagrams and texts. I recommend this book (and the 1st one on 19th and 20th centuries) for people with some knowledge of construction, grading, fitting, patternmaking, and tailoring, since it does not offer much sewing advice.

Themes: fashion, menswear, accessories, patternmaking, plates, 17th century, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / Book Depository

Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction C. 1660-1860, by Janet Arnold, Drama Publishers, 2005, ISBN-10: 9780896760264

THE key source of patterns of extant garments, this series of books are the result of constant research on garments from museums, with details and info on construction, history and fashion details. You know, the kind of information you could only get with those garments in your hands.

So, as a resume, in this list there’s only the books with 18th century info in them, BUT you should actually have ALL of the Patterns of Fashion books.

Themes: fashion, womenswear, England, extant garments, museums, Europe, patternmaking, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century.

Available at: Amazon 

Patterns of Fashion 5: the content, cut, construction & contexto of bodies, stays, hoops & rumps, c 1595-1795, by Janet Arnold, Jenny Tiramani, Luca Costigliolo, Sebastien Passot, Armelle Lucas and Johannes Pietsch, The School of Historical Dress, 2019

The new book from the series is about undergarments from the 16th to the 18th century. It is only available through the store of the School of Historical Dress. Probably the best spent £35.

Themes: fashion, undergarments, stays, womenswear, England, extant garments, museums, Europe, patternmaking, 16th century, 17th century, 18th century.

Available at: The School of Historical Dress

Pictorial Encyclopedia of Historic Costume: 1200 Full-Color Figures, Karl Rohrbach (Author), Albert Kretschmer (Compiler), Dover Fashion and Costumes, 2007, ISBN-10: 0486461424

A reprint of Die Trachten Der Völker from 1906, this book, this is a great great encyclopedic work of fashion history, from ancient Egypt to late 19th century. It includes clothes for people of different social backgrounds, accessories, jewels, shoes, etc. I think that for the fashion history lover, the Rohrbach+Racinet combo is a must.

Themes: fashion, interior design, furniture, 18th century, 19th century, fashion history, ancient times, middle ages, renaissance, baroque, rococo, victorian, menswear, womenswear.

Available at: Amazon / Dover Publications

The Lady's Guide to Plain Sewing, Book I, Kathleen Kannik, ISBN 10: 0-9640161-0-9

References and tips for plain hand sewing, a key reference to achieve basic stitches that are historically accurate. It includes basic construction of items and some decorative techniques. Many of these techniques are still used in couture. This book is part 1 of a set of 4.

Themes: fashion, undergarments, womenswear, menswear, sewing, stitches, techniques, how to, patternmaking, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, couture.

Available at: Kannik’s Korner / Amazon (kindle edition) / Amazon

The Lady's Guide to Plain Sewing, Book II, Kathleen Kannik, ISBN 0-9640161-2-5

More sewing stuff with additional stitches and seam techniques, gather attachments, button making, gussets, re-enforcements, cord making, and an 18th century alphabet for cross stitching. This book is part 2 of a set of 4.

Themes: fashion, undergarments, womenswear, menswear, sewing, stitches, techniques, how to, patternmaking, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, couture.

Available at: Kannik’s Korner / Amazon

The Workman's Guide to Tailoring Stitches and Techniques, Kathleen Kannik, ISBN 0-9640161-4-1

Now it’s time for historical tailoring stitches and techniques. This book is part 3 of a set of 4.

Themes: fashion, tailoring, menswear, sewing, stitches, techniques, how to, patternmaking, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century.

Available at: Kannik’s Korner / Amazon

The Lady's Economical Assistant or, The Art of Cutting Out, and Making, The most useful Articles of Wearing Apparel, Without waste; Explained by the Clearest directions, and Numerous Engravings, of Appropriate and Tasteful Patterns, ISBN 0-9640161-3-3

A re-drawn publication of a 1808 book, with cutting directions and patterns for infant clothes, girls, boys, some for men and women, and linens. Many illustrations and a supplement. This book is part 4 of a set of 4.

Themes: fashion, undergarments, kidswear, children, babies, infants, womenswear, menswear, sewing, stitches, techniques, how to, patternmaking, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century.

Available at: Kannik’s Korner / Amazon

The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking: How to Hand Sew Georgian Gowns and Wear Them With Style, by Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox, Page Street Publishing, 2017, ISBN-10: 1624144535

This book is such a good starting point for a 18th century wardrobe, since it walks you through the key outfits of the century in a simple and clear way. I think a background in patternmaking is a plus, especially for the most complex projects, but the basics are easy to follow.

Themes: fashion, patternmaking, how to, womenswear, 18th century.

Available at: Amazon / American Duchess

BEAUTY

18th Century Hair & Wig Styling: History & Step-by-Step Techniques, Kendra Van Cleave, Nice One, ISBN-10: 0692220437

Kendra van Cleave have been everyone’s guide into the 18th century beauty and hair (and of course, costuming) for quite a long time, thanks to her blog, Démodé, and now she published this well researched book with easy to follow instructions for all kinds of 18th century hairstyles. So, go get your wig and get to work. Also, at the book’s website there some videos, and at her blog you can find even more resources, tutorials, etc.

Themes: fashion, beauty, hair, wigs, 18th century, how to.

Available at: Amazon / 18th Century Hair Website

The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty: 40 Projects for Period-Accurate Hairstyles, Makeup and Accessories, by Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox, Page Street Publishing, 2019, ISBN-10: 1624147860

I KNOW this is not available yet, but I think it will be at least as good as the fashion one. Already on my pre-order list, it will be available on July 9th.

Themes: hair, hairstyles, hair and makeup, makeup, accessories, how to, womenswear, 18th century. Available at: Amazon / American Duchess