Jane, A Tribute to A Too Short Life

On the anniversary of Jane Austen's death - she died 190 years ago today - I thought I would put a different spin on things and celebrate her life. Jane means so many things to so many people, and her popularity, instead of diminishing, increases each year. What is it about Jane that attracts so many to her? It seems that every time we turn around, another book about Jane's life sits on a shelf in a book store and she is more popular than ever.

In her new book, A Walk With Jane Austen, author Lori Smith describes the first time she encountered Jane Austen in college. She discovered Pride and Prejudice in a used book sale, and so, over Christmas break, her love affair with Jane Austen began. My own relationship with Jane's novels started during my fourteenth summer. Like Lori I have read Jane's marvelous words ever since. But I digress. This post is meant to be a review of Lori's quest to strengthen her relationship with Jane and, in doing so, gain a better sense of her own life, which was whirling out of kilter.

During a critical juncture in Lori's life when she faced a personal crisis, she chose to do what many of us yearn to do but few actually dare, which is to leave everything behind and embark on a life altering journey. Lori's account about her search for Jane is written on several levels, as a memoir and personal journey of faith and discovery, as a search for the places where Jane Austen lived and trod, as a straightforward history of Jane's life, and as a way to deepen her understanding of the author.

One January not long ago Lori gave her notice at work. "In February I walked away from meetings and coffee breaks and lunch breaks and paid vacation and health insurance to the gloriously terrifying world of writing full-time." Lori did not choose an easy road when she decided to walk with Jane Austen. Writing a memoir might seem straightforward on the surface, but...

There are enormous difficulties in reconstructing anyone's life, for however copious the evidence of letters, diaries, journals, and eye witness accounts, there is always the problem of interpretation, of the subjectivity of witnesses, and of the basic contradictoriness of the human being. Moods and emotions are volatile, but when recorded on the page are often forced by posterity to carry a much greater weight than was ever intended by their author. The Art of Writing Biography

Lori's journey is deeply personal, but one she willingly shares with her readers. The first chapter ends with her heading for Oxford, the city where Jane's parents met and married.

I plan to review Lori's book chapter by chapter. The book, published by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., will be available this fall. Click here to visit Lori's blog.

Click here for my post about Jane's last illness.

My Take On Regency Fashion in Film...

These days it is not uncommon to see prominent cleavage shown in films set during the Regency era, most recently in ITV's Mansfield Park, where the actress Billie Piper in the role of Fannie Price is dressed to show off her two best assets. Aside from her loose and riotous hair, with which I also find exception, this particular Fanny Price fails to exhibit in her daytime attire the modesty of character for which she is famously known. I understand the producers deliberately chose a livelier actress to play this rather stiff and morally upright heroine, but in my opinion they went overboard in "undressing" her.

In The Mirror of Graces a Lady of Distinction writes: "Indeed, in all cases, a modest reserve is essential to the perfection of feminine attraction." The author goes on to caution young women to "throw a shadow over her yet-unimpaired charms, than to hold them in the light..." In other words, modesty was the key for daytime attire. Bosoms were to be entirely covered, and if the dresses were designed with a low scoop neckline, they were "filled in with a chemisette (a dickey made of thin material) or fichu (a thin scarf tucked into a low neckline). Unlike today, cleavage was NOT a daytime accessory." Rakehell

In the image above, Catherine Morland (Felicity Jones) is shown in proper modest attire; her friend Isabella Thorpe (Carey Mulligan) is not. One imagines that the director and costume designer hoped to demonstrate the difference between the young ladies' temperaments through visual cues, but I found this inaccuracy to historical detail distracting.

Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility clung to a much more accurate picture of the modesty women displayed in those times.



A woman's assets could be revealed during the evening, however. Evening gowns allowed even a girl on the marriage mart to bare her bosom and arms, but she was also required to wear long evening gloves that came up high or over the elbow. In fact, James Gillray famously poked fun at the evening fashions of the day, depicting a slut dressed in evening attire without gloves. Shameless!

