Some of Our Favorite Books
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"[T]he past is our wisest and best instructor. In its dim and shadowy outlines we may, if we will, discern in some measure those elements of wisdom which should guide the present and secure the welfare of the future." —Frederick Douglass. "The Great Agitation: Fifth Paper —Reminiscences." The Cosmopolitan. August, 1889. p. 376.
Quotations of Quality
Photo courtesy Max Kraushaar
Photo courtesy Estar Hyo Gyung Choi.
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Naturally, when we are researching a particular topic we target our reading at the subject under study. When we're reading for our own enjoyment and improvement, the following are some of our favorite sources. We hope they'll help you with your own exploration of our favorite era!
When available, links to free versions of the books on Google Books and free audio versions from librivox.com are included here to help you access these great works. Enjoy! (If, like us, you prefer physical books to digitized ones, see my "Recipe For Reading" blog posts, November 2012—January 2013, explaining how to turn something from a pdf file into a physical book.)
These are all primary sources; for a list of useful secondary sources, click here.
Non-fiction Books
Biographies:
(Prince Albert)
Life of the Prince Consort by Theodore Martin
(Barnum)
Struggle and Triumphs: Forty Years' Recollections by P.T. Barnum
P.T. Barnum's madcap adventures on the road to fame and fortune, told by himself. This book makes a particularly good read-aloud!
(Brummel)
The Life of Beau Brummel by Captain Jesse
(Garfield)
Log Cabin to White House: The Story of President Garfield's Life by William M. Thayer
The rags-to-riches story of a great president.
(Northrop)
Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northrup
Librivox (free audiobook) version
A true story of slavery, by someone who had been a victim of it.
(Livingston / Stanley)
How I Found Livingstone by Henry Morton Stanley
Librivox (free audiobook) version
A true search through uncharted territory to find a missing man.
(Tesla)
The Inventions, Researches and Writing of Nikola Tesla by Thomas Commerford Martin
The story of one of history's greatest scientific minds.
Cultural Studies:
Captivity of the Oatman Girls by Royal B. Stratton
The Indians of Puget Sound: The Notebooks of Myron Eells
Published by University of Washington Press
The Indians of Puget Sound: The Notebooks of Myron Eells
Published by University of Washington Press
Cook Books
Capitol Cook Book, 1896.
The Chautauqua Cook-Book, by Mrs. Kate Cook, 1896.
In the Kitchen, Elizabeth S. Miller, 1875.
Plymouth Union Cook Book by The Ladies' Society of the Plymouth Congregational Church, Los Angeles, California, 1894.
The Queen of the Household, by Mrs. M.W. Ellsworth, 1899.
The Woman's Exchange Cook Book, late 19th-century.
The Chautauqua Cook-Book, by Mrs. Kate Cook, 1896.
In the Kitchen, Elizabeth S. Miller, 1875.
Plymouth Union Cook Book by The Ladies' Society of the Plymouth Congregational Church, Los Angeles, California, 1894.
The Queen of the Household, by Mrs. M.W. Ellsworth, 1899.
The Woman's Exchange Cook Book, late 19th-century.
Crime (True Crime)
The Detective and the Somnambulist by Allan Pinkerton
The Expressman and the Detective by Allan Pinkerton
Librivox version: librivox.org/the-expressman-and-the-detective-by-allan-pinkerton/
Spiritualists and Detectives by Allan Pinkerton
The Expressman and the Detective by Allan Pinkerton
Librivox version: librivox.org/the-expressman-and-the-detective-by-allan-pinkerton/
Spiritualists and Detectives by Allan Pinkerton
Cycling related:
Across Asia on a Bicycle by Thomas Gaskell Allen
Amateur Bicycle Repairing, or Every Rider His Own Repairer by Col. Horace Park
Around the World On A Bicycle by Thomas Stevens
Librivox (free audiobook) version, volume I
Librivox (free audiobook) version, volume II
The fascinating travel log of the first person to ever go around the world on a bicycle.
