18th century blog

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.

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.

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.