I wrote the first two writing girl books while I was in graduate school, studying early 19^th century British literature. One class in particular was absolutely invaluable to my research: The Economy of Print Media. Basically, we studied the cheap, “trashy”, real stuff that people were actually reading: periodicals, railway novels, and, of course, newspapers.

For this class I did a semester-long research project on 1820’s newspapers. At the end of the term, I handed in a fictional version of a typical issue of a 1820’s newspaper. For it I combined true articles and my  own made up stories. You can read this issue of  The London Weekly.  (it’s heavily footnoted, as one cannot get through grad school without them).

For the articles, I swear by the British Periodicals online database and the c19-19^th century index of periodicals. Both are probably only available via colleges and universities. But if you can get access to them, go for it!

Here are some books that I found invaluable as I was working on this research project and the Writing Girl novels. The links go to google books, if available, so your further reading is free!

• Scandal! A Scurrilous History of Gossip: Exactly as it sounds. Delightful.

• Victorian Print Media: A collection of essays and first person stories from 19th     century publishing.

• The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period: I could not have graduated from grad school without this amazing work about who read what and under what circumstances and more.

• London: The Biography: Everything you ever needed to know about  London and much, much, much more.

• Dangerous Estate: The Anatomy of Newspapers. For the title alone, I had to get it.

• Fleet Street: 500 Years Of The Press

©2010 Maya Rodale Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Google books: It’s very useful for finding old, out of print books (that are free!). Also, you can search for keywords, etc, in the text to see if it’s worth reading or even worth buying.

The Colindale Newspaper Library: This is a trek—an hour outside of London, you need a pass, you must check your baggage, and you must be quiet. But it’s awesome. I read actual newspapers from the early 1800’s. They come in giant bound volumes to flip carefully through. It’s just an amazing feeling to touch and smell and read those 200+ year-old papers.

Museums: Especially one’s with gift shops. I LOVE the Regency rooms at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Amazon: All sorts of good, unusual books delivered.

Colonial Williamsburg: Recreate the days of yore experience! CW is a quaint, fascinating and fun experience. I don’t know of any other place where you can immerse yourself in another world like that. It’s something about the lack of electricity, I think (except for the cash registers in the cute little shops!).

The best experience of all, for me as a writer, was dinner with my family in the tavern at CW. Though it was still a bit light outside, it was rather dark inside. We dined by candlelight. Someone played an old fiddle. We ordered meat pies with venison, and other game meats–an authentic colonial recipe. Footsteps sound different on those old floors.

You could so just imagine a hero and heroine discretely dining in a dark corner, listening to the music, looking out at the last of daylight …

©2010 Maya Rodale Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Accidents & Offenses

On Tuesday last, at Gravesend, Mr. Kerr undertook for a wager, to perform the following feat within the hour–to row a wherry on the Thames one mile, to run one mile, walk one mile, trundle a loop a mile, and, finally, to drag a chaise one mile. The wager was lost by two minutes, owing to his commencing the task when the wind was against him, by which the mile on the river occupied six minutes more than it otherwise would have done. Several heavy bets were depending on the match.

You can read the rest of a fictional version of The London Weekly! Peruse for stories related to A Groom Of One’s Own or true tales from days of yore.

The London Weekly

©2010 Maya Rodale Blog. All Rights Reserved.

And then I started looking at bridal catalogues….joy! raptures! And I ripped out pages of the dresses I liked and found that they were all lacy.

Honestly, I empathize with Lady Richmond who is the nightmare mother of the bride in A Groom Of One’s Own (and she is NOT based on anyone I know.  In fact, I got the idea for her after dinner with a woman who was an outrageous name dropper. But I digress). In the novel, a very bossy Lady Richmond tells the Modiste that her daughter’s bridal gown should be “simple, but with numerous flounces and intricate beadwork. It should be the height of fashion, but also timeless.” It’s a bit conflicting, which is how I feel.

I have slightly more clarity after two days trying on dresses (more details to come!). I very much enjoyed big poofy dresses even though I’m not supposed to wear them as a petite girl–or maybe that’s why I want one!

Mine will also be white (well, maybe eggshell or cream or some other shade of white.), which was not the tradition in the Regency era. That didn’t begin until the Victorian age. The brides would have worn pale blue, white or silver—the grooms, too! Check out some pictures of 1820’s wedding dresses. That’ll have to do, as I won’t be posting a picture of mine before the ceremony

©2010 Maya Rodale Blog. All Rights Reserved.

If you have read a Regency Romance, you have undoubtedly encountered White’s, the gentleman’s club on St. James Street in London. It’s where all our heroes and their friends went to discuss horses and women, make outrageous bets, and generally avoid the company of the fairer sex.

Perhaps it was naïve of me, but I was fascinated to learn that White’s is real, and not only that, but it is still in existence to this day. Naturally, when my mum, our friend Ann, and I were in London we took a stroll by. We considered walking in, pretending to be stupid Americans, just to see how far we could get into this exclusive male haven. Alas, none of us possessed enough courage.

White’s is unmarked (or course). We had suspected one particular building, and received confirmation from some bloke standing outside the neighboring building. Lud, did he have some juicy (unconfirmed) gossip, such as:

*Membership costs 85,000 a year (I forgot if that was in pounds or dollars, but either way, it is a ridiculous sum).

*A coke costs twenty dollars.

*When an heir was born years and years ago, a footman was sent to put his name on waitlist at White’s before registering its birth.

*Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novels there…any coincidence that White’s is at the corner of St. James and Bond streets? Unlikely.

*Prince Charles is a member. In fact, it’s where he had his bachelor party before he married Diana.

That last fact I learned from the excellent book White’s: The First Three Hundred Years. I discovered it in the window of a used bookshop in Oxford. I was just strolling aimlessly through the town, when the title caught my eye. I went in the store, confirmed that it was about the club, and purchased it for ten pounds (twenty dollars). I lugged this hardcover all the way back to the states—and was so glad I did not just because it was a good book, but because I discovered for sale (used) at Amazon for 150 bucks!

The author, Anthony Lejeune, earned my eternal respect on page 2 when, lamenting the lack of domestic details in most sources, he wrote, “Let no-one despise the Regency Romance.” He notes that fiction often makes use of such details, like how the chandeliers were lit, in order to achieve a sense of realism, whereas people generally don’t write about such mundane details in their diaries or in letters to their friends.

Anyway…this book was full of fascinating little stories about the members. It was as much a history of Whites, as club cultural in general, and how history and a drink at the club intertwined for three hundred years. Lejeune writes in the introduction:A club in a miniature kingdom (or, more accurately, a miniature republic, in which all members are theoretically equal, although, in practice, some tend to be slightly more equal than others.), and tracing its history is not unlike telling the story of a nation. The institution is a continuous rope woven from the transient lives of individuals.

White’s was started by an, Italian Franceso Bianco (otherwise known as Frances White), due in part to the rising availability and popularity of beverages like hot chocolate, coffee and tea. Finally, one had a drink option other than beer. But it wasn’t just about the drinks. Much like Starbucks today, it was about being a communal meeting place, where aristocrats, tradesmen and commoners could pay a fee to read all the papers, discuss all the news and gossip (and talk of horses and women) and have a hot drink. After the founder’s death, his wife ran the place for fifteen years. The club would have many owners and managers over the years. In 1926, the owner was forced to sell the building (and the club), and the members raised the money for it: “White’s finally owned itself.”

I’m excited to say that I actually know someone who has been inside White’s, thanks to his friend, who is a member. Unfortunately, neither gentleman is amenable to escorting me, disguised as a boy, into the club.

©2010 Maya Rodale Blog. All Rights Reserved.