Publishing with Paper & Ink

Susan reports:

My last visit to Colonial Williamsburg this spring happened to coincide with the American release of Apple's new iPad, the electronic device that has all of publishing holding their collective breaths. Worry not: a lengthy discussion of how exactly the iPad and other e-readers will ultimately change our concept of books has no place here in our small, historically nerdy-girl world. But as I stood in the printer's shop at CW, my head spun with the enormous difference between Now, and Then.

In the 1770s, the printer owned the actual printing press and the business. The printer oversaw the business, taking orders as well as editing the copy, and often even writing it as well. In the case of newspapers, the printer's duties could also include choosing which articles to "borrow" from other papers (for this is well before copyrighting) and selling and writing advertisements and public notices for lost property.

All printed matter began with movable type, one single cast-lead letter at a time. The best type was Dutch or French, and costly enough that an average printer set each page or signature at time, ran off the number of sheets required, and then broke up the type to reuse it. The compositor arranged the type and each page's layout; this required both skill and literacy as well as an "eye," especially since everything was done entirely in reverse. The pressman was hired more for brawn than brains, working the heavy wooden press and making the impression into the paper. Together the pair created the printed page, but even working as a team, it wasn't a speedy process. Setting type for a single newspaper page could take twenty-five hours or more; for the single page of a book, composition could take six hours.

Six hours! And that didn't preparing the paper, inking the type, making the impression, or drying the sheets, and it certainly didn't include the cutting, trimming, stitching, and binding that were part of the bookbinder's trade. (See here for more step-by-step information about 18th c. printing.) As I watched the demonstration, I thought of this blog, and how quickly I can "publish" my writing for readers by way of Blogger. In less than an hour's time, I can write a blog, choose and size my illustrations, "compose" it, and then with a single ink-free finger, distribute it to all of you around the world. What 18th c. printer could even conceive of such a luxury?  Or, in turn, how can I imagine reverting to such a laborious and time-consuming process?

But there was one distinct part of the CW printer's shop that felt exactly the same: the owner of the shop in the 1770s was a woman – the wonderfully named Clementina Rind.

Interested in reading an 18th c. newspaper like the one being printed on the press in Colonial Williamsburg, above? Here are all the issues of The Virginia Gazette from 1774, page by page.

Dance Sensations of 1820

Loretta reports:

It was interesting to find, in the Fashions sections of the 1820 La Belle Assemblée, illustrations and descriptions of Parisian dances.  I can only assume that these were the latest fashions in dance.  What I can’t quite figure out, is how exactly the dances go.  This is not surprising.  When visting Colonial Williamsburg, I succumbed (against my better judgment) to the interpreters’ invitation to try 18th century dancing.  It was deuced difficult, and I continue amazed that I didn’t fall on my face or cause any injuries among the participants.  I decided to stick to writing.

Maybe some of those CW folks will recognize these.

No. 2.—A GROUP OF PARISIAN DANCERS.
The dance here represented, is known by the appellation of De l’Eté. The first couple advance forward, and chassez; then chassez back again across; which figure is repeated twice back again; the gentlemen then each performs the figure of balancez to his partner, whom he turns round, and which finishes the figure.

No. 2.—SECOND GROUP OF PARISIAN DANCERS.  FIGURE DANCE TO THE QUADRILLE MUSIC OF L'HORATIA.

The music of this dance, is the favourite Quadrille air of L’Horatia.—The dance commences with the English figure of right and left all round. Each gentleman then performs the balancez to his partner and turns her round with both hands. The ladies take hands all round, then follows the demi promenade à quatre, and the figure finishes with half right and left, after an open chassez by each couple.

Text and illustrations from La Belle Assemblée: or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine.  Addressed particularly to the ladies.  Vol. XXI—New Series.  From January 1, to June 20, 1820.

Gentlemen at Leisure: Banyans

Susan reporting:

Long before sweats and other modern sartorial developments/abominations, 18th c. gentlemen had their own way to kick back and relax in style. In the privacy of their libraries or bed chambers, they'd trade their tight-fitting waistcoats and jackets for the flowing, easy extravagance of their banyans.

Banyans (also called morning gowns or dressing gowns, or, in France, robes de chambre) are the more elegant ancestors of that 20th c. male favorite, the wrap-and-tie bathrobe. Popular from the late 17th c. into the early 19th c., banyans were worn over shirts and breeches for informal wear. A cap or turban replaced the formal wig and completed the casual ensemble. Popular fabrics continued the period's preference for male peacocks, with banyans cut from rich silks and brocades as well as cooler linens and printed, patterned cottons.

The first banyans were very full and long with open fronts and no tailoring or shaping; later ones became more fitted. Banyans were originally inspired by the loose clothing worn by gentlemen planters in the steamy East Indies, and even the name "banyan" was borrowed from the Hindu word for trader. As the English gentleman became more influenced by the rest of the world, decorating his parlor with Chinoiserie, seasoning his food with Indian spices, and drinking Chinese tea, it seemed perfectly acceptable to dress with a nod to the exotic east  –– especially when banyans were so much more comfortable than his regular clothes.

