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Monthly Archives: May 2008

Old Books and Google Books

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I love new books: the pristine covers, unbroken spines, the sense of anticipation, especially when a friend’s name adorns the cover. But I also love old books, whether novels or reference. I have a bunch at home and regularly check more of them out of the local university library. I’ve found that newer books, while they may contain new information and insights, don’t always have the period focus I like. For instance, I recently found a Victorian history of ballooning which covers the Regency period in much more detail than most modern books on the subject have space for.

I also love old books for less logical reasons. I love their embossed covers, their yellowed pages, the titles that seem to go on and on. I love the fonts, even the ones in which s’s look like f’s. I even love how they smell. They make me wonder where they’ve been and who read them before me.

And a new love is Google Books. Being a certifiable history geek, I am delighted to find treasures that would otherwise remain semi-hidden in special collections in places I don’t have the time or money to visit regularly. Even though I miss the smell and feel, I love to find obscure gems like:

Commentaries on the Surgery of the War in Portugal, Spain, France and the Netherlands, from the Battle of Rolica, in 1806, to that of Waterloo, in 1815, by G. J. Guthrie, 1855. Full of details on how military heroes and their compatriots could have been wounded and what could have been done for them. Gory but useful.

An Account of Five Aerial Voyages in Scotland by Vincent Lunardi, 1786. It’s full of the period ballooning details I need. Lunardi seems to have been quite the charmer:

“In going to the Baronet’s we had to cross over the bridge at Glassart, where about thirty young blooming lasses had ranged themselves on each side to have a sight of this comely Adventurer. All of them appeared well pleased: there was one, however, not the least lovely of the number, whose sensibility led her to express herself more strongly than the rest: ‘How pretty he is! I wish I had been with him.’ Mr. Lunardi was too attentive to let slip an opportunity to say a civil thing to our fair Countrywoman: he patted her cheek, whispering, ‘My Angel, and so do I.'”

How about you? Do you love old books, too? Have you found any obscure gems on Google books or elsewhere? Please share!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

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JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB: Cranford (2008)

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Welcome to an impromptu edition of the Risky Regencies JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB!

Today, we’re going to branch out beyond Jane Austen adaptations, and talk about the recent adaptation of CRANFORD.

And in our upcoming schedule: the first Tuesday of June (June 3), we’ll talk about CLUELESS…and the first Tuesday in July (July 1), we’ll talk about the 1980 miniseries of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, the one with David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie. Please join us!

So…did you watch any of Cranford? What did you think?

Cast etc are listed here for your discussing convenience:

CAST:

Miss Deborah Jenkyns — Eileen Atkins
Miss Matty Jenkyns — Judi Dench
Mary Smith — Lisa Dillon
Dr. Harrison — Simon Woods
Harry Gregson — Alex Etel
Martha — Claudie Blakley
Dr. Morgan — John Bowe
Miss Pole — Imelda Staunton
Mrs. Forrester — Julia McKenzie
Mrs. Jamieson — Barbara Flynn
Caroline Tomkinson — Selina Griffiths
Miss Tomkinson — Deborah Findlay
Bertha — Hannah Hobley
Jem Hearne — Andrew Buchan
Helen Hutton — Hester Odgers
Lizzie Hutton — Rosy Byrne
Sophy Hutton — Kimberley Nixon
Walter Hutton — Haydon Downing
Reverend Hutton — Alex Jennings
Mr. Carter — Philip Glenister
Mr. Johnson — Adrian Scarborough
Lady Ludlow — Francesca Annis
Captain Brown — Jim Carter
Jessie Brown — Julia Sawalha
Sir Charles Maulver — Greg Wise
Miss Galindo — Emma Fielding
Margaret Gidman — Bessie Carter
Bella Gregson — Emma Lowndes
Malachi Gregson — Andrew Byrne
Mrs. Rose — Lesley Manville
Major Gordon — Alistair Petrie
Mrs. Johnson — Debra Gillett
Job Gregson — Dean Lennox Kelly
Clara Smith — Finty Williams
Mr. Holbrook — Michael Gambon
Kate — Imogen Byron
Bessie — Hannah Stokely
Mulliner — Roger Ennals
Gypsy Woman — Patricia Leach
Farmer Graves — Andrew Westfield
Jack Marshland — Joe McFadden
Assistant Auctioneer — Adam Henderson Scott
Mrs. Goddard — Andy Rashleigh
Peter Jenkyns — Martin Shaw

SCREENPLAY: Heidi Thomas
DIRECTOR: Simon Curtis and Steve Hudson

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King, who has more than two candles

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Regency Weddings

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Amanda is attending her brother’s wedding today so I volunteered to blog for her. I hope she’ll show us photos of her dress, but until then, let’s talk about Regency weddings.