Despite Gillray's satiric viewpoint, a young lady of quality would only dare to go so far and then would step no further, as shown in the rather chaste evening gown from Vintage Textiles below and in the fronticepiece of The Mirror of Graces.

Neoclassic silk evening gown with metallic trim, 1800

Evening Gowns, Fronticepiece of The Mirror of Graces

Read more about Regency Fashion on this Jane Austen Centre site: A Tour of Regency Fashion: Day and Evening Dress

In addition, click on the Regency Fashion tag below in order to read all the posts in this blog on the topic.

The Destruction of Jane Austen's Letters

During her short life, Jane Austen was a prolific writer of letters, yet few survive. It is widely known that a majority of Jane's letters were burned by her sister Cassandra and destroyed by other members of her family. Their reasons were varied. This excerpt from Jim and Ellen Moody's website: English and Continental Literature, discusses the destruction of these letters and the reasons for it:

Not all the Austens of Jane's generation and increasingly fewer who belonged to the later generations wanted the family's private papers destroyed. It was not Jane but Cassandra who burnt 'the greater part' of Jane's letters, and she only committed them to the fire when in 1842 she understood her own death could not be far off. Jane's letters to Eliza and Henry and hers to them were left in Henry's hands, and they have not survived. However, Frank, throughout a long mobile life, carefully preserved Jane's letters to his first wife, Mary Gibson, and her packets of letters to himself and to Martha Lloyd (who became his second wife). It was Frank's youngest daughter, Fanny-Sophia, who destroyed these and she did so after her father's death (Family Record, p. 252). She acted without consulting anyone beforehand because by that time mores had changed and other of Frank's children and grandchildren would have objected. Happily Philadelphia Walker had no direct descendants who felt their reputations or self-esteem put at risk by the existence of Eliza's letters to her, and she lived long enough so that upon her death these letters fell into the hands of someone disinterested enough to save them, though in a somewhat mutilated state. A record of Jane Austen's great-grandmother, Elizabeth Weller Austen's steady courage, which enabled Jane's branch of the family to maintain the status of gentleman and amass wealth and prestige, survives in a seventeenth century manuscript because several generations of Austens who descended from her second oldest son, the attorney, Francis Austen of Sevenoaks, preserved it (Austen Papers, p. 2).

As a result of the destruction of Jane's own words, biographers have over the years come to widely different conclusions about Jane's thoughts and motives. Ellen Moody outlines some of these varying interpretations in the link I have provided.

To read Jane's letters, click on the following sites:

• The Republic of Pemberley: Letters of Jane Austen

• A Jane Austen Letter, With Other 'Janeana' from an old book of autographs By M. A. DeWolfe Howe

On the anniversary of Jane Austen's death

Jane Austen, 1775-1817: I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow; I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself. I loved her only too well -- not better than she deserved, but I am conscious that my affection for her made me sometimes unjust to and negligent of others; and I can acknowledge, more than as a general principle, the justice of the Hand which has struck this blow.

Cassandra to Fanny Knight, July 20, 1817, two days after her beloved sister's death

Jane Austen's grave stone at Winchester Cathedral

Although Jane Austen had been ill since fall of 1816, as late as May 27, 1817 she wrote a letter to her nephew Edward saying she was feeling better:

Letter to Edward, 1817
Mrs. Davids, College Street-Winton

Tuesday May 27.

