18th century blog

17th and 18th-Century Costume in Detail by Avril Hart and Susan North contains big detail photos of garments from the Victoria and Albert Museum. There are no photos of the entire garments, instead there are detailed drawings. While these are great for understanding the construction, a small photo of the entire garment besides the drawings would have made it even better. We now only get to see a small part of the fabric and colours used. Most drawings show both front and back of the garment but a few show only one side, which I thought was a bit strange.

Each picture is accompanied by a short but informative text about the garment depicted. I wouldn’t have minded longer texts, but it’s a great book as is. This book is excellent for closeups on different trimmings and other decorations like embroidery, both for costumers and people who just like to look at pretty pictures.

Mordet på Gustav III by Lars Ericson Wolke is a tiny little book about (obviously) the murder of Gustav III. It’s very entertainingly written and gives us the facts about both Gustav, his murderer and the whole conspiracy and events leading up to the murder. It’s a quick and interesting read and there are quite a lot of pictures as well.

It’s only available in Swedish as far as I know.

Skönhetens mask by Carolina Brown is a book about the history of beauty ideals, with the main focus on the 18th century. It talks about both general ideals and specific details about such things as make-up and hair. There are not a lot of specific things about clothing though.

It’s not a big book, but what’s in it is very interesting. It has lots of pictures, although most of them are in black and white. I’m afraid I can’t find this book for sale anywhere but I found it at the library. It only exists in Swedish as far as I know.

A few years ago I attended a course by the same name at the Gotland University that used this book (and others) as literature.

Gunnebo och andra sommarnöjen från 1700-talet kring Göteborg by Lars Sjöberg and Staffan Johansson is a book mostly about Gunnebo, a late 18th century summer house near Göteborg. The book has plenty of information about the history of the building and the architecture and interior, accompanied by many photos and pictures of the original plans. At the back of the book there are a few shorter chapters about other 18th century summer houses in the Göteborg area.

I love this book and recommend it. The photos are gorgeous and there are many of them, and the text is interesting and fun to read. As far as I know this book is only available in Swedish.

(By the way, I just added a “buildings and interiors” category to the right.)

Kvinnligt mode under två sekel by Britta Hammar and Pernilla Rasmussen (the same people who wrote Underkläder: En kulturhistoria) is the best and most informative book on 18th century fashion that I’ve read. It only exists in Swedish as far as I know and it covers women’s fashion in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The first section is a general history of fashion, with many pictures and fashion plates. The second part has examples of garments (from the collection of Kulturen in Lund) presented in great detail with photos and thorough information on the construction of each garment. The final part of the book contains many examples of different sewing methods and stitches used in clothing from these two centuries, and finally there are patterns of every garment presented in the book!

The only bad thing about this book is that it seems impossible to buy. I borrowed it at the library but I can’t find it for sale anywhere. If anyone knows where you can find it please let me know!

Underkläder: En kulturhistoria is a Swedish book about the history of undergarments. A surprisingly large part is dedicated to the 18th century, and it’s a very interesting read. There’s quite a lot of pictures, and the text is very entertaining with lots of interesting quotes.

There’s a quote from the 1760s, from a fictional letter in a magazine, that I think gives a lot of insight to the question whether garters were bound above or under the knee. I’ve always figured both things must have been practiced while some people seem to strongly believe they were tied under the knee. From the quote it definitely seems like both were practiced, above the knee being the desired style, and under the knee the most practical. My translation from Swedish:

He reminded me, that beautiful legs are spoilt if the garter is tied under the knee.

Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century is an exhibition catalogue accompanying an exhibition at the Metropolitan museum in 2004. It displays 18th century fashions and furniture in different 18th century interiors. The clothes are displayed on dolls arranged in scenes.

The book contains lots of big beautiful photos, most of them filling an entire page or spread, and also some 18th century paintings. The text talks about the different displays and the theme of it all seems to be that fashion and furniture during the 18th century was all designed for seduction, both actual and some kind of “social seduction”. I think they may be exaggerating the seduction thing a bit, but it’s both fun and interesting reading.

The text might be slightly confusing since you sometimes don’t know what picture they’re describing. You might think they’re taking about a painting next to the text, when they’re actually talking about a display a few pages ahead. But maybe that’s just me. Apart from the confusion it’s a beautiful book filled with amazing clothes. I definitely recommend it.

Divided Affections, The Extraordinary Life of Maria Cosway by Carol Burnell
I was very kindly given this book months ago to review, but university plus myself being a slow reader resulted in me not finishing it until yesterday.

I had been wanting to learn more about Maria Cosway so I was very happy to receive the book. I was happily surprised to find that it was such a beautiful book, with many pictures and a beautiful layout. Pictures are a huge plus for me so I liked this book right away.