Bicycle Kodaks by The Eastman Kodak Company
Bicycle Repairing by S. D. Burr
A Bicycle Tour in England and Wales by Alfred Dupont Chandler
A Canterbury Pilgrimage by Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell
A 19th-century husband and wife team ride their tandem tricycle along the route of a medieval pilgrimage through England.
Fancy Cycling by Isabel Marks
Cycling by Lord Bury
This is a great resource about cycling in the 1880s. It especially contains a lot of information about tricycles.
Lady Cycling: What to Wear & How to Ride by Miss F.J. Erskine
The Modern Safety Bicycle by Herbert A. Garratt
Nauticus in Scotland by Nauticus
Across Asia on a Bicycle by Thomas Gaskell Allen
Amateur Bicycle Repairing, or Every Rider His Own Repairer by Col. Horace Park
Around the World On A Bicycle by Thomas Stevens
Librivox (free audiobook) version, volume I
Librivox (free audiobook) version, volume II
The fascinating travel log of the first person to ever go around the world on a bicycle.
Bicycle Kodaks by The Eastman Kodak Company
Bicycle Repairing by S. D. Burr
A Bicycle Tour in England and Wales by Alfred Dupont Chandler
A Canterbury Pilgrimage by Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell
A 19th-century husband and wife team ride their tandem tricycle along the route of a medieval pilgrimage through England.
Fancy Cycling by Isabel Marks
Cycling by Lord Bury
This is a great resource about cycling in the 1880s. It especially contains a lot of information about tricycles.
Lady Cycling: What to Wear & How to Ride by Miss F.J. Erskine
The Modern Safety Bicycle by Herbert A. Garratt
Nauticus in Scotland by Nauticus
Diaries (published):
If Ever Two Were One: A Private Diary of a Love Eternal
Francis Ellingwood Abbot
No Place for a Nervous Lady: Voices from the Australian Bush
Kilvert's Diary: 1870-1879: Life in the English Countryside in Mid-Victorian Times
Published by David R. Godine
Maud: The Illustrated Diary of a Victorian Woman (Maud Berkeley)
Published by Chronicle Books
This is the actual diary of a real woman, Maud Berkley, from 1888—1901. (The early years are more detailed than the later ones.) Maud loved to draw and paint, so her diary is filled with her own portraits of her daily routines and adventures with her friends: everything from housecleaning, to playing the guitar for her cat (who didn't appreciate it), to working in an apothecary shop, to dropping a doormat on someone's head at a party, to getting scared by a moth late at night and chasing it out of her room with an umbrella. Maud's diary is a wonderfully sweet window into the time, and is one of our favorite books. It's a must-read for anyone who loves the late Victorian era, and really should be required reading for any author who wants to write about the time! —S.C.
In the Days of Bicycles and Bustles
R.D. Blumfeld
A Boy at Fort Mackinac: The Diary of Harold Dunbar Corbusier, 1883-4, 1892.
Edited by Phil Porter
Corbusier Archives
Happy As A Big Sunflower: Adventures in the West 1876-1880
Rolf Johnson
A Child of Toil: The Life of Charles Snow, 1831-1889
Syracuse University Press
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Edited by Helena Whitbread
Francis Ellingwood Abbot
No Place for a Nervous Lady: Voices from the Australian Bush
Kilvert's Diary: 1870-1879: Life in the English Countryside in Mid-Victorian Times
Published by David R. Godine
Maud: The Illustrated Diary of a Victorian Woman (Maud Berkeley)
Published by Chronicle Books
This is the actual diary of a real woman, Maud Berkley, from 1888—1901. (The early years are more detailed than the later ones.) Maud loved to draw and paint, so her diary is filled with her own portraits of her daily routines and adventures with her friends: everything from housecleaning, to playing the guitar for her cat (who didn't appreciate it), to working in an apothecary shop, to dropping a doormat on someone's head at a party, to getting scared by a moth late at night and chasing it out of her room with an umbrella. Maud's diary is a wonderfully sweet window into the time, and is one of our favorite books. It's a must-read for anyone who loves the late Victorian era, and really should be required reading for any author who wants to write about the time! —S.C.
In the Days of Bicycles and Bustles
R.D. Blumfeld
A Boy at Fort Mackinac: The Diary of Harold Dunbar Corbusier, 1883-4, 1892.