I know no better way my dearest Edward, of thanking you for your most affectionate concern for me during my illness, than by telling you myself as soon as possible that I continue to get better.-I will not boast of my handwriting ; neither that, nor my face have yet recovered their proper beauty, but in other respects I am gaining strength very fast. I am now out of bed from 9 in the morng* to 10 at night-upon the sopha t'is true-but I eat my meals with aunt Cass: in a rational way, & can employ myself, and walk from one room to another.-Mr. Lyford says he will cure me, & if he fails I shall draw up a Memorial and lay it before the Dean & Chapter, & have no doubt of redress from that Pious, Learned, and Disinterested Body.-Our Lodgings are very comfortable. We have a neat little Drawing room with a Bow-window overlooking Dr. Gabell's garden. Thanks to the kindness of your Father & Mother in sending me their carriage, my Journey hither on Saturday was performed with very little fatigue, & had it been a fine day I think I should have felt none, but it distressed me to see uncle Henry & Wm. K-who kindly attended us on horseback, riding in rain almost all the way.-We expect a visit from them tomorrow, & hopethey will stay the night, and on Thursday, which is Confirmation & a Holiday, we are to get Charles out to breakfast. We have had but one visit yet from him poor fellow, as he is in sick room, but he hopes to be out to-night. We see Mrs. Heathcote every day, & William is to call upon us soon.-God bless you my dear Edward. If ever you are ill, may you be as tenderly nursed as I have been, may the same Blessed alleviations of anxious, simpathising friends be yours, & may you possess-as I dare say you will-the greatest blessing of all, in the consciousness of not being unworthy of their Love. I could not feel this.

Your very affec: Aunt

J. A. Had I not engaged to write to you, you wd* have heard again from your Aunt Martha, as she charged me to tell you with her best Love.

Alas, Jane died in her sister's arms on July 18, 1817. Today, there is a debate about the disease that caused her early death. (See the links below.) Mourning rituals and observances were fixed during the 19th century, and a lock of Jane's hair is preserved to this day (see the sidebar in this blog). I wouldn't be surprised (though I have found no corroboration of my suspicion) that Cassandra or Mrs. Elliot, Jane's mother, wore a locket with a sample of her hair.

Mourning heart locket, 1800-1820, typical of its day and often filled with the hair of a loved one.

Read more about about this sad period in the life of the Austen family:

• Letters from Cassandra Austen to Fanny Knight, 1817, Republic of Pemberley

• Jane Austen a Life, Claire Tomalin, Appendix 1 (Concerning Jane Austen's last illness.)

• Jane Austen's Illness: Sir Zachary Cope, British Medical Journal, 1964

• Jane Austen’s lifelong health problems and final illness: New evidence points to a fatal Hodgkin’s disease and excludes the widely accepted Addison’s, Annette Upfal, School of English, Media Studies and Art History, The University of Queensland, Brisbane

• The Art of Mourning: A resource for memorial, mourning, sentimental jewellery and art

A Walk With Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure Love & Faith

How delightful. Author Lori Smith has asked me to review her new book and I said I would be honored. A manuscript arrived in the mail today. So, here is what I shall do - Walk With Jane chapter by chapter and report back to you.

If you want to know more about Lori, check her wonderful site, Jane Austen Quote of the Day.

Persuasion, A Question: What Are Your Thoughts?

Gentle Readers,

Some weeks ago my online friend Eric asked me a simple question: Which Jane Austen book would I recommend? He had already read Pride and Prejudice and seen the movie. First, I was so excited that a man wanted to read a Jane Austen novel, so without hesitation I replied: Persuasion.

Eric is 2/3 of the way through the book, and he has a few questions. For the fun of it I thought I would solicit the Janeites to help answer them. Here are his observations:

By the way, I'm two thirds of the way through Persuasion. It's an odd book compared to Pride and Prejudice. Austen mocks people for their excessive class pride but she seems so class conscious herself it seems a little hypocritical. And Ann seems a little confused, too. She's embarrassed that her family was forced to rent the manor and move to Bath but her original idea was to rent the manor and move into a cottage in their own village? That's such a bizarre idea. I tend to wonder why they didn't move to Bath sooner; the father and sister seem to be perfectly suited for that lifestyle.

And I had forgotten that the sisters were quite as old as they are. Still on the market in their late 20s? Shocking! I know Elizabeth's age is made into a joke (she doesn't seem to understand how she has gotten so old). But Ann is certainly piling on the suiters, isn't she? Anyway, I'm enjoying it. Looking forward to seeing the movie! Eric

So, readers. Please feel free to make a comment and share your well-informed thoughts with Eric. I will mull his points over and make comments as well.

