Soho Square was built in the 1680s by Richard Frith who had obtained a license indirectly from the landowner, the Earl of St Albans. The area had been farmland that had become a popular location fo…

Ross Perfumery, Bishopsgate St London circa 1816 from The Repository of arts, literature, commerce, manufactures, fashions and politics

The Park Old and New London described Hyde Park as: … that most famous of recreation-grounds, and chief of the ‘lungs of London’, which all the world, to this day, persists in calling ‘the Park’, as if we had no other park in our metropolis—no doubt because, in the Stuart times, and even later

It’s a Friday in 1836 and, if you have been reading my previous four posts following Mr Whittock’s London tourist itinerary, you may be hoping the visitors are going to have a restful day today. I…

I love this print of 1796, “View of the Monument” published by L. Stockdale of Piccadilly. I’ve cropped it to focus in on the street scene in more detail and it is fascinating to …

Grace: I’m thrilled to welcome guest author, Regan Walker to “Fall in Love with History”. Regan posts on the subject of shopping, and contemporary accounts of what it was like to shop on 18th century Oxford Street. Enjoy! I’m honoured to have read a preview copy of Regan’s latest release, To Tame the Wind, and I loved it. Let’s just say I’d rate Regan on a similar level to one of my favourite HR authors, Tessa Dare. And with 21 reviews to date, all of which are 5 stars, I'd say a lot of readers agree with me. Anyhow, without further ado…over to Regan. Shopping on Oxford Street in Georgian London by Regan Walker Shopping on Oxford Street in the late 18th century? Oh yes! You would have loved it. Oxford Street from the Tyburn turnpike end. Hyde Park to the right of the picture. Today, Oxford Street is a thoroughfare in the West End of London, but its origins go far back to the Roman roads. Between the 12th century and the year of my story, To Tame the Wind, 1782, it was variously known as Tyburn Road, Uxbridge Road, Worcester Road and Oxford Road. It became notorious as the route taken by prisoners on their final journey from Newgate Prison to the gallows at Tyburn near Marble Arch. Beginning about 1729, however, it became known as Oxford Street. London’s population grew tremendously in the 18th century from about 630,000 in 1715 to 740,000 in 1760. It’s port, the London Pool on the Thames, was the busiest in the world. Much money was spent in building beautiful town houses, pleasure gardens, squares, museums—and shops. To venture into London’s streets was to brave pickpockets, cutthroats, bawds and bullies, not to mention mud and filth, stench from sewage and the black rain from the sea coal that was burned for heating. But on Oxford Street, where window-shopping had become a past time of the upper classes, things were better. Though Sophie de la Roche, a German visitor to London in 1786, thought the houses in London were not so splendid as those in Paris, she raved about the shops on Oxford Street: We strolled up and down lovely Oxford Street this evening, for some goods look more attractive by artificial light…First one passes a watchmaker’s, then a silk or fan store, now a silversmiths, a china or glass shop. Just as alluring are the confectioners and fruiterers, where, behind the handsome glass windows, pyramids of pineapples, figs, grapes, oranges and all manner of fruits are on show. Contemporary map of Oxford Street When my heroine in To Tame the Wind, Claire Donet, goes shopping with Cornelia, Lady Danvers, it is to Oxford Street where they browse the shop windows while Cornelia fills Claire in on the rather interesting origins of the hero, Captain Simon Powell. While much negative could be said about the streets of London which were ever dirty and plagued by mud puddles, when it came to Oxford Street, Sophie de la Roche noted: A street taking half an hour to cover from end to end, with double rows of brightly shining lamps, in the middle of which stands an equally long row of beautifully lacquered coaches, and on another side of these there is room for two coaches to pass one another and the pavement inlaid with flagstones can stand six people deep and allows one to gaze at the splendidly rich shop fronts in comfort. Another visitor to London, de la Rochefoucauld, remarked, Everything the merchant possesses is displayed behind windows which are always beautifully clean and the shops are built with a little projection on to the street so that they can be seen from three sides. Of course he is talking about bay windows, seen in many shops today. At one time London shops displayed painted signs. There were roasted pigs and spotted lions, dogs and gridirons, which had no connection with the things sold in the shop. The signs posed problems, of course, making noise as they creaked in the wind and sometimes falling onto those shopping. In 1766, the signs were removed and to replace them and to tell shoppers what good were being offered, some shops displayed symbols of their trade, like the barber's pole, the grocer's sugar loaf, the golden arm holding a mallet (the sign of the goldsmith). Others put up their names and occupations on signs above their shops. Hence, Mrs. Duval the modiste in my novel (and an actual modiste of the time), though located on Bond Street, featured an spool of thread as well as her name painted on the glass. One foreign traveler to London, after viewing the new signs, remarked, ‘Dealer in foreign spirituous liquors' is by far the most frequent. Ha! Some things never change. Click for a link “A sea adventure likeno other, a riveting romance!” NY Times Bestselling author Shirlee Busbee Paris 1782…AN INNOCENT IS TAKEN All Claire Donet knew was the world inside the convent walls in Saint-Denis. She had no idea her beloved papa was a pirate. But when he seized Simon Powell's schooner, the English privateer decided to take the one thing his enemy held most dear... her. A BATTLE IS JOINED The waters between France and England roil with the clashes of Claire's father and her captor as the last year of the American Revolution rages on the sea, spies lurk in Paris and Claire’s passion for the English captain rises. To learn more about Regan visit: Website: http://www.reganwalkerauthor.com/ Blog: http://reganromancereview.blogspot.com/ Twitter: @RegansReview (https://twitter.com/RegansReview) Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/regan.walker.104