Edited by Phil Porter
Corbusier Archives
Happy As A Big Sunflower: Adventures in the West 1876-1880
Rolf Johnson
A Child of Toil: The Life of Charles Snow, 1831-1889
Syracuse University Press
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Edited by Helena Whitbread
Farming
The Attack on the Farm by Andrew W. Arnold
Field and Hedgerow by Richard Jefferies
A Farmer's Year by H. Rider Haggard
Fashion (see also Magazines below):
Manual of Ladies Hairdressing by Mons. A. Mallemont, 1899.
Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle
The Sunshade, Muff and Glove by Octave Uzanne
Manual of Ladies Hairdressing by Mons. A. Mallemont, 1899.
Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle
The Sunshade, Muff and Glove by Octave Uzanne
Games
Victorian Conundrums: A 19th Century Puzzler
Edited by Ken Russell and Phillip Carter
A collection of Victorian puzzles and brain-teasers.
The Sociable: Or, One Thousand and One Home Amusements. New York, 1858.
- Book of games, parlor tricks, and other amusements.
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Health and fitness:
Athletic Sports, by various authors. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons as part of the Out of Door Library, 1897.
Human Physiology by Austin Flint
Massage and the Original Swedish Movements by Kurre Wilhelm Ostrom
Special Kinesiology of Educational Gymnastics by Baron Nils Posse
Strength and How To Obtain It by Eugen Sandow
Health and fitness:
Athletic Sports, by various authors. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons as part of the Out of Door Library, 1897.
Human Physiology by Austin Flint
Massage and the Original Swedish Movements by Kurre Wilhelm Ostrom
Special Kinesiology of Educational Gymnastics by Baron Nils Posse
Strength and How To Obtain It by Eugen Sandow
Household management:
The Book of Household Management. By Mrs. Isabella Beeton
Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms. By Thomas E. Hill
The Book of Household Management. By Mrs. Isabella Beeton
Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms. By Thomas E. Hill
Humor
Twelve Miles from a Lemon by Gail Hamilton
"The title of this volume is explained by the familiar story of Sydney Smith, who described his living in Yorkshire as being so out of the way that it was actually "twelve miles from a lemon," and consequently a like distance from all the other elements of punch and civilization. Miss Dodge apparently lives at much the same distance from Boston, and regarding Boston and lemons as synonyms of civilization, she has written a volume of sprightly little essays and sketches relating for the most part to the humors and infelicities of suburban life. In many respects it is the most entertaining of her numerous books. It is simply a volume of brilliant, witty, and audacious gossip, touching upon countless topics, and perpetually moving the reader to pleased or sardonic mirth." —Review by the New York World, 1874.
Twelve Miles from a Lemon by Gail Hamilton
"The title of this volume is explained by the familiar story of Sydney Smith, who described his living in Yorkshire as being so out of the way that it was actually "twelve miles from a lemon," and consequently a like distance from all the other elements of punch and civilization. Miss Dodge apparently lives at much the same distance from Boston, and regarding Boston and lemons as synonyms of civilization, she has written a volume of sprightly little essays and sketches relating for the most part to the humors and infelicities of suburban life. In many respects it is the most entertaining of her numerous books. It is simply a volume of brilliant, witty, and audacious gossip, touching upon countless topics, and perpetually moving the reader to pleased or sardonic mirth." —Review by the New York World, 1874.
Natural Disasters:
History of the Johnstown Flood by Willis Fletcher Johnson, Edgewood Publishing Co., 1889.
An account of a major catastrophe in American history. When mismanagement of civil engineering met unpredictable weather conditions, tragedy ensued on a horrendous scale. The Johnstown flood was to late nineteenth-century America what Hurricane Katrina would become to our cultural memory in the twenty-first century.
An account of a major catastrophe in American history. When mismanagement of civil engineering met unpredictable weather conditions, tragedy ensued on a horrendous scale. The Johnstown flood was to late nineteenth-century America what Hurricane Katrina would become to our cultural memory in the twenty-first century.