Ms. Place

18th Century Embroidery Designs

For centuries, every lady was skilled in the fine art of sewing, mending, and embroidery, and beautiful examples of their fragile handiwork still exist. During Jane Austen's time, embroidery patterns were created sometimes by experts, as for Lady Middleton, and sometimes by amateurs. They were tacked onto the cloth on an embroidery frame, as in the image above from the Republic of Pemberley. The embroidery pattern below was most likely made by an expert because of its elegant, expert lines. It would have been used for a dress or apron.

Lady Middleton was the daughter of the first Earl of Chichester. She married in 1778 and died in childbirth five years later. View a sampling of her embroidery patterns in the following site: Whitework embroidery patterns

Mary Darby Robinson's Wedding

The Marriage Act of 1753 made it increasingly difficult for upper class men to "marry down," and for women to marry men outside their rank. In fact, the Act stipulated that:

Marriage must take place with banns and an officially purchased marriage license (the banns being read publicly in church three consecutive Sundays prior to the wedding), the two parties must receive parental permission if under age (under 21), the wedding must be recorded in the Marriage Register with the signatures of both parties, witnesses, and the minister, and it must occur before witnesses and an authorized clergyman. (From The English Bride: Legal Advice.)

Mary Darby Robinson was a beautiful actress who came from a humble background, and who in her acting heyday moved among elite circles, including the Prince Regent's set. She received her first proposal at thirteen, but in 1774 she married Thomas Robinson, a gambler and a wastrel who pretended to come from a good family. Mary's sad account of her arranged marriage is typical, in that so many brides of her era scarcely knew the men they married. In fact, any a young woman in her situation must have felt as bewildered and unhappy as Mary did.

Harmony Before Matrimony by James Gillray

By the time Mary's family discovered Tom had lied, she had become pregnant. The following excerpt is her account of their wedding in her Memoir, published posthumously in 1801. From it you get a real sense of what the 'duties' of a bride mean and that Mary barely knew her husband.

As soon as the day of my wedding was fixed, it was deemed necessary that a total revolution should take place in my external appearance. I had till that period worn the habit of a child, and the dress of a woman so suddenly assumed sat rather awkwardly upon me. Still, so juvenile was my appearance, that even two years after my union with Mr. Robinson I was always accosted with the appellation of Miss whenever I entered a shop or was in company with strangers. My manners were no less childish than my appearance; only three months before I became a wife I had dressed a doll, and such was my dislike to the idea of a matrimonial alliance that the only circumstance which induced me to marry was that of being still permitted to reside with my mother, and to live separated, at least for some time, from my husband.

My heart, even when I knelt at the altar, was as free from any tender impression as it had been at the moment of my birth. I knew not the sensation of any sentiment beyond that of esteem; love was still a stranger to my bosom. I had never, then, seen the being who was destined to inspire a thought which might influence my fancy or excite an interest in my mind, and I well remember that even while I was pronouncing the marriage vow my fancy involuntarily wandered to that scene where I had hoped to support myself with éclat and reputation.
Rowlandson's satiric wedding scene

The ceremony was performed by Dr. Saunders, the venerable vicar of St. Martin's, who, at the conclusion of the ceremony, declared that he had never before performed the office for so young a bride. The clerk officiated as father; my mother and the woman who opened the pews were the only witnesses to the union. I was dressed in the habit of a Quaker–a society to which, in early youth, I was particularly partial. From the church we repaired to the house of a female friend, where a splendid breakfast was waiting; I changed my dress to one of white muslin, a chip hat adorned with white ribbons, a white sarsnet scarf-cloak, and slippers of white satin embroidered with silver. I mention these trifling circumstances because they lead to some others of more importance.

