The Dandy's Perambulations

Read at Internet Archive

Loretta reports:

2NHG readers familiar with my books will have long ago discerned my infatuation with elegantly dressed men.  With rare exceptions—when I go to the other extreme—my heroes contrive to appear point-device, no matter what the circumstances.

This was why I responded to a frantic text from Isabella, who was at the Artist/ Rebel/ Dandy: Men of Fashion exhibition at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum last summer (see her post here), and made a mad dash to catch the show on the last day. 

My reward was a sublime experience, one of whose high points was a chance to see some of the Cruikshank dandies caricatures at full size, rather than on a computer screen or in a book.  The artistry and humor truly comes across, and I was so impressed that I used a caricature in a scene in my latest book.

Read at Internet Archive

So imagine my delight when I came across this little gem, Robert Cruikshank's The Dandy’s Perambulations (1819) at the Internet Archive.

It was hard to choose images to post, but I picked these because the dandies are riding the latest high tech vehicles, sometimes called perambulators, but more often velocipedes.  While bicycles are a great mode of transportation—exercise & energy efficiency—one doesn’t think of them as chic, necessarily.  But at the time of this little book, it’s quite a (dangerous) fad.  You can learn more about the vehicle here at Jane Austen's World.


Clicking on the captions will allow you to read at the source, where you can where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.