Men at Work: Art and Labour in Victorian Britain (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies)

Book Description

For artists of the increasingly mechanized Victorian age, questions about the meaning and value of labour presented a series of urgent problems: Is work a moral obligation or a religious duty? Must labour be the preserve of men alone? Does the amount of work bestowed on a painting affect its value? Should art celebrate wholesome rural work or reveal the degradations of the industrial workplace? In this highly original book, Tim Barringer considers how artists and theorists addressed these questions and what their solutions reveal about Victorian society and culture.
Based on extensive new research, Men at Work offers a compelling study of the image as a means of exploring the relationship between labour and art in Victorian Britain. Barringer arrives at a major reinterpretation of the art and culture of nineteenth-century Britain and its empire as well as new readings of such key figures as Ford Madox Brown and John Ruskin.

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Decorative Victorian glass
Cyril Manley
Manufacturer: Van Nostrand Reinhold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 0442258720

390 Traditional Stained Glass Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

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Jeff's review
Design by eras/styles
Stained Glass Designs from Dover
Helpful!
Great book and great ideas

390 Traditional Stained Glass Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
Hywel G. Harris
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486289648

Book Description

Finely rendered line drawings, based on photographs of authentic Victorian and Edwardian era designs, depict lovely floral and foliate motifs, a remarkable array of geometrics, transitional designs showing Art Nouveau influence, and much more

— all in a wide range of sizes and shapes.

Customer Reviews:

Jeff's review.......2007-04-03

The cover gives 14 color examples. The 78 pages are packed with
an average of 8 black and white outlines to a page.
This is a lot of ideas but would be challenging to enlarge for
pattern making. A limited range of symetric styles are divided
into four groups.

Design by eras/styles.......2007-01-10

This book is not my cup of tea, but it's great for someone who's looking for a design from a certain era. The book is broken down by the different eras or styles: Victorian Geometric, Art Nouveau, Victorian Floral, Edwardian, and 1920's. All the designs have a lot of horizontal and vertical lines in them. Also, it's all in black and white so you have to use your imagination to color it. The back of the front cover and back cover has examples in color.

Stained Glass Designs from Dover.......2006-08-08

This is an excellent resource book for stained glass artisans. It has a variety of styles and eras in easy to duplicate drawings. Projects range from easy to intricate, designs (in some instances) can be mixed and matched.

Dover has a good selection of stained glass books which provide wonderful references to many and varied types of stained glass design.

Helpful!.......2006-07-21

I've been looking for ideas for simple patterns; this book helped me a lot!

Great book and great ideas.......2006-07-06

This book is great for traditional patterns, specially for the ones from Great Bretain. It shows different types of patterns depending on the period of influence, like Edwardian, Art Deco and others. I wished the patterns showed some color!!!!

Shakespeare's Victorian Stage: Performing History in the Theatre of Charles Kean

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Shakespeare's Victorian Stage: Performing History in the Theatre of Charles Kean
Richard W. Schoch
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

This is the first book to explore the revivals of Shakespeare's history plays, Henry V, Henry VIII, King John, Macbeth, and Richard II, as staged by the actor-manager Charles Kean in mid-Victorian London. These celebrated productions, renowned for their attention to antiquarian detail, provided an opportunity for audiences to participate in the Victorian obsession with history. Many illustrations are previously unpublished and the book will be of interest to scholars and students of theater history, Shakespeare studies and Victorian culture.

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HISTORY WITHOUT GLOSS
Crime and justice in Victorian England
Survival of the Fittest
IT ELOQUENTLY PORTAYS ATMOSPHERE AND INTENCE EMMOTION.

The Victorian Underworld
Donald Thomas
Manufacturer: NYU Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0814782388
Release Date: 1998-09-01

Book Description

William Makepeace Thackeray once wrote that the wonders of the Victorian underworld "have been lying by your door and mine ever since we had a door of our own." Donald Thomas here pushes open that door to reveal a world at once both strange and strangely familiar, inviting casual voyeur and serious historian alike to cross its threshold.

