Registration for Mini Conference & Soiree

Just a reminder that registration is open for the Beau Monde’s mini conference!

Quick details: The conference will be held Wednesday, July 23rd in San Antonio (kicking off the national RWA conference!). Registration includes breakfast, lunch (featuring our keynote speaker Vicky Dreiling) and delicious treats at the soiree, plus access to six Regency-themed workshops!

For more information (and to register) check out the link here: http://thebeaumonde.com/resources/annual-conference. Early Bird prices available until June 15, 2014. Full conference fees include breakfast, lunch and soiree (available separately).

We hope to see you there!

Fashionable Medicine   by Regina Scott

Regina Scott, whose latest print book is The Husband Campaign, shares with us some fads in medicine which held sway during the Regency. As she points out, the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. Regina’s article makes an interesting follow-up to Angelyn Schmid’s article on Sir Henry Halford, a fashionable Regency doctor, posted last week.

After reading this article, do you think you prefer medical fads from the Regency or those from modern times?

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Physician to the Regency   by Angelyn Schmid

In today’s article, Regency author, Angelyn Schmid, provides some details about Sir Henry Halford. A physician to the ton during the Regency, Halford was a real-life historical character who made an appearance in one of Georgette Heyer’s most delightful novels, Cotillion.

As you read Angelyn’s article, consider whether or not you would like to have Sir Henry Halford as your doctor.

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The Tantalus Did Not Tantalize!

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

Certainly not during the years of the English Regency. And yet, in the past couple of years, I have read perhaps a dozen novels set during the Regency in which characters select a decanter containing their alcoholic beverage of choice from a tantalus. And never once did any of these characters use a key to liberate their preferred libation from this devious device.

So, what is a tantalus, and when did it make its debut on the stage of English domestic furnishings?

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Prescription for Sagging Middles   by Cheryl Bolen

Award-winning Regency romance author, Cheryl Bolen, whose romance novel, A Lady By Chance, is part of the Scandalous Brides boxed set, offers some valuable writing tips. In today’s article, Cheryl shares some secrets from a prolific author on how to avoid those sagging middle sections which can bog down a great story.

Perhaps some of these tips will be just the thing you need to help you liven up the middle part of your book when your enthusiasm for the story begins to flag.

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The Dandy Chargers — 2014 Riding Season

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

Thanks to a dedicated group of aficionados known as the Dandy Chargers, the velocipede, which Georgette Heyer fans know as the pedestrian curricle, is not a thing of the past. Each year, the Dandy Chargers don Regency dress and ride their historically accurate "dandy-horses" at various historic estates and other venues in Great Britain. Thus, those who would like to see these vehicles in action as they might have appeared during the Regency have an opportunity to do so at one of the Dandy Chargers’ appearances this year.

The 2014 schedule of the Dandy Chargers fourteenth riding season …

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Pianoforte vs. Harpsichord

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

It is during the years of the Regency that the popularity of these two musical instruments intersect, one rising, the other waning. In fact, many of the more affluent homes during this period had both keyboard instruments. But though they are somewhat similar in appearance, they are very different in terms of their construction, their "touch" when being played, and the quality and volume of the sounds which they can produce.

A number of musical instrument makers produced both types of instruments during these years. Many notable composers composed music for both instruments, including Bach, Mozart, Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, and Scarlatti. Yet, by the time the Regency was over, the pianoforte had won out over the harpsichord. The victory was so complete that vast numbers of harpsichords were destroyed all over Europe. In the Paris Conservatory, for example, they were smashed and used as firewood.

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