Beau Brummel’s gambling addiction spelled his eventual downfall in Society. His passion for betting on everything under the sun was shared by his set, who in some instances gambled and lost fortune…

Follow Elizabeth Chivers on her whirlwind tour of Georgian London.

1815 saw the completion of Ackermann's Repository - Series 1. The British public of Regency England loved this publication and it would remain a resounding success for many years to come as they continued with series 2 and series 3 till their final issue in Dec 1828. With this post I will have shown all the fashion plates from Ackermann's series 1 and I hope you will keep checking back in as I post the Regency fashion plates for Series 2 and 3 in future posts. This is one of my favorite 1815 Ackermann's Fashion plates - plate 23 Description of Fashion plates 22 & 23 - Plate 23 is for the above shown Walking Dress A bit about Ackermann's Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufacturers, Fashion and Politics. was a popular publications in England from 1809-1829. (The 1829 issues were printed as "Ackermann's Repository of Fashion".) Ackermann's listed a wide variety of current subject matters to entertain the masses of Regency England. There were political commentaries, poetry, short stories, current events, special exhibit information, stock and commerce reports and other interesting tidbits in its pages. Each issue also contained wonderful color illustrations showing fashions, home decor, public places of interest, architecture and a variety of items that would be of interest to their readers. My favorites are the Fashion Plates and there were usually 2 in each monthly issue. During the twenty year run of this monthly publication, Ackermann's made specially bound volumes available for those who were collecting the issues. These "bound" book versions consisted of a 2 volume set for each year it was published. There were a total of 3 series in that 20 year period. Series 1 began in Jan 1809 (volume 1) and ended with the Dec issue (volume 14) in 1815. Series 2 began in Jan 1816 and ended with the Dec issue in 1822. Series 3 began in Jan 1823 and ended with the final issue in Dec 1828 Ackermann's Repository "Bound" Series 1 ran from 1809 - 1815 with a total of 14 Volumes for Series 1 (click on each year below to be taken to that post) Series 1 - Vol 1 & 2 - 1809 Series 1 - Vol 3 & 4 - 1810 Series 1 - Vol 5 & 6 - 1811 Series 1 - Vol 7 & 8 - 1812 Series 1 - Vol 9 & 10 - 1813 Series 1 - Vol 11 & 12 - 1814 Series 1 - Vol 13 & 14 - 1815 Today I am thrilled to be completing Ackermann's Series 1 by posting the fashion plates for the year 1815. Series 1 Vol 13 was Jan - June 1815 Series 1 Vol 14 was July - Dec 1815 Enjoy! Ackermann's Repository 1815 Fashion Plates 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - January Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - January Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - February Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - February Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - March Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - March Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - April Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - April Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - May Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - May Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - June Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 13 - June Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - July Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - July Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - August Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - August Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - September Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - September Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - October Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - October Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - November Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - November Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - December Issue 1815 - Ackermann's Repository Series1 Vol 14 - December Issue I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the fun fashions in this first series of Ackermann's Repository Regency prints and that you will continue to drop in as I post more fashions from the Series 2 and then Series 3 issues of Ackermann's Repository. Till Next time... Thanks for visiting me here at EKDuncan.blogspot.com If you have enjoyed seeing these images from Ackermann's Repository and would like the opportunity to see and read an original for yourself they are are available on line at www.archive.org Click HERE then choose the volume you are interested in. You can then see and read them online or download them to your computer for future reference. Enjoy!