Applying his talent for colorful biography to chronicle an entire age, Thomas shows us an underworld through the eyes of its inhabitants. Defined by night houses and cigar divans, populated by street people like the running-patterer with his news of murder, and entertainers like the Fire King, the underworld was an insular yet diffuse community, united by its deep hatred of the police. In its gin shops and taverns, thrived thieves and beggars, cheats, forgers, and pickpockets, preying on rich and poor alike.

Career criminals often showed a craftsmanship that would put their descendants to shame. It took true professionals to remove the modern equivalent of twenty million dollars from the Bank of England. In one case, conspirators even recruited officers from Scotland Yard.

Those who failed in such enterprises found themselves in the convict hulks, where the annual mortality rate might reach 40 percent, or in the new prisons, their faces masked and identified only by numbers. Rich in anecdote and vividly recounted, The Victorian Underworld brings the past alive like few recent works of history.

Customer Reviews:

HISTORY WITHOUT GLOSS.......2002-01-27

When historians create their tomes they glorify and even fabricate information in order to make their nation appear as prolific as possible. "Victorian Underworld" is a view of this era of Britain's history that is rarely, if ever, exhibited. It is an overview of the conditions of the underclass, of which, in all contemporary nations are the largest portion of the population. "Victorian England" concentrates on the manner in which the bulk of the population, the 'commoners' either lived their lives or the obstacles the public endeavoured to avoid. The writing style is as enticing as grand fiction which brings an air of titillation to this factual documentation of history.

Crime and justice in Victorian England.......1999-12-02

Readers of British social history might enjoy this work. The first half ("Crime") draws very heavily--perhaps too heavily--from the works of 19th-century writer Henry Mahew. (Oddly, the Amazon listing shows Mahew as co-author, but he is not listed as co-author in the book itself.) We're treated to a detailed description of slum living conditions, criminal scams of the era, cheating on horse races, early pornography, and prostitution. A variety of detailed narratives give the book a personal touch; it's not dry reading. The most astonishing tidbit in this book is that in Victorian London, there was a ratio of one prostitute for every ten adult males!

The second half of the book ("Retribution") covers the jails of the era, police corruption, hangings of wrongly convicted people, and the workings of the court system, spiced with a variety of narratives about actual people. On the other hand, the most irritating feature of the book is that the index lists only names of persons, not topics.

Survival of the Fittest.......1999-02-22

What a relief to sit comfortably ensconsed in a different century! The author points out the cruelty of everyday life under the reign of Queen Victoria and the futility of the struggle to survive. It should be a lesson to all of us nowadays when we complain about the tough life we have to endure.We have come a long way! While the narration certainly is very interesting, it also seems curiously flat and without a lively soul. Maybe that stems from the fact that much of the book has a few sources only and just seems to copy them. Also, the back and forth of the time frame makes it somewhat incoherent. It would have helped a great deal to include a few maps of London.

IT ELOQUENTLY PORTAYS ATMOSPHERE AND INTENCE EMMOTION........1998-10-03

AS AN AVID VICTORIAN FAN I FOUND MYSELF HYPNOTIZED BY THE SWIRL OF HISTORICAL DRAMA.

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Victorian Serial Killer on the loose
A great beginning!
Good, Not Great!
Fantastic!
Limited characterisation and doubtful historical accuracy

The Cater Street Hangman
Anne Perry
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0449208672
Release Date: 1985-10-12

Book Description

"An ingenious mystery and an excellent example of manners and caste systems of the Victorian era."
THE CHATTANOOGA TIMES
While the Ellison girls were out paying calls and drinking tea like proper Victorian ladies, a maid in their household was strangled to death. The quiet and young Inspector Pitt investigates the scene and finds no one above suspicion. As his intense questioning causes many a composed facade to crumble, Pitt finds himself couriously drawn to pretty Charlotte Ellison. Yet, a romance between a society girl and so unsuitable a suitor was impossible in the midst of a murder....