It’s a biography about Maria Cosway, with some parts written in a dramatized dialogue. The parts that are “made up” are in italics so you can clearly tell them from the rest which I think was a nice touch. Maria Cosway had a very interesting life and the book is very entertainingly written, not boring at all. It really made you feel like you were there, and I just really liked it. I have yet to read all the notes at the back of the book but there are lots of them and they look very interesting.

A great book and highly recommended to anyone interested in Maria Cosway or fashionable 18th century ladies in general.

(As a lover of 18th century fashion I have to point out a tiny fashion-related error. At one place in the book a dress is described which is clearly a so called chemise dress, also known as a gaulle or chemise à la Reine, but in the book it’s called a robe à l’ Anglaise.)

Slott och salar i Sverige by Massimo Listri and Daniel Rey
This is a book about Swedish castles and mansions and mentions several from the 18th century. The photos in the book are really beautiful, but other than that I was pretty disappointed with this book. Every castle or mansion gets a chapter, but there is very little real information. There are mostly anecdotes and speculations and pretty much nothing about historical architecture or interior decorating. Another big problem with the book is that there are no captions, nothing is told about the beautiful rooms and buildings in the pictures. I’m glad I have the book because of the photos, but I would not recommend it if you actually want to learn something.

The book is published in both Swedish, English and Italian. In English as Great Houses in Sweden and in italian as Interni di Svezia.

Sofia Magdalenas brudklänning i tidens smak by AnneMarie Dahlberg
This is a tiny little book sold at the Swedish museum Livrustkammaren. It’s about the wedding dress of Sofia Magdalena who later became queen of Sweden. It tells of the wedding and of the construction of the dress, and contains x-rays of the dress bodice. A few other dresses and objects are also shown. There are no actual descriptions on how to go about making the dress, but it’s still useful if you’re interested in making 18th century clothes. It’s an interesting little book with many pictures, and it’s very cheap. if you’re ever at Livrustkammaren I recommend picking it up.

Another Livrustkammaren tip is the pattern of Gustav III:s wedding suit also sold in the museum shop.

Fashion - A History from the 18th to the 20th Century is a catalogue of the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute, published by Taschen. The collection ranges from the 18th to the 20th century, and it’s divided into two big volumes. This is just one of the best costume history books ever, at least if you go by the pictures. The 18th century section is great with tons of beautiful photos of 18th century clothes, and some basic information as well.

This might not be the best choice if you want advanced in depth information, or instructions on how to make things, but the point of these books is the amazing and plentiful photos of absolutely gorgeous clothes. Definitely one of my favourite books.

Frihetstidens Konst and Den Gustavianska Konsten by Göran Alm et al. are two big books in the same series about Swedish art history. As far as I know they’re not available in any other language than Swedish.

I thought both books were excellent, although Den Gustavianska Konsten was my favourite since the gustavian era is my favourite. They both cover many categories such as architecture, gardening, visual arts, furniture, textiles and folk art and more and there’s lots of information in every section, plus some general information about the era. There are also many gorgeous pictures, both photos, paintings and drawings. It’s just as fun to just look at the pictures without reading, but if you want good information the text is great. I’m far from an expert on antiquities though so this is an amateurs opinion.

Unfortunately both books seem terribly hard to find for sale, I could only find Den Gustavianska Konsten for sale at one place on the web, and it was insanely expensive. I found both books at the library though so I recommend looking for them there. I already returned Frihetstidens Konst so that’s why I only have a photo of one cover. If I could find them for sale at a reasonable price I would definitely buy them both, highly recommended!

“Axel von Fersen” by Herman Lindqvist
This is a biography of Axel von Fersen and contains information about his entire life. I found it very interesting although not extremely entertainingly written. There’s lots to learn about Fersen himself, but also about other people around him, such as Gustav III, and interesting anecdotes about 18th century court life. There are many excerpts from Fersen’s own diary for example.

The Fersen and Marie Antoinette question is controversial to some, but although it’s obvious that the author personally believes their relationship was sexual at least once, the book doesn’t state anything as absolutely true or false.

It’s definitely worth a read, both if you’re interested in Fersen or just 18th century life in general. The ending is really sad and horrible of course, because of his gruesome death. The book is available in Swedish and Finnish.

En bädd av dun by Christopher O’Regan
This is a book about life at the court of Gustav III of Sweden, and also quite a bit about Gustav himself. I thought it was great. Fun to read and lots of interesting facts and stories. It is illustrated with paintings and drawings from the period, and also a few photographs of people dressed like 18th century people and of existing costumes and items from the 18th century. This book exists only in Swedish as far as I know.