The Victorian Parlour

The Victorian Parlour
Author: Thad Logan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2001-07-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780521631822

The parlour was the centre of the Victorian home and, as Thad Logan shows, the place where contemporary conflicts about domesticity and gender relations were frequently played out. In The Victorian Parlour: A Cultural Study, Logan uses an interdisciplinary approach that combines the perspectives of art history, social history and literary theory to describe and analyse the parlour as a cultural artefact. She offers a detailed investigation of specific objects in the parlour, and argues that these things articulated social meaning and could present symbolic resolutions to disturbances in the social field. The book concludes with a discussion of how representations of the parlour in literature and art reveal the pleasures and anxieties associated with Victorian domestic life.

Culture and Comfort

Culture and Comfort
Author: Katherine Grier
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2013-09-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1588343472

In Culture and Comfort Katherine C. Grier shows how the design and furnishings of the mid-nineteenth century parlor reflected the self-image of the Victorian middle class. Parlors provided public facades for formal occasions and represented an attempt to resolve the often opposing ideals of gentility and sincerity to which American culture aspired. The book traces the fortunes of the parlor and its upholstery from its early incarnations in “palace” hotels, railroad cars, steamships, and photographers' studios; through its mid-century heyday, when even remote frontier homes could boast “suites” of red plush sofas and chairs; to its slow, uneven metamorphosis into the more versatile living room. The author argues that even as the home increasingly was seen as a haven from industralization and commercialization, its ties to industry and commerce—in the form of more affordable, machine-made furniture and drapery—became stronger. By the 1920s the parlor's decline signaled both a blurring of the Victorian distinctions between public and private manners and the transfer of middle-class identity from the home to the automobile. Describing the deportment a parlor required, the activities it sheltered, and the marketing and manufacturing breakthroughs that made it available to all, Culture and Comfort reveals the full range of cultural messages conveyed by nineteenth-century parlor materials.

Victorian Parlour Poetry

Victorian Parlour Poetry
Author: Michael R. Turner
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
Total Pages: 325
Release: 1992
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 9780486270449

Features 117 gems by Longfellow, Tennyson, Browning and many lesser-known poets. "The Village Blacksmith," "Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight," "Only a Baby Small," more, often difficult to find elsewhere. Index of poets, titles, first lines.

This Victorian Life

This Victorian Life
Author: Sarah A. Chrisman
Publisher: Skyhorse
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2022-07-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781510770805

Part memoir, part micro-history, this is an exploration of the present through the lens of the past--now in paperback! We all know that the best way to study a foreign language is to go to a country where it's spoken, but can the same immersion method be applied to history? How do interactions with antique objects influence perceptions of the modern world? From Victorian beauty regimes to nineteenth-century bicycles, custard recipes to taxidermy experiments, oil lamps to an ice box, Sarah and Gabriel Chrisman decided to explore nineteenth-century culture and technologies from the inside out. Even the deepest aspects of their lives became affected, and the more immersed they became in the late Victorian era, the more aware they grew of its legacies permeating the twenty-first century. Most of us have dreamed of time travel, but what if that dream could come true? Certain universal constants remain steady for all people regardless of time or place. No matter where, when, or who we are, humans share similar passions and fears, joys and triumphs. In her first book, Victorian Secrets, Chrisman recalled the first year she spent wearing a Victorian corset 24/7. In This Victorian Life, Chrisman picks up where Secrets left off and documents her complete shift into living as though she were in the nineteenth century.

Victorian House Designs in Authentic Full Color

Victorian House Designs in Authentic Full Color
Author: Blanche Cirker
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 82
Release: 2012-08-08
Genre: Design
ISBN: 048613847X

Exquisitely detailed, exceptionally handsome designs for an enormous variety of attractive city dwellings, spacious suburban and country homes, charming "cottages" and other structures — all accompanied by perspective views and floor plans.

Victorian Parlour Games

Victorian Parlour Games
Author: Chronicle Books
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2024-10-15
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 1797231014

Bring a piece of history into your game night with this collection of fun and playable Victorian-era party games. Victorian Parlour Games is a beautifully designed and compact hardcover volume full of the classic, often silly, games played in the late 19th century. The Victorians loved fun and played hundreds and hundreds of party games. This endlessly delightful party games book collects some of the very best for your reference and pleasure. The irresistible combination of recognizable favorites and unexpected amusements includes: Charades Taboo Twenty Questions Laughing Game Fictionary Blindman’s Bluff Forfeits The Minister’s Cat Pass the Slipper Are you there, Moriarty? Elephant’s Foot Umbrella Stand Throwing the Smile Squeak Piggy Squeak Kim’s Game Blowing the Feather and many more! Each entry provides the original name of the game, any alternate names, the rules, and a brief history, complete with fun facts, notable connections (i.e., mentioned in a Charles Dickens novel, named after a Rudyard Kipling book, inspired by Sherlock Holmes, etc.), and what we call it today if the name has changed. Illustrations sprinkled throughout add to the fun and historical appeal of this unique game book, perfect for gifting or collecting. FOR FANS OF VICTORIANA: Anyone who loves the history and literature of the era knows how much those wacky Victorians liked their fun. Now, anyone can join in! PORTABLY POCKET-SIZED: This handy little volume is perfect to pop into a purse or satchel and take to the Dickens Fair, a historical reenactment, or any game night. FUN FOR ALL AGES: These games are easy to learn and quick to play. Get the whole family involved in some charmingly old-school delights that need very few extras beyond a deck of cards or a bit of mischievous spirit. Perfect for: Game players of all ages History buffs, trivia buffs, and fans of Victoriana Austen aficionados and Bridgerton watchers Dickens Fair and Christmas Carol attendees Family gift or game night host/hostess gift

Blackheath Séance Parlour

Blackheath Séance Parlour
Author: Alan Williams
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-05
Genre: Great Britain
ISBN: 9781908122513

Two sisters dabble in the dark arts in Victorian London in this tale featuring murder, vampires, malevolent spirits, and a life-size chocolate gorilla In 1842, two drunken sisters debate their future. Business at the family chocolate shop has ground to a halt, and change is needed. For once, domineering elder sister Maggie doesn't get her way, and a month later Judy, Maggie, and Netta Walters—a medium with big hair and a bigger secret—open their s�ance parlor. The locals are shocked, but soon the shop is crammed with people wanting to contact the dead. Despite their change in fortune, a rift grows between the sisters, as Judy gets her gothic novel published, finds a man, and proves to be more capable of contacting spirits than Maggie. Spurred on by jealousy, Maggie tries harder, and soon the Church decides they must be stopped. For fans of the classics—Holmes, Dickens, and Abfab.