Customer Reviews:

Victorian Serial Killer on the loose.......2007-07-20

It took me three tries to get into this book, but once I got hooked I stayed up late and got up early to finish it. The murder mystery is unpredictable with several convincing red herrings thrown in to pull you off track. In the end, the motive behind the killer's actions are alluded to, but not strongly supported by the storyline. This made the ending slightly unsatisfying. However, the Victorian era's customs and manners is presented with picture-painting detail and seemed believable.

Anne Perry uses a very interesting literary device: we can hear the thoughts of only female characters (not all of them, but we never see inside a male character's mind). This helped to focus (or even exagerate?) the emotional and social distance between the male and female characters. Enjoy the book and the character of Charlotte as she changes over the course of the series.

A great beginning!.......2007-07-03

For anyone who loves series of mysteries, this is a great beginning! I can't wait to read the rest!

Good, Not Great!.......2007-05-14

When I learned that there was a series of Victorian era murder/mysteries I became excited since I was bored with the usual historical romances. Ah, thought I, now for some excitement. In the Cater Street Hangman, the first of this series, the plot is good as mysteries go with any number of red herrings thrown in. The final denouement is a surprise (at least it was to me). However, the characters all seem a bit shallow and story movement is slow. At the outset I thought this would be one of those books where I read the first couple of chapters and set it aside. Not so. After a slow start, the story does indeed pick up with bits and pieces of the puzzle being revealed slowly.

For this reader, however, there are many unanswered questions about dangling story lines. Hopefully, they will be answered in the next book in the series. I've given this book 3 stars based on the originality of the plot.

Fantastic!.......2007-05-14

This was the first book I have read by Anne Perry and it definitely makes me beg for more. She brings this Victorian era to life and the characters just jump off the page. I truly felt the feeling of female repression, along with the underlying fear that another young girl will be murdered. While I've never been a fan of mystery, I couldn't help wondering who it could be. The ending was wonderfully suspenseful - and I would have never guessed the murderer in a million years. Brilliant book.

Limited characterisation and doubtful historical accuracy.......2006-09-09

I had been recommended to read Anne Perry, and told by someone that the first book was one of the best, and was very disappointed by what I discovered. It's one of those books with much "telling" of what characters are feeling and how they are developing rather than "showing" those feelings and developments. It is written in an anachronistic style, doesn't have the true ring of the Victorian era at all. (I am comparing to books written in that era - Dickens, Thackeray, Conan Doyle). The author also does one of my least favourite things, which is to forget key information. (spoiler alert) Inspector Pitt is the one who tells the family the name of Edward's mistress, and they later spend much time and effort trying to hide that fact from him. How amateur.

After reading other glowing reviews of the book - "it all seems immediate and alive", her excellent knowledge of upperclass Victorian England life, "excellent characterisation" - I am left wondering whether maybe I read a different book from everyone else. Perhaps the later books in the series will improve.

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values

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An Analysis Of The Victorian Age
For Leftists, Morality Means Shock the Modest, Hate Virtues
Ms. Himmelfarb Does It Again
Victorian Virtues Trump Modern "Values!"
Propaganda Victoriana

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values
Gertrude Himmelfarb
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

As the debate over values grows ever more divisive, one of the most eminent historians of the Victorian era reminds readers that values are no substitute for virtues--and that the Victorian considered hard work, thrift, respectability, and charity virtues essential to a worthwhile life. "An elegant, literate defense of ninteenth-century English mores and morals."--New York.

Customer Reviews:

An Analysis Of The Victorian Age.......2005-02-13

Wisdom and temperance are two of the virtues that the author discusses. She says that wisdom is the virtue that most of us would most like to have and temperance is the virtue that is most needed by our society.

This book is a readable and relevant discussion of the history of our moral standards. The author is an excellent writer and she makes history come alive for the reader. She is the current authority on all aspects of the Victorian age. She writes adoringly of Victorian virtues, a set of rigid standards that spanned all classes, genders, economic classes, politics and religious groups.