From the house of my mother's friend we set out for the inn at Maidenhead Bridge, Mr. Robinson and myself in a phaeton, my mother in a post-chaise; we were also accompanied by a gentleman by the name of Balack, a very intimate acquaintance and schoolfellow of my husband, who was not apprised of our wedding, but who nevertheless considered Mr. Robinson as my avowed suitor. On his first seeing me, he remarked that I was "dressed like a bride."
Painting: Pamela is Married, Joseph Highmore

The observation overwhelmed me with confusion. During the day I was more than pensive–I was melancholy; I considered all that had passed as a vision, and would scarcely persuade myself that the union which I had permitted to be solemnised was indissoluble. My mother frequently remarked my evident chagrin; and in the evening, while we strolled together in the garden which was opposite the inn, I told her, with a torrent of tears, the vouchers of my sincerity, that I was the most wretched of mortals ! that I felt the most perfect esteem for Mr. Robinson, but that, according to my ideas of domestic happiness, there should be a warm and powerful union of soul, to which I was yet totally a stranger.


Idealized wedding scene from the Jane Austen Centre

Read more about weddings during the Georgian and Regency Eras:

• Weddings during the Regency Era

• Regency Weddings

Another Version of Beau Brummell's Demise

In this YouTube clip about George Brummell, find a discussion about this fascinating man and the Prince Regent and how their relationship ended in an entertaining monologue by George Stuart, artist and raconteur.

Mr. Stuart sculpts historical figures using art historical sources to guide him. Then he speaks about the personages in different venues around California, including Ventura County Museum, using the information he researched. Much of what Mr. Stuart says rings true in this Teapots and Tyrants account, but there are enough deviations with which an historian might find reason to quibble. Regardless, the clip is entertaining and provides one with a pleasant way to spend seven minutes.




Learn more about Beau Brummell and Mr. Stuart at these sites:

• Visit Mr. Stuart's website here.

• Learn a wealth of information about George Brummell at Dandyism.net

• Shows all posts about Mr. Brummell on this site
  

• Rake Superior, Brummell Gets His Due

• Stroll through St. James's here and view a statue of Beau Brummell on Jermyn Street. Find also a photo of the window of Lock's, the hatters.

Rain Scene: Darcy and Elizabeth

I'm sure most MM fans have seen this clip of Matthew MacFadyen and Keira Knightley when, as Elizabeth, she rejects Mr. Darcy's proposal. Click on this link, and then the "hot rain scene" link. You will need Real Player or a Windows Media Player.

The author of this post was only 13 at the time she wrote it. Cute.

The Spencer Jacket

A noticeable feature in Regency fashion is the military inspiration in jackets and bodices, with elaborate cuffs, Hussar + Brandenburg pipings, closings and decorations, and also epaulettes and shoulder decorations echoing the male military uniforms. The Spencer jacket itself was originally a male garb, worn by Earl Spencer, and it was fashionable in continental Europe from ca. 1790 to 1820 (a bit later in rural districts). It was a practical and warm addition to the thin chemises and dresses, and became immensely popular.

Excerpt is directly from the Regency Project, an amazing reproduction fashion site.


Anea's new site is here.


Images from the Kyoto Costume Institute

Bicycling During the Regency Era

Image above from: The Dandy's Perambulations, 1819, from Dandyism.net

ON 5 April 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia began to grumble. A week later the volcano blew its top in a spectacular eruption that went on until July. It was the biggest eruption in recorded history, killing around 92,000 people and ejecting so much ash into the atmosphere that average global temperatures dipped by 3 °C. In the northern hemisphere 1816 became known as the year without a summer. New England had blizzards in July and crops failed. Europe was hit just as badly.

On holiday by Lake Geneva the 18-year-old Mary Shelley and her husband Percy were trapped in Lord Byron's house by constant rain. To divert his guests Byron suggested a competition to write a ghost story. The result was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Across the border in the German state of Baden the soaring price of oats prompted the 32-year-old Karl Drais to invent a replacement for the horse - the first bicycle.

