Hardwick Hall, the model for Athcourt

Hardwick Hall 1813

Loretta reports:

Because readers seem to be very interested in the posts about locales and vehicles mentioned in Lord of Scoundrels*, I'm continuing the visual guide.

Athcourt, where Lord Dain resided, is on the fringes of Dartmoor.  It’s based, however, on Hardwick Hall, which is in Derbyshire.  But there are moors there, too, and Hardwick Hall certainly is atmospheric.  I chose it because it looked like the sort of place Dain would have grown up in and because I had a picture of it in cross-section—so helpful in seeing the movie in one’s head.  Since a great deal of action takes place in this house, the cross-section was invaluable.


You can see a black and white version of the cross section here.


The National Trust publication about Hardwick Hall includes a cross section in color, as well as many interior views, including the Long Gallery, down which Dominick runs au naturel. Below is a Victorian pseudo-Elizabethan view of the gallery, but it hasn't changed much.

*Yes, still celebrating the book’s 20th anniversary.

Images: North View of Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire and
Interior View of the Hall at Hardwick, by John Buckler (1813), courtesy Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Gallery image from The Mansions of England in the Olden Time, Vol 2, 1870

Keeping Warm: Carriage Boots for Ladies, 1880-1900

Isabella reporting,

Winter is definitely here in all its February bluster, and keeping warm involves as many layers as possible. But whenever Loretta and I look at the fashionable clothes from the past, we always wonder exactly how those ladies kept warm in the days before central heating

In the later decades of the 19th c., carriage boots came to the rescue - at least for the affluent ladies who had not only the boots, but the carriages in which to wear them. Carriage boots were worn on the way to balls and dinners, protecting dainty evening slippers and keeping feet in silk stocking warm. (This furry footwarmer was another option.)

Some were worn over the slippers, while others were exchanged for shoes on arrival. The ones in collections seem to be primarily American - though I don't know if this is because they were a practical but showy fashion favored by Americans, or because it was colder in America.

The boots were designed for luxurious warmth, and usually lined with fur. The outer fabric was most often understated black velvet or silk, tied with black ribbons, and always tastefully appropriate for evening (like these.) But as the three pairs here show, even a carriage boot could make a fashion statement.

The boots, c. 1880-1890, top left, come from the Russian virtual shoe museum known as Shoe Icons. It's the undulating emerald green velvet that really makes these special. Did they match a special evening gown, or were they just made to suit a lady with flamboyant taste?

The flat wool boots, right, (from the Brooklyn Museum Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) aren't quite as fashion-forward, but they do make a statement. The patterned wool fabric is actually a wide ribbon, most likely designed for the upholstery trade. Despite their date (1870-1890), they look very street-style modern - almost like fur-lined high-tops.

And then there are these boots, c. 1900, lower left, from the Bata Shoe Museum. These must have been the highest of high-end carriage boots. They're made of cream-colored silk brocade, and lined with matching mink. Luxury, indeed.

Think carriage boots look more cozy and chic than a pair of Uggs? One of our TNHG friends, American Duchess, sells replicas of historical footwear - and among their newest models are these 1880s carriage boots.

Fashions for February 1842

February 1842 fashions

 Loretta reports:

Today we make another visit to the fashions of Victoria’s reign.  Since hers was a lo-o-o-ong one, there’s quite a bit of fashion.  This is from the earlier Victorian era, before the really big skirt spread.

You'll notice a different approach to hair styles from those of the 1820s and 1830s.  While those went riotously upward, these put the emphasis at the back of the head, in keeping with the downward slope of shoulders and close-fitting sleeves.
                                                                   
Fashions from the Magazine of the Beau Monde for February 1842, courtesy Oxford University via Google Books. 
Please click on images to enlarge. 

Breakfast Links: Week of January 26, 2015

Fresh for your weekend reading pleasure: our weekly round-up of fav links to other web sites, blogs, articles, and images, gathered for you via Twitter.
• The Waterloo hero, his daughter, her lover, and a duel: silver recalls a scandalous elopement.
• East Sheen Cemetery and the stunningly beautiful angel of death.
• Magnificent hauberk: ceremonial mail shirt of silvered and gilded copper, Transylvania, 1550-1600.
• Discovering Prince Demah, an 18th c. African-American artist.
• Nearly 150 years after his death, Robert E. Lee's descendants are still determined to keep his papers from historians.
• "Eat! Eat! Eat!" Those notorious early 20th c. tapeworm diet pills.
• Buying Queen Victoria's cast-off clothing, 1881.
• Street names of London: wine, mutant swans...and Star Trek?
• Working class suffragists of the East End.
• Image: Rosary bead from North France, c.1500: one side is Death, the other a pair of lovers.
• Tour Paris with the Marquis de Sade as your guide.
• The 1788 scandal of Fanny Apthorp never dies.
• Entertaining online costume resource: Le Costume Historique.
• The beautiful geometry of 18th c. forts built by the British in the American colonies.
• The London Frost Fair on the Thames, 1683-84.
• Dishonorable discharge: military ritual degradation & Dreyfuss in 1895.
• Image: Ancient art deco style: Egyptian cosmetics case, 1279-1212 BC.
• A wealthy New York City family is tragically lost at sea in a steamship disaster after their daughter is presented at Court, 1854.
• A humorous guide to Victorian "railway phrases," many still relevant today.
• Sewing shrouds: the 19th c. girl shroud-makers of New York.
• Naughty nuns, flatulent monks, and other surprises of sacred medieval manuscripts.
• Image: A cautionary 17th c. woodcut: a warning against the dangers of swearing.
• Gorgeous book covers from the Folger Library collection.
• The unfulfilled promise of the Crock-Pot, an unlikely symbol from the 1970s of women's equality.
• Dark arts: the painter Hans Holbein and the court of Henry VIII.
• Barns are painted red because of the physics of dying stars.
• Image: A gentleman's cabriolet, 1820-1830.
• Ingenious solution for writing scores: 1935 Keaton Music Typewriter.
• "You need not run; you are done for": a case of attempted wife murder & Victorian Broadmoor.
• Sentimental jewels of colonial Australia.
• In honor of the 202nd anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, the NYPL selected their twelve most quotable lines.
• Just for fun: Is it safe to walk your dog in a blizzard? Charting the snow depth in Boston this week by dog-height. Stay inside, Fido!
• Hungry for more? Follow us on Twitter @2nerdyhistgirls for fresh updates daily.

Friday Video: New York City in a Blizzard, 1902

Isabella reporting,

By now everyone has heard how New York City was braced for a monumental blizzard that never happened (though the people to the north who did get walloped would have appreciated NYC taking their share of the snow first.)

This short film, however, shows a storm that did materialize, over a hundred years ago. Filmed on February 17, 1902,  the clip offers a panorama of Madison Square, and with it, a sweeping impression of a busy city street at the turn of the 20th century.

Clearly there are no crosswalks or traffic signals, with people freely wandering about in the street, even if it means dodging street cars, horses, carriages, and dogs. Early into the clip, there's even a horse-drawn fire apparatus racing towards the camera, with the team of horses slipping in the snow. Snow is piled everywhere, and without plows, there are men with shovels - none of whom seem to be working particularly hard. Really, there's so much packed into these couple of minutes, that each time you watch it you'll discover something else.

New York City in a Blizzard, February 17, 1902, directed by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company. Library of Congress.