Book Description
"Almost criminal in its housebreaking, burglarizing, second-story genius."—James Kincaid, University of Southern California
The Victorian age is much closer to us in time than we might believe. Yet at that time, in the most technologically advanced nation in the world, people buried meat in fresh earth to prevent mold forming and wrung sheets out in boiling water with their bare hands. Such household drudgery was routinely performed by the grandparents of people still living, but the knowledge of it has passed as if it had never been.
Judith Flanders's book is laid out like a Victorian house, taking you through the story of daily life from room to room. In each space she depicts the home's furnishings and decoration: from childbirth in the master bedroom, through the scullery and kitchen, the separate male and female domains of the drawing room and the parlor, and ending in the sickroom. A rich selection from diaries, letters, advice books, magazines, and paintings fills the rooms with the people and personalities of the age. 100 illustrations, 3 8-page color inserts.
Customer Reviews:
Exploring the middle class home and psyche.......2007-08-28
I've always been interested in the Victorian period of English history, especially in the ways that people lived. Most books that detail the daily lives of people are geared towards the upper classes, with their grand estates in the country, and imposing townhouses. The working classes have been summed up with conditions of appalling poverty, overcrowding and misery. But what about the middle classes, those professional workers and merchants that were suddenly new consumers and riding the crest of the Industrial Revolution?
Researcher Judith Flanders takes a look at their world, and particularly through the eyes of the women who were often the silent, but determined decision makers in how their homes were run and organized. How she presents this information is the interesting part -- she describes this world and the people in it through the rooms of a typical middle-class home. It is also a look at the lives of the Victorians as they progress from room to room, from birth and the nursery, to death and the sickroom. It is also predominately the world of women, where the father of the household is a somewhat distant presence, there to provide the financial means, and perhaps a dominating effect, but also rather remote from the day to day workings of the family.
Where this book becomes the real draw is when Flanders describes each room in turn, drawing on the journals, homekeeping books and manuals, and the memoirs of the time. A good deal of the book is given not just to how each room was decorated and furnished, but also how it was kept clean, and how it was used, and if it was a room meant to be for private -- such as the nursery, bedrooms, and the workplaces such as the kitchen and scullery.
Public or rather, reception rooms were the Drawing Room, the Dining Room, and the Parlor. Often the Dining room and parlor would be one and the same in many homes, with the Drawing room having the best furniture and items, and saved for when visitors came and the best impressions to be made. The dining room was often where the lady of the house stayed during the day, where she did her letter-writing and account keeping, and often would teach her children, and oversee her servants.
Workplaces in the home were the Kitchen and Scullery, where meals were prepared, and clothing and dishes washed. Often this was where the servants slept if there wasn't any spare room for them. It was also where the greatest battle against bugs, rats and mice were often fought -- one description in the narrative depicts three visiting housemaids clutching each other in terror in the night atop the kitchen table as the floor 'heaved' with cockroaches. Other duties included the laundry, a laborious, backbreaking chore that took a week to complete, only to be started again almost immediately. More than any other chapters, these made me bless those inventors who have come up with such staples as modern ranges, the refrigerator, and especially the washer and dryer.
Another innovation in the Victorian home was the bathroom. And we're not just talking about bathtubs either -- in the homes of the upper middle classes, and the aristocracy, there were enough servants to haul tins of hot water up and down stairs to fill a hip bath for washing, but for more basic needs there was the odorous chamberpot, a device that had to be emptied, and scoured clean several times a day. No wonder when nonporous pipe was invented, the creation of indoor plumbing and the flush toilet were embraced so happily, especially when typhoid and cholera epidemics swept through England.
Bedrooms were for sleeping, but they could also reflect the inhabitant's likes, and often served as a retreat from busier parts of the house. The study was the man of the house's own retreat from the feminine, usually done up in dark, masculine colours. And then there was the nursery, where the youngest members of the family usually grew up in, until they had a bedroom of their own -- shared with other siblings of the same sex, or they were packed off to formal schooling.
All in all, I found this to be a remarkable book, full of information about the last half of the nineteenth century. Flanders' writing style is full of wit, and some pretty canny observations. We're not so far from our Victorian ancestors either -- a great deal of our own attitudes still linger. Keeping up with the Jones's isn't a new concept at all, and neither is the idea that a clean, beautiful home is equal to moral cleaniness as well. Flanders' insights into modern domestic thought is very revealing and worth the time to read this book.
The text has plenty of illustrations, along with several full-colour inserts. The research is top notch, and the writing style is lively and full of some tongue in cheek humor. Some things are covered that I thought had nothing to do with homes, but actually were, such as the art of the social call, with cards; the etiquette of 'At-Homes;' the elaborate rituals of mourning in behavior and clothing; and even the debate about corsetry and whether to tight-lace or not. It's not a quick book to read, but a very insightful one. There are extensive notes, bibliography and plenty of suggestions as to where to go next if any particular topic interests you.