Regency brides did wear white, but they didn’t have to. In the Regency, white gowns were popular for many occasions. Other colors like pale pink and blue were also worn at weddings. The older the bride, the darker the color. Wedding dresses were worn after the wedding, too. By the time Queen Victoria became a bride and wore white, the white wedding dress was well on its way to becoming a tradition.

Princess Charlotte, who wed Prince Leopold in 1816, wore a dress of silver lamé, embroidered in silver.

Sites that tell more about Regency Weddings:

Jessamyn’s Regency Costume Companion

Regency Weddings

Quick facts about Regency Weddings:

1. Weddings could take place after reading of the Banns, a license, or a special license. Banns must be read for three consecutive Sundays in the parishes of both the prospective bride and groom. A license, purchased from the bishop of the diocese, did away with the banns but the couple still had to be married in the parish church. A special license, purchased from the Archbishop of Canterbury, allowed the couple to be married in a location other than a church and without banns. Licenses were never blank; different names could not be substituted.

2. Scottish weddings went by different rules. In Scotland couples could be married by declaring themselves married in front of witnesses, by making a promise to marry followed by intercourse, or by living together and calling themselves married.

3. Weddings could not be performed by proxy. Both the bride and groom had to be present.

4. Ship captains could not perform marriages. Couples could be married aboard ship, but only by clergy. (How many times have you read that plot?)

5. Brides had wedding rings; grooms did not. The bride could give the groom a ring as a wedding gift, but it was not part of the ceremony and didn’t symbolize he was married.

Do you want a Regency Wedding? There are many sites on the internet offering custom made Regency wedding dresses:

Regency Reproductions

Fashions in Time

Or if you are handy, like Cara, you could make your Regency gown:

McCall’s Pattern 202 Regency era Empire Waisted Wedding Gown

I was married a Brazillion years ago, before a bride would even DREAM of a strapless gown. Before I married, I’d never read Georgette Heyer or Regency Romances and it had been a few years since I’d read Jane Austen.

Take a look at my wedding dress.
It’s a little hard to tell here, but it has an empire waist. It’s a Regency Dress!

Do you have any questions about Regency weddings?

Did anyone else have a Regency wedding dress?

Don’t forget to stop by on Monday for Grand Central Publishing editor Alex Logan

And while you are blogging on Monday, stop by The Wet Noodle Posse. My friend Darlene Gardner is blogging about researching character occupations.

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Accessible Beauty

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Brace yourselves–I have an actual topic today!


As we might have mentioned, Amanda and I are presenting a workshop at this summer’s Beau Monde Conference entitled, Keeping It Real: Making Your Historical Characters Come Alive. Here’s the brief description:

Just because you’re writing in a distant time period doesn’t mean your characters should be distant to your readers. Join award-winning historical authors Amanda McCabe and Megan Frampton as they discuss how to make your characters come alive through dialogue, attitudes, description and actions, while still remaining true to the period.

Amanda and I will be working on the outline/presentation in upcoming months, and when I saw this article, I realized there were some aspects of ‘keeping it real’ I hadn’t thought of:


Hollywood’s Changing Face of Beauty
From Greta Garbo to Kate Hudson, How Beauty Has Changed in America

The article says that while classic beauties were popular before, quirkier, more “accessible” beauty is what Americans find attractive.

Which, of course, led me to consider what readers find attractive in heroines. If you’re Of A Certain Reading Age, you likely read a lot of those ’80s romances where the heroine was beyond gorgeous: Perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect teeth (!–we are reading about English people, remember). The thing that usually wasn’t perfect about them was how they didn’t know they were perfect. Or something lame and punting like that.

Now our heroines have flaws, flaws that make them more real: Their hair is too curly, their hips are too big, their mouths are too wide, their eyes are just plain brown, they are too short or too tall, or whatever. We, as readers, want to read about women who are like us, not perfect goddesses on pedestals.

What do you think our changing attitudes about beauty reveal about us? Do you find Angelina, the Jessicas, Jennifer, Megan F(ox)–not me!, Halle, et al stunning? What do you like about those old romances in terms of their heroines’ descriptions? What do you like about current heroines’ looks?

Thanks for your comments!

Megan

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