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Poe is nowhere, but Bram Stoker's mother is everything!
Charlotte Matilda Blake Thornley StokerI was going to write a blog post today about the mothers of writers in London in the 1890s, but I found this passage in Barbara Belford's biography of Bram Stoker...
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Top 10 Wildean Insults
Known for his wit, many of Oscar Wilde's insults are too convoluted to throw out during an argument, but these one-liners have got you covered!Good novelists are much rarer than good sons (On a New...
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The Perfect Woman
"The Crush," by Charles Dana Gibson.Perfection in humans is inarguably subjective, but as I've written a post on the perfect man of the 1890s, it has been pointed out to me that I ought to write one...
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Popular Perceptions of Electricity in the 1890s
If you lived in a major city, like London, electricity had become part of your everyday life by the 1890s. You might not have it in your home, but even if you did, you might not understand what it...
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How Bram Stoker Reanimated Mummies
"...the consciousness of the mummy does not rest but is to be reckoned with." - Bram StokerWhy are mummies so scary? They don't moan and walk around in real life, the way they do in movies, but they...
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The Gentleman's Gentleman
His day commences by seeing that his master’s dressing-room is in order; that the housemaid has swept and dusted it properly; that the fire is lighted and burns cheerfully; and some time before his...
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Victorian Clowns and Clowning
Symptoms of coulrophobia can include sweating, nausea, feelings of dread, fast heartbeat, crying or screaming, and anger at being placed in a situation where a clown is present. - Source1890...
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The Feejee Mermaid and the Fur-bearing Trout
Freak shows and taxidermy: these two trends coincided with horrifying results in the Victorian era.The popularity of freak shows saw its first rise in the Elizabethan era and examples of taxidermy in...
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Three Common Victorian Baby-Killers
I wouldn't have survived infancy in the Victorian Era.There were truly bizarre ways of dying in the 1890s, but you could also die from the very mundane. If you were a woman, you might die from child...
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The Ghost Club
Founded in London in 1862, the Ghost Club is the oldest paranormal investigation and research organization in the world. The organization is still active today and its members have included: Charles...
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10 Steps to Hosting Your Own Victorian Seance
Belief in the evocation of the spirits of the dead is as old as Humanity. At one period of the world's history it was called Thaumaturgy, at another Necromancy and Witchcraft, in these later years,...
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Victorian Teenagers Gone Wild
The girl in the top left corner has a mischievous face.Throughout history, teenagers have rebelled against their parents. Popular psychology maintains that youthful rebellion helps young people build...
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How to Eat Like a Victorian
At the end of one month, I plan out the details of mine and my husband's menu for the next month. Part way through Thanksgiving weekend, as I look toward Christmas, I feel compelled to keep us from...
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Flirtation, Calling, and Escort Cards: the social media of the 1890s
It's Christmas card time and I stumble upon the headline: "The 19th Century 'Escort Cards' with Pick-up Lines You Definitely Haven't Heard Before." The cards are lovely, but the headline is baiting....
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Perchta and the History of Oliebollen
It's the night before New Year's Eve and Willie Wilde's best friend, Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (Tex) comes to call on him at Lady Jane's house. A Dutchman, Tex brings with him a basket full of...
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What is so Victorian about an octopus?
Was it the shape of a Victorian dress, a hairdo, or something else entirely? From the octopus tattoo to the etsy iPhone case, consumers of contemporary Victorian culture love octopi. What is so...
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Greenaway Vogue
Kate Greenaway was the author and artist of Victorian childhood by the 1890s. She drew the idyllic images of Victorian children that we think of today and she drew many of the images children were...
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Margaret McMillan, Lady Meux's Paid Companion
"Men come here, distinguished men, but not their women. I am outside ... It is only right to tell you, that it isn't a good thing for you to come here. You might not get another post."Source.According...
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For Rich or Poor: Creepy Victorian Food
Man people still didn't have a kitchen at home in the 1890s. In tenement houses, whole families lived in a single room , which might be shared with as many as six other whole families. Eating out,...
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Snuff and Nonsense: Tobacco in the 1890s
Jack. Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.Lady Bracknell. I am glad to hear it.  A man should always have an occupation of some kind.  There are far too many idle men in London as it is.This blog debuted...
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Jobs for Women: the Angel in the Workforce
For 465 years, from 1377 to 1835 [the Ship and Turtle Tavern] was run by a succession of widows. During the Victorian era, the Ship and Turtle Tavern even supplied several of the West-end clubhouses....
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Dead people don't stand in photos.
Seriously, how could they?This might be an unpopular post. One reason that myths persist long after they've been disproven is that people want to believe them. Pictures of Victorian dead people are so...
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Victorian False Eyelashes
"The beauty of the eye lies in its expression, whether it has borrowed its color from the corn flower, or shines like the black diamond, or reflects the blue of a May sky, or is veiled under long dark...
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Dorian Gray Goes Slumming (a close reading)
"The Hooligans," by Leonard Raven-Hill (1899)In Chapter 16 of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Dorian Gray goes slumming. The upper classes began visiting the slums for...
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Poop in (Victorian) Beards
Nowadays, when you mention the long beard trend, most people immediately think of hipsters; I still think of the Victorians. With the news this week that these hipster beards harbour the kind of...
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