Anyone who is interested in how the Victorians lived from day to day should try to find this one. It's a well-done book full of details and intimacies of London, and gives some new theories and revelations about that most misunderstood creature, the Victorian woman.
Five stars.
Thank God I'm Mod!.......2007-03-30
To start off with, I have never been very interested in the Victorian period, because it always seemed stultifyingly dull and hyper-religious. I'm not one of those women who coo and ooh about how "romantic!" everything was, and I find the novels insanely unreadable.
So, you're saying, Why did you buy this book? Well, because I couldn't find the book I really wanted, was browsing, pulled it off the shelf, read a page, and thought, "This is actually interesting!"
The book details in a very readable, conversational fashion the way home life was lived: cleaning, cooking, childrearing, servant/employer relations, and host of other things. It gives a fascinating picture of a daily life...that absolutely SUCKED! Anybody who read this book and didn't come away horrified missed the point. Without spoiling the details, let me just say that life back then was seriously worse than now. I can't imagine finishing the book, picking up my copy of *Victoria* magazine, and sighing, "Gosh, for the good old days!" I'd be tearing up my subscription and looking for a new historical period to be interested in.
But that's just me. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that more than a few Victorian housewives took the Martha Stewart approach, reading the guidebooks more for entertainment than anything, and maybe occasionally trying one of the ideas, but hardly conforming to the ideal in every detail. I also doubt that every family was as rude and condescending to their daughters and servants as the book says. Victorian women certainly had a pathetic position relative to us today, but it's hard to believe life was sheer hell for every single one of them. That's the reason I gave the book three stars. The writing merits four, but I'm not convinced it's a balanced portrait. Even so, I'm not sorry I bought the book, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.
The Home as Castle.......2006-12-20
A couple years ago someone coined the term, "cocooning" to describe what they saw as the "trend that sees individuals socializing less and retreating into their home more."
But this is hardly a new phenomenon - in fact, it's actually a Victorian ideal, one admirably expounded on in "Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England" by Judith Flanders.
It was during the Victorian era that advances in technology and transportation made it possible (and even desirable) for people to work someplace other than the home. We take it for granted now, but 150 years ago you had to live where you worked. Think about it: the farmer (obviously) lived on his farm; the shopkeeper above his store. If you were in the lower classes, work often consisted of piecework, assembled in the home. With the rise of an increasingly affluent middle-class, it was now possible to remove your family from the dirt, crowds and crime of the city to the more bucolic environs of the country or suburbs. And we've been doing it ever since.
As I said, we take this for granted today - but in the Victorian era it was a new concept and became something of a mania for all but the poorest in the population. The separation of the public life from private living was described by Dickens:
"The office is one thing, and private life is another. When I go into the office, I leave the Castle [his house in the suburbs] behind me, and when I come into the Castle, I leave the office behind me... "
And on page 8:
"Oh, how dull and dreary is the best society I fall into compared with the circle of my own Fire Side with my Love sitting opposite irradiating all around her, and my most extraordinary boy!"
For how many of us is home and family a bulwark against all the pressures of work and the outside world? It's an incredible blessing and not everyone is lucky enough to have it.
I've noticed that a few other reviewers have commented on what they perceive to be a feminist bias in the author's work. I'm a pretty conservative guy (read my other reviews) and I never felt like Judith Flanders was doing anything except giving as honest a portrayal of Victorian life as was possible. The book is heavily footnoted and well documented. Many of the more troubling comments (the breastfeeding child as vampire, for example) are not the author's opinion, but the opinion of the Victorians themselves. I found it amusing in places to see how our twenty-first century prejudices color how we can look back at beliefs and practices that were no more remarkable in their time than referring to a woman as Ms is in ours. As I've counseled in other reviews, don't read any deeper than the text on the page, gentle reader. You'll enjoy the book a lot more if you don't waste your time trying to divine some political or social meaning beyond the written words.
"Inside the Victorian Home" is a fascinating look at the daily lives of middle-class Victorians and I highly recommend it.
Fascinating view of the life of the past.......2006-08-26
I do hope that potential readers will read the publisher's comments, professional reviews, and positive reviews because they give a much more accurate account of the contents of the book than the rather nasty reviews by some readers. (Having read the book, it seems to me the reviewers have more of an ax to grind than does the author.) As an avid reader of Victorian novels over more than 50 years I found information on every page that threw light on the lost customs of the Victorians (the amazing system of visiting cards; the social complexities of meals and mealtimes; the astonishingly hard work involved in maintaining the home; the amazingly complex rituals involved in mourning; the problem of food adulteration). Every topic covered is illuminated. Plus, this book is a delight to read from first word to last. I recommend it without reservation to any reader of Dickens, Trollope, Eliot, and Arnold Bennett.