From Histories: Brimstone and Bicycles

Jane Austen died the year a two-wheeled bicycle called the running machine was invented in 1817. Chances are she would never have mentioned such a marvelous invention as the velocipede in her novels, as one is hard pressed to recall her descriptions of ground breaking scientific advances of the Georgian and Regency eras as the steam locomotive, macadam roads, small pox vaccinations, and hot air balloons. The industrial revolution was in full swing in Great Britain by the early 19th century, and bicycles were but one byproduct of that heady, inventive time.

Karl Drais' design was made of wood (see Karl in the picture above,) and boasted a seat and handle bars, but it came with no pedals. Nevertheless, by pushing with one's feet this invention could go as fast as 10 miles per hour. Karl's contraption was called several names, including the Draisienne and the dandy horse in England - an allusion to the fact that the dandy horses riders were mostly dapper young men with too much money on their hands. Intellectual property rights were still in their infancy and the bicycle was widely copied. Subsequently, Drais never made a huge sum of money from his invention.

Only two years after the bicycle was invented, an unknown gentleman wrote the delightfully droll The Dandy's Perambulations. (Click on the link at the top of this post to read it.)

Read more about the beginning of the bicycle in the following links:

• Bicycle History

• The Invention of the Bicycle

• The Exploratorium

• A Short Illustrated History of the Bicycle
  

Northanger Abbey: ITV Videos

Update:
Northanger Abbey Video Available on You Tube again. Click here.

So Sorry: As of July 25, These Videos Are No Longer Available on YouTube...however, this is a nice clip that summarizes all three ITV videos...



JaneEyre112, the individual responsible for placing ITV Persuasion and Mansfield Park videos on YouTube, has also placed Northanger Abbey videos on that platform. Click here to view the first video, then look on the sidebar to click on subsequent videos 1-15, and one titled "Last Part."



Penny For Your Dreams provides a thoughtful review of this movie. On the whole, I enjoyed it more than Mansfield Park, which was dreadful.

Pride and Prejudice, A Novel That Endures In Many Forms

Pride and Prejudice made its debut in January, 1813, sixteen years after Jane finished the first draft titled First Impressions. As was the practice with female authors of her time, the novel did not bear her name, and she was identified only as "The Author of Sense and Sensibility."

Three years after the novel's debut, her real name was most definitely associated with the book. Sir Walter Scott wrote in his diary in March, 1816: Read again for the third time at least, Miss Austen's finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice. That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with.

Jane's letters to her niece, Anna Austen, an aspiring writer herself, illuminated Jane's views towards writing about her characters: You are now collecting your people delightfully, getting them exactly into such a spot as is the delight of my life; 3 or 4 families in a country village is the very thing to work on.

One can easily imagine the early editions of this novel being sold by Messrs. Lackington Allen & Co, booksellers at the Temple of Muses, Finsbury Square. Theirs was one of the first cash booksellers in London. The book has been in print ever since it was first published. Today we know it in many forms, as a novel, a Great Illustrated Classics, movie interpretations, books on tape, podcasts, screensavers, paper dolls, tours, memorabilia, and as downloadable PDF files on the Internet.

If you are patient, you can watch the creation of a comic book version of the novel on flickr. Liz Wong, the artist, began the comic a year ago. She has reached the scene at Netherfield when Caroline Bingley first notices Mr. Darcy's attraction for Elizabeth. It will take her a while to draw the entire book, but something tells me the wait will be worthwhile. The first page is drawn awkwardly, but she gets better with each page, getting the feel for the characters, and finding ways to condense the book but still retain the gist of the story.

Read more about Pride and Prejudice in the following selection: Inside Pride and Prejudice, John Halperin

Other sources:

Jane Austen: My Dear Cassandra, Selected and introduced by Penelope Hughes-Hallett, ISBN 1-85585-004-4

Seen Over the Ether

For days, Austen Blog and A Lady's Diversions have exhorted readers to go to The Book Mine Set and vote for our Jane. Seems that the fellow on this blog has pitted her against Edgar Allan Poe. He must be daft. Jane is winning. But perhaps we should let him know once and for all who we prefer. You have until tomorrow to vote.

