Victorian Books

The matriarch of the Trollope family, Frances Trollope, wrote dozens of novels which are now unfortunately out of print. In this wonderful and fortunately in-print novel Fanny Trollope creates the world of Wrexhill, an idyllic English village full of a cast of strong-willed English characters. The novel deals with religious fanatacism, portrays atheism, and is overall a very balanced treatment of the subject of religion at the time. There is humour, a bit of melodrama, and suspense. It was a joy to read and I look forward to reading more Fanny Trollope titles in the future.

This is another fine, well-written, historical novel by Jean Plaidy, also known to her legion of devoted fans as Victoria Holt. This, the eleventh book in her Georgian saga, focuses on the House of Hanover's need to secure their dynasty.

With King George III under lock and key, suffering from what seemed to be a form of insanity, and the Prince Regent in ill health, all looked to the Regent's daughter, Charlotte, who was pregnant and due to give birth. Unfortunately, the unthinkable happened and both Charlotte and her baby died during childbirth, leaving the kingdom in a quandary. For though King George III had many children, they were all well into middle age and none had any legitimate children to secure the continuation of the Hanoverian dynasty.

This turn of events galvanized the unmarried sons of King George III to marry suitable wives, so as to have legitimate children and secure the line of succession for the House of Hanover. William, the third son and Duke of Clarence, as well as Edward, the fourth son and Duke of Kent, did so. William married Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen, while Edward married Victoria Mary Louisa of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg. Meanwhile, Ernest, the sinister fifth son and Duke of Cumberland, was already married and hoping to be the one to provide the necessary children.

When King George III died and the ailing Prince Regent became King George IV, William and Edward were in a dead heat trying to have heirs. While William and Adelaide were unsuccessful, Edward and Victoria managed to have a daughter, who was to be known as Victoria. Shortly after, Ernest and his wife Augusta had a boy, whom they named George.

It looked as if Princess Victoria were in the wings, waiting to become Queen; that is, if nothing happened to prevent her from reaching maturity. Plots, intrigues, and danger lurked around every corner. This is the story of how the little princess of the fourth son of King George III would find herself positioned to one day become sovereign of England.

This book stands as a valuable resource for studies on Shakespeare as well as Eliot, Swinburne, Browning and Dickens. Sawyer's examples of how these authors borrowed from and used Shakespeare provides a new versatility of Shakespeare's works that has largely gone unnoticed. Many strong assertions are made and each one is supported by a firm foundation of research and knowledge. It is necessary, however, to have an understanding of each of these authors. Without this familiarity, the book tends to be a difficult read.

A Canadian author, Westland specializes in floral arrangements, recipes, and crafts. She divides this book by season (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) and includes a smidge of her speciality in each partition. Most fascinating are the dictionary excerpts that speckle her chapters with interesting tidbits about the language of flowers and what flowers symbolized to Victorians. Noteworthy are her floral baskets, bonnets, lace, nosegays, garlands, wreaths, and head-dresses; flower decorated eggs and flower pressings; pomanders, pot pourris, soaps, and perfumes; pansy jelly, floral spreads, oils, vinegars, cordials, syrups, and table settings. There is something Victorian to create for every holiday, and to give as a gift for every person.

185 pages, including introduction, photographs, illustrations, extracts from Victorian dictionaries, recipes, and index

Highly recommended

This is a wonderful selection of paper dolls illustrating the early 1890's. It has ten beautiful fashions for the bride Jessamine and five for her younger sister and bridesmaid Jacintha. It is excellent for paper doll collectors but is not so suitable for young children, as it is printed on lightweight paper and may not survive the test of time.

This book was just what I was looking for. It is full of Victorian recipes, but with modern cooking instructions. It gives recipes for many different courses and has some menu ideas, but you can also create your own, of course. It also gives you an idea of what was common for Victorian holiday meals so you can also add your own similar recipes right along with it. It is a really great book. The only downfall is I do wish it had color photos of some (if not all) the recipes. That's just my own preference - I love cookbooks that show what each finished dish looks like. Other than that, it really is a good book if you are interested in cooking up some Victorian meals. I was looking for some new Christmas tradition foods for my family, and this really helped in giving me recipes plus helping in giving me other ideas as well.

This double book has it all-instructions and the materials to make projects. The very beautiful book has several Victorian projects to make using the Christmas "scraps" which are included in the second half of the book. The projects are somewhat disappointing, however, the reproduction paper pictures called "scraps" make up for the lack in originality of the projects. The rather lackluster projects were the springboard for my own ideas with which to use the paper "scraps" of Father Christmas, Victorian angels, flowers, etc. Overall, the paper pictures were the stronger of the two halves of the book, but well made up for any weakness in the project suggestions. Gorgeous pictures. Well worth the money.

This is the second part of a two-volume set. The book is different because the events of the second half of Queen Victorias reign brought very different challenges to the Anglican Church. In Part I we saw England opening up Parliament and other political offices to the Dissenters and the RCC. Part II, this volume, dwells more on the centripetal forces acting on the church. There is an excellent history of the Colenso affair, putting it all in a bigger context. The later years of John Cardinal Newman get some treatment.

During this time (the Darwin Era, if you will), though, the biggest changes were in attitudes toward the scriptures, and the adoption of other marks of modernity. Depending on where you stand this was a good thing or a bad thing. In any case there appears to have been very little resistance to modernity.

I am a Catholic with an interest in England (I have a PhD in English Lit.) and have been augmenting my knowledge with various books on church history. From that point of view this has been a tremendous work. It tends to focus on Political and Legal issues as opposed to the spiritual life or personalities of the many actors. Thus it can be said to be "objective," but that in part is its downside--it does not bring to life the many individuals who made the choices. The author, it seems, is one who believes that there are something like "forces of history" rather than decisions by individuals. That's not a problem really, but its a perspective that wears thin about page 1000.

Terrific book gives comprehensive look at design characteristics making it easier to identify glass maker. Very organized. The color photos are worth the price of the book! Perfect for any serious glass collector or dealer. I highly recommend.

The photos in this book are lovely and the flower arrangements are glorious. I quickly realized that British Victorian style in my tropical climate would be too cluttered, too crowded and too full of heavy, upholstered furniture. It would be wonderful in a cold, blustery climate. Nevertheless, I got hundreds of images and ideas that I can tone down and lighten up for my home.

The "easy-to-make projects" however, are totally unrealistic - how many people still know how to crochet and do tatting and have the time? Maybe the next time I'm stranded on a desert island, but nowadays .....Cuting down a bureau to make a mantle? Making a Victorian picnic basket? The Christmas decorations and foods, however, were wonderful (even if you'd never have time to do them unless you started in late September ...)- the photos look like Ebenezer and Tiny Tim will be coming through the door momentarily. Beautiful book, especially if taken in small doses.