For Leftists, Morality Means Shock the Modest, Hate Virtues.......2004-09-25

Gertrude Himmelfarb does what a good teacher used to do. She listened to the received opinions of educated people on the dreaded Victorians. And instead of blindly following the herd of independent minds, she did her own historical research.

Guess what? We are NOT morally superior to the people of hated Victorian age. We are NOT more progressive either.

Remember the knee-jerk reactions by welfare and the liberal politicians who pander to them when WORKFARE (no, work, no welfare check) was proposed? Based on Himmelfarb's analysis, the Victorians never would have been afraid to call malingerers lazy, or demand that the poor better themselves.

And when you listen to HOW THINSKINNED AND CONTROLLING the radical feminists and radical homosexuals have become in DEMANDING APPROVAL, you say to yourself the REPRESSIVE TOTALITARIAN TYPES ARE TODAY'S LEFTISTS - not the old Victorians.

The old Victorians seem easy-going and open-minded compared to today's Leftists.

Ms. Himmelfarb Does It Again.......2001-09-14

Gertrude Himmelfarb provides an interesting and thought-provoking analysis of the Victorian Age. Her formidable logic, study, and sources enable her to break down the stereotypes of Victoria's Britain. In doing so, she constructs a far more realistic, fair, and honest portrayl of Victoria's reign. Do not be fooled, Ms. Himmelfarb does not simply lavish praise on the past and turn her nose up at modern culture; she provides a reasoned and valuable look at the two times.

This book should be read by anyone who seeks to understand where we have been and where we are going.

Victorian Virtues Trump Modern "Values!".......2000-07-15

I was brought up to think of all things Victorian as stuffy, repressed and backward. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that far from being a social wilderness, Victorian England and America had much about them to admire.

The belief in God, country, indisputable truths, and loyalty to family were the hallmarks of the Victorians. It is regrettable that in our own time we have no constant stars to guide us as our recent forbears had.

The advances in medicine and science are all good. But it sad that with all these scientific advances, people feel more isolated and insecure than the erstwhile Victorians encumbered with all the constraints of that age.

Propaganda Victoriana.......2000-05-21

Ms. Himmelfarb remains the current authority on all aspects of Victoriana, with each of her dozen or so books explicating one aspect of Victorian England in great depth. "De-moralization" writes adoringly of Victorian virtues, a set of rigid standards that spanned all classes, genders, economic levels, politics, and religious groups -- her chapter on Victorian Jews is priceless! Heavily documented and written in "textbook" style (many footnotes, a few charts and graphs), Himmelfarb uses her Victorian books as propaganda to show how removed today's "values" are from our ancestor's "virtues." Her weak link here is in documenting the damage such change has wrecked on our current social scene, although she makes brief references. Her idealistic take on the Victorians shows them as models of excellence, charitable, hardworking, bonded, intelligent, and responsible, without dwelling on the negative aspects of industrialism, ethnocentrism, or racial and sexual discrimination. Still, the wealth of facts she has accumulated is invaluable if one does not get caught up in her conservative rantings and broad assumptions. Can we return to the best that the Victorian era offered? Himmelfarb makes it clear that this would be impossible without an organized society and a strong moral leader who could "lay back and think of England!"

Victorian People and Ideas: A Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature

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Superb reading!
Top of the line!
Intelligent and Literature-Centered
A lively and thorough introduction to the Victorian period

Victorian People and Ideas: A Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature
Richard D. Altick
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 039309376X

Customer Reviews:

Superb reading!.......2007-04-10

I am pleasantly surprised at what a marvelous read this book is! Altick provides a very thorough background on Victorian history, people, philosophy, economics, politics, religion, literature etc. which is not only highly informative but also fascinating. After carrying this book everywhere for a week and delighting at even having the opportunity to read two pages at a time, I found myself returning to Amazon.com to look for other books by the same author.

