
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Smith
One of the most engaging and romance-novel-like yet true stories of the 19th century has to be that of a lady named Juana María de
One of the most engaging and romance-novel-like yet true stories of the 19th century has to be that of a lady named Juana María de
Spring. It’s just around the corner, right? Right? That’s what the little green pips of bulbs in my yard are trying to tell me. I’m
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, a popular weekly magazine published in London between 1822 and 1847, ran the following short piece in its
One of the joys of leafing through the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is running across slang expressions and figures of speech still in
Feeling clever? Historically clever? Then let’s play What the Heck is That? the game where I show you some 19th century object, and you get
If anyone in the 19th century was going to celebrate Christmas in a truly outstanding fashion, you know that person had to be Queen Victoria,
Used bookstores. Is there anything better than an afternoon spent hunting through the shelves and stacks in one? As delightful as a new bookstore is,
I love Thanksgiving food. I know it’s fashionable to hate on the usual turkey and gravy, but I love them. Green beans with almonds are
Last month I discussed what the nearsighted young ladies of the 19th century did to avoid walking into walls and other people (though walking into
I am, alas, blind as a bat. I’ve worn glasses since fourth grade (and probably needed them in third), and just can’t imagine what I
Modern readers can certainly understand how Almack’s was the place to be, the most exclusive of exclusive social venues, because that concept is timeless…but there’s
If you’ve read much historical fiction set in Great Britain, you may have run across the word Michaelmas—there’s Michaelmas term at Oxford and Cambridge (and
As we’ve seen in previous posts, World War I impinged on daily life in America possibly more than any previous war…especially in terms of what