Worth a Thousand Words: The Supper at the Ball

I love paintings like this, so full of detail that each time I look at it I find something I'd missed before. For example, I just noticed that the officers on the left are holding their hats between their knees as they eat! This is The Supper at the Ball by Adolph von Menzel, a prominent nineteenth century German artist. It looks just like a scene from a Victorian romance novel come to life! In fact, it looks a lot like I imagine one of the climactic scenes looks like in our vintage Cinderella-style romance release, Dora Deane, when Dora makes her triumphant return to society with New York's most eligible bachelor on her arm, much to the astonishment and chagrin of the aunt and cousins who mistreated her for so long. Take a look at the painting and tell us if it brings to mind any scenes from your favorite books, or if you find a surprising little detail within the painting!

Dora Deane by Mary Jane Holmes

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Would You Like Some Milk with That Serial?

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, magazines were a large and thriving industry. But the word “magazine” referred to something quite different than the shiny, advertisement-filled publications found on racks today. Around the turn of the century, popular monthly magazines such as Everybody’s, McClure’s, and Munsey’s ran from around 100 to 150 pages, sometimes including thirty or more stories, articles, and poems, and cost ten or fifteen cents per issue. Though fiction has largely disappeared from today’s magazines, in those days it was a staple—besides publications that combined fiction and nonfiction, there were many all-fiction magazines, some devoted to specific genres—love stories, adventure stories, Westerns, mysteries, and more.

Give Me a Head with Hair: The Sequel

Last month I wrote about the popularity of hairpieces among Victorian women, since they played a significant role in our recent release, Dora Deane. That was great fun to do because I never tire of browsing through vintage fashion trends. And while the ladies' hairstyles get more attention than the men's, that doesn't mean they were the only ones who got to have a little fun! In fact, hair was just as important to Victorian men, and in the novel Eugenia Deane takes great pleasure in putting down one of her would-be suitors as "a perfect bore—a baboon, with more hair than brains." Though men tended to wear the hair on their heads rather uniformly (above the collar and parted on the side, with or without a wave, and a bit of pomade or wax to hold it in place), they were really able to express themselves by the manner in which they wore their facial hair.

When facial hair started making a comeback after a trend toward clean-shaven faces in the middle of the nineteenth century, guys embraced beards and mustaches with gusto, and soon beards became seen as evidence of masculinity and manly courage. World leaders and public figures were quick to adopt the trend toward more facial hair, adding to the notion of strength and virility, and men everywhere were inspired to emulate them. And there was a growing market for products to help men get those sought-after thick and silky whiskers.

Memorable Melodies: Home Again, Home Again From a Foreign Shore!

Although the song “Home Again” was written around 1850, when author Mary Jane Holmes quoted it in Dora Deane in 1858 she referred to it as an “old” song. Perhaps it already seemed older than it really was because of its enormous popularity. A quick search of Google Books reveals that it was quoted or referenced in dozens of books, magazines, and even plays over the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Mark Twain mentioned it in his Life on the Mississippi. It was played, sung or quoted to celebrate countless homecomings in real life as well as in fiction. American journalist Mildred Aldrich (1853–1928) remembered going to meet friends returning from summer vacations in Europe, with bands playing “Home Again” and the crowds of people singing along as the ship docked. Only the first line was quoted in Dora Deane, but all of the lyrics fit the story and the scene beautifully:

Give Me a Head with Hair, Long Beautiful Hair!

In Dora Deane by Mary Jane Holmes, our sweet heroine, Dora Deane, is tricked into cutting off her long, luxuriant hair so her wicked cousin Eugenia can sell it for big bucks to buy a new dancing ensemble. The story takes place in New York in 1858, and it got me to wondering if buying and selling hair was really such a big thing back then, since wearing wigs hadn't been in style for quite some time. But it turns out that accessorizing one's hair with more hair has never really gone out of style!

The Victorian Era encompassed more than sixty years of women's fashion trends (of which there were many!), and though hairstyles also changed over those years, one thing remained constant: the elaborate styles required an abundance of hair to pull them off successfully. Coils, curls, chignons, knots, clusters, fringes, ringlets--it was a veritable hairdressing playground, and one which every fashionable woman entered into fearlessly. But, one needed the proper equipment--thick, strong hair, and lots of it--to carry off those styles, and thanks to the merciless application of hot tongs and crimpers, a lot of women weren't blessed with a head full of healthy hair. So how did they manage to keep their hair in fashion?

Extra! Extra! Princess Victoria Weds, Kansas Bleeds, Macy's Department Store Opens

Dora Deane is a sweet romance set mostly in the idyllic countryside of New York. Though the year is 1858 and the United States would be engaged in a bloody Civil War in less than three years' time, the outside world rarely intrudes into Dora's. But there were plenty of big news stories gracing the pages of the country's newspapers that year, and here's a sampling:

January:  Seventeen-year-old Victoria, Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Frederick William of Prussia at St. James's Palace on January 25, 1858. The marriage was both a love match and a dynastic alliance. At the time of their wedding, Londoners chanted, "God save the Prince and Bride! God keep their lands allied!" The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn became a popular wedding recessional after it was played at the wedding.

Vintage Happy Hour with Jenny Q: The Knickerbocker

For this week's Vintage Happy Hour, I was looking for a good summertime cocktail, and one that would help us celebrate our newest release: Dora Deane by Mary Jane Holmes. I needed something that would have been popular in 1858, when Dora Deane was first published, and since the novel takes place in the world of affluent New York country estate owners, I was also hoping to find a beverage that tied in to New York's history as well. As luck would have it, I happened upon the perfect drink, one that satisfied all of my requirements and also happens to be deliciously refreshing: The Knickerbocker.

Enhanced eBook: Dora Deane by Mary Jane Holmes

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After the death of her mother, Dora Deane is reluctantly taken in by her aunt Sarah, who already has her hands full with two vain and selfish daughters determined to appear more to the world than they really are. Eugenia, the oldest of Dora’s cousins, is quick to capitalize on their new household member, and wastes no time turning Dora into her servant. Nor does she waste one dollar sent from old Uncle Nat, intended for Dora’s upkeep, but spent entirely on Eugenia’s whims and wishes.