
Governesses, Part 1: The Original Home-Schoolers
They’re a stock figure in fiction in and about the 19th century, from Charlotte Bronte to Georgette Heyer, who populated many of her stories with

They’re a stock figure in fiction in and about the 19th century, from Charlotte Bronte to Georgette Heyer, who populated many of her stories with

A portion of this post first appeared on the CrimeReads, a blog dedicated to books about crime true and fictional, around the time when MARIAN

A portion of this post first appeared on the CrimeReads, a blog dedicated to books about crime true and fictional, in conjunction with the
Not born but made, William hides from the world, dependent on a Swiss banker and an enigmatic Englishwoman for his survival.

In these days when young women can participate in pretty much any sport they choose, it’s easy to forget that little more than a hundred

One of the surest signs of spring in New England is the sudden disappearance of popsicles and ice cream sandwiches from local grocery stores’ freezers
I’ve been fortunate to acquire a number of issues of a 19th century British magazine called The Mirror, dating from 1824 and 1825. They make

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

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,
Some time around late July every year, a very odd thing would happen in 19th century London: anyone who was anyone (if you know what
This is a brief article from the April 3, 1824 edition of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, which was sort of the Reader’s