Altick not only knows the Victorian experience (and its development and changes throughout the 19th century), but he knows how to present it in a manner which is highly illuminating. Another plus is how, perhaps without meaning to, he provides a backdrop for socio-political-economic developments of the 20th century, which not only affected Great Britain, but spread across the Atlantic to the U.S. As a result, I am not only becoming much more knowledgeable about Victorian times and able to understand the context of the Victorian novels I have been reading, but I have become more aware of the philosophies, value systems and practices which have shaped western society today. This is one of the best nonfiction books I have ever read.

Top of the line!.......2005-08-02

I can not tell you how splendid this work is, I just am flabergasted! Some books are written and then some books are "written"! This book was "written"! Hands down I have to tell you this was a book that was "written" !
I am a professional critic so I have a few gripes. One the binding bent to easily when I threw the book against the wall. OK, so I have a problem with big words, the book uses big words when little words would suffice. Call me crazy but do not call me if you plan to read this p...I am told I will love the book and given time (and some time on the rack) I suppose I would, but at this point I will have to reserve judgement until I read the dang thang. Please do not hold your breath....Best book I have ever...Go read now!

Intelligent and Literature-Centered.......2001-12-09

I cannot imagine a better "companion" to Victorian literature than this nicely organized book. This is an invaluable guide to anyone who would like to situate their knowledge of Victorian prose and poetry within the era's social/historical zeitgeist. Malthus, dissenters, social reforms, sexuality, class consciousness -- all here. I have found myself returning to this book many times over the years. Kudos to Altick.

A lively and thorough introduction to the Victorian period.......2000-10-10

I highly recommned this introduction to the values and literature of Victorian Britain. Replete with lively anecdotes and thoughtful analyses, Altick's work makes for an entertaining read even as it educates those just beginning to tackle nineteenth century British history and literature.

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A-Z of Staffordshire Dogs
Clive Mason Pope
Manufacturer: Antique Collectors Club Dist A/C
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1851492585

Book Description

The book lists and illustrates over 200 dog models and includes 34 breeds which have been grouped conveniently in alphabetical order.

Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England

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Exploring the middle class home and psyche
Thank God I'm Mod!
The Home as Castle
Fascinating view of the life of the past
Great Reading!

Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England
Judith Flanders
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393052095

Book Description

"Almost criminal in its housebreaking, burglarizing, second-story genius."—James Kincaid, University of Southern California

The Victorian age is much closer to us in time than we might believe. Yet at that time, in the most technologically advanced nation in the world, people buried meat in fresh earth to prevent mold forming and wrung sheets out in boiling water with their bare hands. Such household drudgery was routinely performed by the grandparents of people still living, but the knowledge of it has passed as if it had never been.

Judith Flanders's book is laid out like a Victorian house, taking you through the story of daily life from room to room. In each space she depicts the home's furnishings and decoration: from childbirth in the master bedroom, through the scullery and kitchen, the separate male and female domains of the drawing room and the parlor, and ending in the sickroom. A rich selection from diaries, letters, advice books, magazines, and paintings fills the rooms with the people and personalities of the age. 100 illustrations, 3 8-page color inserts.

Customer Reviews:

Exploring the middle class home and psyche.......2007-08-28

I've always been interested in the Victorian period of English history, especially in the ways that people lived. Most books that detail the daily lives of people are geared towards the upper classes, with their grand estates in the country, and imposing townhouses. The working classes have been summed up with conditions of appalling poverty, overcrowding and misery. But what about the middle classes, those professional workers and merchants that were suddenly new consumers and riding the crest of the Industrial Revolution?

Researcher Judith Flanders takes a look at their world, and particularly through the eyes of the women who were often the silent, but determined decision makers in how their homes were run and organized. How she presents this information is the interesting part -- she describes this world and the people in it through the rooms of a typical middle-class home. It is also a look at the lives of the Victorians as they progress from room to room, from birth and the nursery, to death and the sickroom. It is also predominately the world of women, where the father of the household is a somewhat distant presence, there to provide the financial means, and perhaps a dominating effect, but also rather remote from the day to day workings of the family.

