The Regency Had No Wallpaper

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

Which is not to say that there were not many walls in many buildings throughout the Regency which were not covered with decorative paper. But not one scrap of that paper was called "wallpaper" during the Regency for the simple reason that the word "wallpaper" did not come into use until 1827, long after the Regent had become King George IV.

What were these papers called, who made them, how were they made, how were they used and where were they sold?

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Fordyce’s Sermons and Jane Austen’s Joke   By Jane Lark

If you have read Pride and Prejudice, even if you recognized the reference to Fordyce’s Sermons, you may not get the subtle joke Jane Austen intended. It would have been understood by most readers of her era, particularly the ladies, but the majority of modern readers will miss it all together. Today, Regency romance author, Jane Lark, whose most recent book is The Passionate Love of a Rake, will explain Jane Austen’s joke with regard to Mr. Fordyce’s book of sermons so that we can all enjoy the fun.

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Regency Architecture:   Sir John Soane   By Ann Lethbridge

Regency romance author, Ann Lethbridge, whose most recent book, Falling for the Highland Rogue, won the Romantic Times Knight in Shining Silver (KISS) Award, today tells us about Sir John Soane, a prominent Regency architect. She shares important information about Soane’s working style and provides images of some of his more significant buildings.

Might Sir John Soane or his buildings figure in one of your next novels?

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Did Wellington Save the Hope? — Part Two

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

Last week, I wrote about the origins of the rare blue diamond now known as the Hope, and traced its adventures through the end of the eighteenth century, at which point it dropped out of sight. The large deep blue diamond had been discovered in India, purchased by the merchant Tavernier, who in turn sold it to Louis XIV. The king had it cut and faceted, resulting in the gem commonly known as the "French Blue." Louis XV had it set in his jeweled insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, where it remained part of the French Crown jewels, until it was stolen, four months before its next owner, Louis XVI, lost his head in the square outside the very building from which it had been taken.

One theory suggests it was taken to England by one of the men who stole it, another that it was part of a group of the stolen Crown jewels which was used to bribe the Duke of Brunswick to abandon his invasion of France and the rescue of Louis XVI and his family. After that, the trail of the French Blue goes cold, until a large blue diamond surfaces in Regency England …

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Did Wellington Save the Hope? — Part One

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

He certainly did save the hope of England, even of Europe, that June day in Belgium, on the battlefield of Waterloo. But the Hope to which I refer is a precious blue diamond, which, thanks to the efforts of the Duke of Wellington, was not lost to history. And shortly after he prevented its misappropriation, it was acquired by the man whose name it bears, even to this day.

The supposed curse which is attributed to the Hope Diamond is fiction. However, the true story of its real-life adventures are so much stranger than the plot of any novel. Now, how this rare blue diamond glittered its way across Europe, through the hands of crowned heads and cut-throats …

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Lord Nelson’s Pitiable Wife by Cheryl Bolen

In today’s article, award-winning Regency romance author, Cheryl Bolen, whose newest book, Love in the Library, will be released this month, tells us about a woman nearly forgotten by history, the wife of the great naval hero, Admiral Lord Nelson. Even those who have studied the Regency and its denizens for years may have overlooked this unhappy woman who was Nelson’s legal wife. Though Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar before the Regency began, Lady Nelson survived not only her husband and his infamous mistress, but the Prince Regent as well.

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Sand:   A Regency Cleaning Agent?

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

Today, most people would be much more likely to clean sand up than they would be to clean with it. But during the Regency, as it had been for centuries before, sand was a commonly-used household cleaning agent. And the man who supplied the sand used for cleaning to most households across Britain would, by the time the Regency ended, be passing into the realm of myth and folk tale, having acquired special powers, certainly in the eyes of most young children and their parents. Like so many other things discussed here, the ways in which sand was used for cleaning were beginning to change during the Regency, though they would not die out completely until the twentieth century.

The shifting, and sifting, sands of the Regency …

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