Elizabeth Bennet’s aunt and uncle Gardiner lived on Gracechurch Street in Cheapside, an area of London known for its shops and merchants, and one not usually inhabited by the upper crust.

The Bartered Bride is out now in USA. Coming soon there the Hanover Square trilogy and cming here soon, paperback in august is Bought For the Harem. Dearest Mama I write to you from Italy, where I have spent a pleasant month with my sister Horatia and her friends. I must tell you that the climate suits my health and I have decided to settle here. There is a very pleasant villa not far from my sister's home and it is there I shall live. The estate will be sold and while I realise this may leave you without a home I am offering you the chance of living here with me and the lady I intend to marry, as soon as her family will allow it - or a house in Bath. I am quite prepared to purchase a house in Bath for you, dear Mama. My lawyers will make certain that you have all you need - but should you wish to visit either Horatia or myself we shall be delighted to see you. I know you feel my sister has disgraced the family but I assure you that here no one regards it. She is welcomed by most of the local notables, though some visiting English do not wish to be known to her. However, her divorce is soon to be complete and then she will marry. I must tell you that she is expecting her husband-t-be's baby and very happy. We should all like to see both you and Antonia. Your loving son, Robert Hope you enjoyed this little series. I expect it will be back to excerpts next time. Best wishes Anne Herries

“This square is esteemed the next in beauty, as it is in extent, to Grosvenor-square. It is built with more regularity than the latter: but the very uniformity of the houses, and the small projecti…

Smithfield 1682 from William Morgan’s map I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to stay in one of the Landmark Trust’s properties in Cloth Fair, Smithfield, this summer. Y…

The scene above (from Ackermann’s Repository ) 1812 shows the view west along Fleet Street towards Temple Bar, the point where the City of London becomes Westminster. The Regency Londoner wo…

Soho Square was built in the 1680s by Richard Frith who had obtained a license indirectly from the landowner, the Earl of St Albans. The area had been farmland that had become a popular location fo…

It is July , so time for another of George Cruickshank’s delicious monthly ‘snapshots’ of London life from his London Almanac. This month we have a view of Vauxhall pleasure gardens with the orches…

It is July , so time for another of George Cruickshank’s delicious monthly ‘snapshots’ of London life from his London Almanac. This month we have a view of Vauxhall pleasure gardens with the orches…

"Newport Pagnell. Mrs. Hurst Dancing. September 17, 1816."

I love this 1790 hand-colored etching by Thomas Rowlandson from the Royal Collection Trust, which depicts 12 vignettes of everyday life and work in Georgian England. Sketches like these offer us a …

Reproduced on a fine art print, canvas or greetings card.