Where this book becomes the real draw is when Flanders describes each room in turn, drawing on the journals, homekeeping books and manuals, and the memoirs of the time. A good deal of the book is given not just to how each room was decorated and furnished, but also how it was kept clean, and how it was used, and if it was a room meant to be for private -- such as the nursery, bedrooms, and the workplaces such as the kitchen and scullery.

Public or rather, reception rooms were the Drawing Room, the Dining Room, and the Parlor. Often the Dining room and parlor would be one and the same in many homes, with the Drawing room having the best furniture and items, and saved for when visitors came and the best impressions to be made. The dining room was often where the lady of the house stayed during the day, where she did her letter-writing and account keeping, and often would teach her children, and oversee her servants.

Workplaces in the home were the Kitchen and Scullery, where meals were prepared, and clothing and dishes washed. Often this was where the servants slept if there wasn't any spare room for them. It was also where the greatest battle against bugs, rats and mice were often fought -- one description in the narrative depicts three visiting housemaids clutching each other in terror in the night atop the kitchen table as the floor 'heaved' with cockroaches. Other duties included the laundry, a laborious, backbreaking chore that took a week to complete, only to be started again almost immediately. More than any other chapters, these made me bless those inventors who have come up with such staples as modern ranges, the refrigerator, and especially the washer and dryer.

Another innovation in the Victorian home was the bathroom. And we're not just talking about bathtubs either -- in the homes of the upper middle classes, and the aristocracy, there were enough servants to haul tins of hot water up and down stairs to fill a hip bath for washing, but for more basic needs there was the odorous chamberpot, a device that had to be emptied, and scoured clean several times a day. No wonder when nonporous pipe was invented, the creation of indoor plumbing and the flush toilet were embraced so happily, especially when typhoid and cholera epidemics swept through England.

Bedrooms were for sleeping, but they could also reflect the inhabitant's likes, and often served as a retreat from busier parts of the house. The study was the man of the house's own retreat from the feminine, usually done up in dark, masculine colours. And then there was the nursery, where the youngest members of the family usually grew up in, until they had a bedroom of their own -- shared with other siblings of the same sex, or they were packed off to formal schooling.

All in all, I found this to be a remarkable book, full of information about the last half of the nineteenth century. Flanders' writing style is full of wit, and some pretty canny observations. We're not so far from our Victorian ancestors either -- a great deal of our own attitudes still linger. Keeping up with the Jones's isn't a new concept at all, and neither is the idea that a clean, beautiful home is equal to moral cleaniness as well. Flanders' insights into modern domestic thought is very revealing and worth the time to read this book.

The text has plenty of illustrations, along with several full-colour inserts. The research is top notch, and the writing style is lively and full of some tongue in cheek humor. Some things are covered that I thought had nothing to do with homes, but actually were, such as the art of the social call, with cards; the etiquette of 'At-Homes;' the elaborate rituals of mourning in behavior and clothing; and even the debate about corsetry and whether to tight-lace or not. It's not a quick book to read, but a very insightful one. There are extensive notes, bibliography and plenty of suggestions as to where to go next if any particular topic interests you.

Anyone who is interested in how the Victorians lived from day to day should try to find this one. It's a well-done book full of details and intimacies of London, and gives some new theories and revelations about that most misunderstood creature, the Victorian woman.

Five stars.

Thank God I'm Mod!.......2007-03-30

To start off with, I have never been very interested in the Victorian period, because it always seemed stultifyingly dull and hyper-religious. I'm not one of those women who coo and ooh about how "romantic!" everything was, and I find the novels insanely unreadable.

So, you're saying, Why did you buy this book? Well, because I couldn't find the book I really wanted, was browsing, pulled it off the shelf, read a page, and thought, "This is actually interesting!"

The book details in a very readable, conversational fashion the way home life was lived: cleaning, cooking, childrearing, servant/employer relations, and host of other things. It gives a fascinating picture of a daily life...that absolutely SUCKED! Anybody who read this book and didn't come away horrified missed the point. Without spoiling the details, let me just say that life back then was seriously worse than now. I can't imagine finishing the book, picking up my copy of *Victoria* magazine, and sighing, "Gosh, for the good old days!" I'd be tearing up my subscription and looking for a new historical period to be interested in.

