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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This useful guide to Victorian life enlightens on such subjects as grave robbing, debtors' prison and putrid fever. Illustrations. BOMC, QPB and History Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This guide to daily life in 19th-centuryEngland is a welcome companion for readers of Austin, the Brontes, Dickens, and Trollope. The first section is a collection of engrossing short chapters on various aspects of British life, including clothing, etiquette, marriage, money, occupations, society, and transportation. For example, customs now lost but very much practiced at the time were primogeniture, which ensured that the great family houses would not be split up, and the avoidance of eating cheese by the middle class, who considered it a food for the poor. The second part of the book is a glossary of commonly used words or phrases that may be unfamiliar to the modern reader; for instance, tar was a colloquial name for a sailor. Although there are many books on the social history of 19th-century Britain (including several companions to Victorian fiction), this volume is useful because of its concise chapters and lengthy glossary. Recommended for general literature collections.
- Caroline Mitchell, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Caroline Mitchell, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Guineas, shillings, half-pence. You know what they are?" Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Guineas, shillings, half-pence. You know what they are?" Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you Love 19th Century English Literature, Get This Book!,
By sherri j. thorne (brooklyn, new york United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England (Paperback)
I certainly wish that I had this book before I started reading Jane Austen, because it would have answered many of my questions. I had tried to use the dictionary and was not always successful. Daniel Pool's excellent book changed all of that! Have you ever wondered why Fanny Price was so dizzy after drinking NEGUS? What exactly was the difference between a GIG and a CURRICLE? Where in the Order of Precedence did Sir William Lucas fall as a BARONET? It is all here in this thoroughly engaging and delightful book. It is here that I finally learned about the daily life of 19th-century England, and the overall social structure of the time. Jane Austen is not the only author covered: Charles Dickens, George Eliot, The Brontes, Thomas Hardy, and Anthony Trollope are well discussed. The glossery is excellent, and full of terms that I could not find even when I used The Oxford Dictionary. The only area that needed further clarification was the chapter about Entails and Protecting The Estate. I never quite understood how Miss Ann De Bourgh was able to inherit her father's estate upon his death, since "A girl should not inherit because if she remained single the line could die out and if she married the estate would pass in possession to someone outside the family." (see pg. 90 hardcover edition) Apart from that, I still feel comfortable giving this book 5 stars, and would advise anyone who loves 19th-century English Literature to add it to their collection. It is a great reference guide of the period.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Just over half a book, and other problems,
By michaelm (upstate ny) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England (Paperback)
Covering so much territory, haphazardly, there are bound to be some interesting tidbits (even some whole entries), and the author does better with objects supporting often vague claims with a few facts and figures than with people and activities where he says they might have done this, or might have gone here or there. Who knows. The two main stoppers for me were, first, it's incredibly repetitious. Separated as though new but within two (that's 2) pages are:".. all the land in each generation was left to the eldest son.." "The idea was for the estate...to pass to one person..." "... necessitated that the land go to one child..." "... the logical heir, then, was the eldest son." "... was usually a deed giving the land to the eldest sonÉ" "So now the problem... solved by leaving it to the eldest son." - that's aside from several literary examples of someone leaving land to his eldest son; good grief. The other stopper is "part two" of the book, a glossary with some interesting entries, but padded out to 135 (not a typo) pages. An example of the fluff: "ale- What was the difference between beer and ale? Sometimes the term 'beer' included ale. Sometimes it didn't. Sometimes ale was supposed to be stronger than beer, other times not." The mucked up repeating and a fair amount of similarly worthless fluff, despte some interesting sections, rates only two stars, and you'll do much better with a way more interesting, better researched, more thorough, better presented book by Norrie Epstein (Friendly Dickens) or the dense but even more rewarding book by Robin Gilmour (The Victorian Period).
2.0 out of 5 stars
Use with caution,
By
This review is from: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England (Paperback)
Not bad, but use with caution. As so many other readers have pointed out, there are a number of careless errors in this book. The distinction between the Regency Period and the Victorian era does get muddled. Considering the broad timespan and variety of topics covered, it's still worth reading, but there are other volumes that you should consult to verify or disprove the many statements. (DICKENS OF LONDON and the DICKENS INDEX would be a good start if you can find them) The section on currency and it's meaning was interesting, but in no way should it be a guide in comparison to modern money. THAT would be a book in it'self. The dictionary in the back also comes in handy, especially when searching for occupations. Now, I will admit my knowledge of Jane Austen is somewhat limited, and I hesitate to recommend any sources.
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