You might also want to watch a YouTube video on Austen Blog. It's great fun.

In addition, the ladies over at Becoming Jane Fansite are really fleshing out their blog with interesting posts about the actors in the movie, and of Tom LeFroy and Jane herself.

And if you love Bath, as I do, check out the Bath Daily Photo. It's the next best thing to visiting Bath, plus James is better than any tour guide I have ever met.

Shopping in London during Jane Austen's Time

Linen drapers, such as Harding and Howell in Pall Mall, were extremely important in an era when clothes were sewn by hand. In 1811, Jane Austen described a shopping expedition she made to a London establishment that sold handkerchiefs, gauzes, nets, veils, trims, and cloth:

We set off immediately after breakfast and must have reached Grafton House by 1/2 past 11 -, but when we entered the Shop, the whole counter was thronged & we waited a full half an hour before we c'd be attended to. When we were served however, I was very well satisfied with my purchases.

A century before Jane's shopping expedition, London shopkeepers began to spruce up their shop fronts and displays to attract customers. Large bow-windows, such as the silk merchant's in the image above from Spitalfield, allowed for the entry of light as well as an attractive space for the display of goods. By the end of the 18th century, it was estimated that around 200 different types of shops could be found in London. Shops tended to be open for long hours, from around seven AM until seven or eight PM. These hours were perhaps one of the reasons why shopkeepers and their assistants tended to live on the premises, with a shop area in front and a parlor behind.

Shops also tended to be grouped. For instance, the ladies of the Ton frequented fashionable shops Oxford Street or Bond Street located in Mayfair, whereas the shops and clubs for gentlemen were clustered in St. James's. The discerning shopper could also purchased goods at warehouses in Covent Garden, mercers and linen drapers in Cheapside, and new shops in the Strand. A number of shops from that era still thrive today. Berry Brothers Wine Shop in St. James's was founded in 1698 and remains essentially unchanged since its founding, as the interior above attests. Locks, the hatters in St James's, also founded in the seventeenth century, still makes hats and bowlers for the fashionable set. And Floris , a fragrance shop Beau Brummel frequented, can still be found on Jermyn Street.Shop keepers advertised through circulars, trade cards, newspaper notices, or board-men, who were employed to roam the streets. In the 1760's, the large shop signs that had once hung over shops and identified the shop's merchandise to a populace that largely could not read were deemed hazardous. They were removed by law, but a few managed to survive, as this account in the Book of Days describes:

In Holywell-street, Strand, is the last remaining shop sign in situ, being a boldly-sculptured half-moon, gilt, and exhibiting the old conventional face in the centre. Some twenty years ago it was a mercer's shop, and the bills made out for customers were 'adorned with a picture' of this sign. It is now a bookseller's, and the lower part of the windows have been altered into the older form of open shop. A court beside it leads into the great thoroughfare; and the corner-post is decorated with a boldly-carved lion's head and paws, acting as a corbel to support a still older house beside it. This street altogether is a good, and now an almost unique specimen of those which once were the usual style of London business localities, crowded, tortuous, and ill-ventilated, having shops closely and inconveniently packed, but which custom had made familiar and inoffensive to all; while the old traders, who delighted in 'old styles,' looked on improvements with absolute horror, as 'a new-fashioned way' to bankruptcy.

Learn more about shopping during the Regency Era in the following links:

• Click here to read about shopping in the Regency Era on this site

• Shopping for Cloth and Ordering a Dress, Georgian Index

• Book of Days, 1869

• The shops in St. James's

• Jermyn Street: British History Online

• Window Shopping: Cynthia Wall

Texts:

Eighteenth Century London, Nichola Johnson, ISBN 0-11-290448-3

A Frivolous Distinction: Fashion and Needlework in the Works of Jane Austen, Penelope Byrde, Bath City Council, ISBN 0-901303-09-7

High Society, Venetia Murray, ISBN 0-670-85758-0