Great Reading!.......2006-08-21
One of the best books I have read on Victorian England.
Well written, percise, and extrememly interesting.
This is a book you can read and read again!
Average customer rating:
- Inspiring
- Simple pleasures for Simple Times
- Preserving family memories
- Old-fashioned family treasure!
- Okay, but definitely nothing special
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Sarah Ban Breathnach's Mrs. Sharp's Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations Of Comfort & Joy
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Manufacturer: Scribner
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Binding: Hardcover
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Romancing the Ordinary
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Moving On: Creating Your House of Belonging with Simple Abundance
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ASIN: 074321076X |
Book Description
The seeds for the ground-breaking Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach's hugely successful bestseller, were first planted in Mrs. Sharp's Traditions. In this revised, redesigned edition of her charmingly illustrated Victorian style- and sourcebook, Sarah introduces to her legions of new readers the old-fashioned pleasures of family, customs, and home.
Customer Reviews:
Inspiring.......2006-01-26
I found this book inspiring and full of practical and lovely ideas. Some of them are relatively easy to implement; others take a bit more effort/preparation. The holidays discussed are American. The book presents simple ways to make daily living special and to take note of holidays, seasons, and other occasions.
Simple pleasures for Simple Times.......2004-09-23
I love the noble simplicity of the Victorian age. This book is an invitation to experience simple rituals in your daily life. I especialy enjoyed the beautiful art work and many pictures. This book takes the reader on a gilded journey through the entire year with wonderfull passages describing a myriad of traditions and daily rituals for living. If you cherish the victorian tradition then you simply must have this book. Buy it new or used, read it, experience it, and pen a review to spread the joy, this truly is home.
Preserving family memories.......2003-11-27
It is Thanksgiving Day as I write. I have used this book extensively over the past week as I write down the activities we will do as a family this holiday season. We are a family with young children (8, 6, 3, baby), so we are only now starting our family traditions. It is VERY important to me that the children have family memories to keep them reminded of their happy childhood. This book has been a wonderful keepsake. I have already started purchasing it for others, as it is beautifully written and breathtakingly beautiful. Do not hesitate to buy this book. It will enhance your library like few others. I am wishing for another book like this one, but have not found it yet.
Old-fashioned family treasure!.......2002-05-16
This book is wonderful to have and explore for those women and families with children who love to take time to enjoy simple, natural treasures and to observe old-fashioned family traditions. It is a wonderful source to find out WHY we celebrate some holidays in the ways we do and to take a trip down memory lane as you rediscover some of the older traditions you might remember your grandmothers or aunts or great-aunts observing. I am definitely adding it to my home collection to use with my own family. The only negative note I might have is that the persona the author writes with has some strange sayings "Dear Reader" this and "Dear Reader" that. A little annoying, but definitely not worth NOT getting the book!
Okay, but definitely nothing special.......2001-10-26
This book is okay, but nowhere near as good as the author's earlier works. Although initially intrigued by the "legends", those I checked looked stupid to me ... e.g., about how a pansy's petals tell the story of how a wicked queen mistreats her stepdaughters, with no positive (much less fairytale) ending, nothing remotely uplifting, no moral, etc. DEFINITELY not the type of thing you'd print to give with a pressed flower pansy, or other form of the flower. The recipes are equally impractical, since few people use suet in desserts these days.
And all the stories in the voice of the mythical Mrs. Sharp just seemed stupid and contrived. Although the premise was excellent, the book just didn't follow through.
Customer Reviews:
This book is available through www.chinaberry.com.......2003-09-05
For those of you looking for this book, you can find it at Chinaberry. Item number 5955 at www.chinaberry.com
Mrs. Sharp's Traditions.......2000-03-29
I have read every book that Susan Ban Breathnach has written and have loved them all. However, Mrs. Sharp's Traditions is a jewel in today's world. It truly focuses on family traditions and celebrations and helps those of us who juggle career, family and home. It is a shame that this book is no longer in print. It took me 3 months to get it at our local library. I highly encourage the publisher to re-print.
If you don't reprint this book my family will suffer!.......2000-03-26
For year's my family has gone without traditions and celebrations of any kind. Everytime we gather as a family it is a disaster! This book has brought me hope that there can be a time in my life where we can gather together as a happy family and enjoy ourselves. If I don't have a copy of this book for my very own library, my family and I will suffer for all eternity. Please reprint this beautiful book!