But that's just me. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that more than a few Victorian housewives took the Martha Stewart approach, reading the guidebooks more for entertainment than anything, and maybe occasionally trying one of the ideas, but hardly conforming to the ideal in every detail. I also doubt that every family was as rude and condescending to their daughters and servants as the book says. Victorian women certainly had a pathetic position relative to us today, but it's hard to believe life was sheer hell for every single one of them. That's the reason I gave the book three stars. The writing merits four, but I'm not convinced it's a balanced portrait. Even so, I'm not sorry I bought the book, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

The Home as Castle.......2006-12-20

A couple years ago someone coined the term, "cocooning" to describe what they saw as the "trend that sees individuals socializing less and retreating into their home more."

But this is hardly a new phenomenon - in fact, it's actually a Victorian ideal, one admirably expounded on in "Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England" by Judith Flanders.

It was during the Victorian era that advances in technology and transportation made it possible (and even desirable) for people to work someplace other than the home. We take it for granted now, but 150 years ago you had to live where you worked. Think about it: the farmer (obviously) lived on his farm; the shopkeeper above his store. If you were in the lower classes, work often consisted of piecework, assembled in the home. With the rise of an increasingly affluent middle-class, it was now possible to remove your family from the dirt, crowds and crime of the city to the more bucolic environs of the country or suburbs. And we've been doing it ever since.

As I said, we take this for granted today - but in the Victorian era it was a new concept and became something of a mania for all but the poorest in the population. The separation of the public life from private living was described by Dickens:

"The office is one thing, and private life is another. When I go into the office, I leave the Castle [his house in the suburbs] behind me, and when I come into the Castle, I leave the office behind me... "

And on page 8:

"Oh, how dull and dreary is the best society I fall into compared with the circle of my own Fire Side with my Love sitting opposite irradiating all around her, and my most extraordinary boy!"

For how many of us is home and family a bulwark against all the pressures of work and the outside world? It's an incredible blessing and not everyone is lucky enough to have it.

I've noticed that a few other reviewers have commented on what they perceive to be a feminist bias in the author's work. I'm a pretty conservative guy (read my other reviews) and I never felt like Judith Flanders was doing anything except giving as honest a portrayal of Victorian life as was possible. The book is heavily footnoted and well documented. Many of the more troubling comments (the breastfeeding child as vampire, for example) are not the author's opinion, but the opinion of the Victorians themselves. I found it amusing in places to see how our twenty-first century prejudices color how we can look back at beliefs and practices that were no more remarkable in their time than referring to a woman as Ms is in ours. As I've counseled in other reviews, don't read any deeper than the text on the page, gentle reader. You'll enjoy the book a lot more if you don't waste your time trying to divine some political or social meaning beyond the written words.

"Inside the Victorian Home" is a fascinating look at the daily lives of middle-class Victorians and I highly recommend it.

Fascinating view of the life of the past.......2006-08-26

I do hope that potential readers will read the publisher's comments, professional reviews, and positive reviews because they give a much more accurate account of the contents of the book than the rather nasty reviews by some readers. (Having read the book, it seems to me the reviewers have more of an ax to grind than does the author.) As an avid reader of Victorian novels over more than 50 years I found information on every page that threw light on the lost customs of the Victorians (the amazing system of visiting cards; the social complexities of meals and mealtimes; the astonishingly hard work involved in maintaining the home; the amazingly complex rituals involved in mourning; the problem of food adulteration). Every topic covered is illuminated. Plus, this book is a delight to read from first word to last. I recommend it without reservation to any reader of Dickens, Trollope, Eliot, and Arnold Bennett.

Great Reading!.......2006-08-21

One of the best books I have read on Victorian England.
Well written, percise, and extrememly interesting.
This is a book you can read and read again!

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