But the similarity between banyans and the traditional academic robes worn by European scholars wasn't missed, either. Wearing a banyan could help a man think Deep Thoughts, and intellectual gentlemen like Sir Isaac Newton were painted wearing one. Noted Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) with approval:

Loose dresses contribute to the easy and vigorous exercise of the faculties of the mind. This remark is so obvious, and so generally known, that we find studious men are always painted in gowns, when they are seated in their libraries. 

Which is, of course, exactly how Dr. Rush had his own portrait painted, below left.

Here are several links to examples of surviving banyans:
Brown silk faille banyan, c. 1735 
Flowered chintz banyan worn by the Prince of Wales, c. 1780
Three silk banyans, c. 1780
18th c. banyan with matching sleeved waistcoat (recently sold by Christie's for over $50,000!)
Painted and dyed cotton banyan, c. 1750
And, not to leave out the ladies, here's a rare lady's banyan, c. 1750,  with silk designed by Anna Maria Garthwaite
An 18th c. tartan plaid banyan/gown

Above: Nicholas Boylston by John Singleton Copley, 1767, Harvard University
Center: French fashion plate, c. 1775
Below: Dr. Benjamin Rush by Charles Wilson Peale, c. 1783. Winterthur Museum

Beauty aids of 1807

Loretta reports:

More of those fascinating advertisements from La Belle Assemblée, for June 1807.

Pears, we note, has been around for a long time.
~~~~~
AN INVALUABLE DISCOVERY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE FEMALE PERSON.
   A. PEARS, Perfumer, No.55, Wells-street, Oxford-street, having, after a variety of experiments, brought to perfection his beautiful ALMONA BLOOM or LIQUID VEGETABLE ROUGE, respectfully presents it to universal attention, as an indispensible Companion to the Toilet, and for the introduction of which he has been so happy to meet with the concurrence of every Admirer of the Female Complection.
    This Composition is infinitely superior to all other preparations for admitting a free perspiration, by softening the Skin, preventing Eruptions, and firmly adheres without the least tint being removed so as stain a cambric handkerchief. It is of the consistency of Cream and of a most beautiful light red hue ; but to expaciate on the whole of its excellencies in this contracted space is impossible. The Inventor, therefore, contents himself, with observing, that a single experiment is sufficient to establish its superiority.
    Pears's White Imperial Powder is an admirable Companion to the above, being the most simple and effective cosmetic in fashionable use. It is produced from Vegetables only, and gives to the Skin a delicacy strictly consonant to true beauty, nor can the most circumspect observer perceive the application of it on the countenance. Price 2sd. 6d. and 5s. per box.—Pears's new Liquid Pink Dye, for colouring Silk Stockings, Gloves ribbons, &c. in a more bright and transparent style than can be given by any other preparation. Price 1s 6d. and 3s per bottle. Pears's Pink Saucers, an entirely new invention.—Sold, wholesale and retail, as above.

FOR CLEANING AND BEAUTIFYING THE TEETH.
   PREPARED CHARCOAL and CONCENTRATED SOLUTION.—CHARCOAL, from its antisceptic properties, has long been recommended by the first professional men as the most efficacious Tooth Powder that can be used for cleaning, whitening, and preserving the Teeth, removing the Scurvy from the GUMS, and destroymg the fætor arising from carious Teeth which contaminates the Breath, and is incapable of injuring the enamel.
   From the great reputation the genuine Preparation inherited by Edm. Lardner (Chemist to the Duke and Duchess of York), has acquired, many imitations are daily offered for sale; the true only is signed Edm. Lardner on the Label.
   It is sold wholesale and retail at No. 56, Piccadilly, corner of Albany, in Boxes and Bottles, 2s. 9d. each; it also sold retail, by Newbery, St. Paul's Church-yard; Rigge, Cheapside; Vade, Cornhill; Davison, Fleet-street; and Clarke, Borough.
~~~~~
Teeth courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Daylilies & the First Day of Summer

Susan reports:

Here in the northeast United States, daylilies always seem to be in bloom on the first day of summer. No matter how cold or warm or wet or dry spring has been, the lilies are ready by the twenty-first of June, waving trumpets of bright orange by the side of road. Their genus name is Hemerocallis, or 'beautiful for a day,' both for their loveliness and for the fact that each bloom only lasts from dawn to nightfall. 

Although they're considered a wild flower now (and something of a pest if they take over a garden), perennial daylilies are like peonies, long-ago transplants from Asia. Also like peonies, the lilies have been bred into thousands of modern hybrids. The original daylilies were recorded centuries ago in Mongolia, India, Korea, China, and Japan, and growing in locations that ranged from swamps to forests to the tops of mountains. Given their hardiness as well as their beauty, the lilies were brought to Western Europe in the middle ages, and then made the voyage across the Atlantic to North America with early English settlers in the 17th c. By the late 19th c., they had become so ubiquitous that the flowers were also called Tiger Lilies, Railroad Lilies, Roadside Lilies, or even (most humbly!) Outhouse Lilies.

Happy summer!

Above: June, 2010: Daylilies growing outside the churchyard of the Baptist Church of the Great Valley, founded by Welsh settlers in 1711.