REPRINT PLEASE!.......2000-03-08
I too have tried every avenue to find this book to no avail. Please ask publisher to reprint!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.......2000-01-01
I have tried every avenue I know of to get a copy of this book - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE reprint!
Book Description
A child's "Upstairs, Downstairs," this thrilling journey back in time uses a special visual approach, with 100 full-color and 35 black-and-white photographs of authentic objects from the past, to bring the period to life. Discover how a wealthy Victorian family and their servants really lived--how they dressed, what they ate and the manner in which they entertained.
Customer Reviews:
Victorian details.......2000-07-09
This book details life for an upper middle class family in London about 1880. If your interest is in American life of the period, some of the details will be different, but the book is still very useful, and the illustrations, most of them photographs, are excellent. Some good information on the technology of housekeeping. Interestingly, the "Places to Visit" listed at the back are all in the U.S.
Excellent, colorful teacher's reference!.......1999-01-27
As a teacher, I feel that this book is an excellent demonstration of visual learning! This book displays everything from the layout of Victorian Houses to their clothes, servants, chores, social manners and etiquette, and customs. I recommend this book for any child interested in the time period or any teacher who has to teach it!
Book Description
In these brilliant essays, Ms. Himmelfarb explores the many facets, public and private, of the Victorian idea of morality. She invites us to reconsider the complex and colorful panorama of ideas and attitudes, beliefs and behavior, that goes under the name of Victorianism--and it reconsiders as well our own relation to that much abused and misunderstood culture. An important book. --New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Magisterial........2005-12-24
In this collection of essays on Victorian (or at least 19th-century) thinkers, as well as on modern conservative thinker Michael Oakeshott, Gertrude Himmelfarb demonstrates that she is one of the best intellectual historians now writing. Every one of these essays exhibits depth of research, high (and high-minded) criticism of figures who, like Bentham and the Webbs, may have sunk to obscurity themselves, but whose ideas linger on. She is by no means a fan of most of those she writes about, but she's not unfair. Indeed, I've long thought Bentham deserved the drubbing she gives him. Admittedly, she in some cases crosses the line into ad hominem, but it's so obvious that it's not pernicious. She clearly distinguishes fact, argument, and personal opinion. I must say that I don't especially like her politics, but she is one hell of a scholar and possessed of a rich prose. One of the best books I've read this year.
Interesting essays.......2000-05-24
This eclectic collection of essays covers Victorian sexual morality, their approach to religion, social Darwinism, utopianism, and politics. The essays are short (none longer than 33 pages), easy to read, and reflect a fantastic depth of understanding. I recommend this book without reservation.
Average customer rating:
- Very readable and informative about STC's daughter's life.
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Sara Coleridge, A Victorian Daughter: Her Life and Essays
Bradford Keyes Mudge
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0300044437 |
Customer Reviews:
Very readable and informative about STC's daughter's life........1998-06-25
For those interested in Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his family, this book gives a glimpse into the life of his daughter, Sara Coleridge. It is also a view of life in England in the 19th century and the role of woman in those times. Sara was instumental in preserving her father's work along with her husband, Henry Nelson Coleridge.
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Victorian America: A Family Record from the Heartland
Margaret Baker Graham
Manufacturer: Truman State University Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1931112215 |
Book Description
Life in Victorian America is richly detailed in this domestic history of one middle-class family from Missouri. The author draws from an extensive collection of letters, journals, Bible entries, receipts, newspaper clippings and photographs from 1860 to 1902 to portray the family of boarding house proprietor Margaret Bruin Machette. These letters of Margaret Machette, her children, and other correspondents focus primarily on familial devotion, deep religious faith, the constancy of work, and a commitment to education during Victorian America. The letters inevitably include references to critical points in American history such as Lincoln's assassination, Jesse James' robberies, controversial political elections, and the Civil War, with an emphasis on how war, epidemics, and drought affected the Machette family.
Average customer rating:
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Victorian Domesticity: Families in the Life and Art of Louisa May Alcott
Charles Strickland
Manufacturer: University Alabama Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0817312544 |
Average customer rating:
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Child of the Tropics: Victorian Memoirs
Yseult Bridges , and
Nicholas Guppy
Manufacturer: Wm Collins & Sons & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
19th Century
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ASIN: 0002629895 |
Customer Reviews:
Charmed in the Tropics.......2005-09-21
This is a wonderful narrative of a childhood spent in Trinidad. There were so many similarities between my experiences and those of Ms. Bridges though our respective childhoods occured decades apart. It was beautiful and lyric and poignant and funny. Most memorable was the description of the toddler Yseult's memories of childhood flight and the reaction of her horrified nanny. I certainly wish that this book was still readily available. I'd love to read it again.
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