Poetry:
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Philosophy / religion:
Murray's Manual of Mythology. By Alexander S. Murray, Published by Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia, 1897.
Pearls of Wisdom for Young Ladies, by John Ruskin
The Queen of the Air, by John Ruskin
The Two Paths, by John Ruskin
Murray's Manual of Mythology. By Alexander S. Murray, Published by Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia, 1897.
Pearls of Wisdom for Young Ladies, by John Ruskin
The Queen of the Air, by John Ruskin
The Two Paths, by John Ruskin
Publishing
Relationships
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana. Translated into English in 1883 by Sir Richard Burton.
Google Books Librivox (free audiobook) version
Google Books Librivox (free audiobook) version
Travel books (see also"cycling related" -above):
A Flying Trip Around the World, by Elizabeth Bisland.
Librivox version: librivox.org/in-seven-stages-a-flying-trip-around-the-world-by-elizabeth-bisland/
About Paris. By Richard Harding Davis, Illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson
Our Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell
A Report on Washington Territory. By William Henry Ruffner, Published by Seattle, Lakeshore and Eastern Railway, Seattle, 1889
A Flying Trip Around the World, by Elizabeth Bisland.
Librivox version: librivox.org/in-seven-stages-a-flying-trip-around-the-world-by-elizabeth-bisland/
About Paris. By Richard Harding Davis, Illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson
Our Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell
A Report on Washington Territory. By William Henry Ruffner, Published by Seattle, Lakeshore and Eastern Railway, Seattle, 1889
Women's Interests and Issues
Pearls of Wisdom For Young Ladies by John Ruskin
What Can A Woman Do? Or, her position in the business and literary world. By Martha Louise Rayne.
The Woman's Book, Volumes I and II. By various contributors, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1894.
Woman's Worth and Worthlessness By Gail Hamilton
http://tinyurl.com/z9jw6w3
A discussion of the different spheres occupied by men and women, written by a woman who started as a suffragist but ultimately decided that participation in the dirty world of politics would undermine the authority women had in other fields of action. By the end of her life she was actively working against women's suffrage because she felt it would do more harm than good for her sex.
Some of my favorite quotes from this book (page numbers are for the 1872 edition) :
"In every known sense of the word, a woman owns the man who loves her more than he owns her... She sees the situation, where he only sees her. She is as strong as all his strength, because his strength is hers. With whatever of power, or wisdom, or renown he is endowed, she also becomes posessed, and no enlargement of his borders diminishes one iota of his dependence on her for the ability to enjoy them. If there is any difference, the supreme control... is hers." (pp. 158-159.)
"Antagonism between man and woman is, of all things, unnatural. Attraction is the natural relation." (Page 275.)
"No monarch has been so great, no peasant so lowly, that he has not been glad to lay his best at the feet of a woman." (Page 289.)
"Self-preservation is the first law of nature, but woman-preservation is the first law of civilization." (Page 248.)
"It is better for men, it is better for women, that each somewhat idealize the other." (Page 281.)
N.B. When Google Books digitized their version <http://tinyurl.com/z9jw6w3> of this book, pp. 193—194 were left out. The missing pages, scanned from our personal copy of the 1872 edition of the book, can be seen here: Missing pages from Woman's Worth and Worthlessness
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Fiction authors by subject:
Adventure stories:
Dana, R.H. Jr. Two Years Before The Mast
Librivox (free audiobook) version
Ellis, Edward S.: A Jaunt Through Java, The Cruise of the Firefly
Badger, Joseph E.: The Lost City
Haggard, H.R.: The People of the Mist, She
Dana, R.H. Jr. Two Years Before The Mast
Librivox (free audiobook) version
Ellis, Edward S.: A Jaunt Through Java, The Cruise of the Firefly
Badger, Joseph E.: The Lost City
Haggard, H.R.: The People of the Mist, She
Children's books:
Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women; Little Men; Jo's Boys
Beard, Lina and Adelia B.: How to Amuse Yourself and Others: The American Girls' Handy Book
"Boys have had book without limit made for them explaining how such things are made as a boy likes to make, how to do what boys like to do, and enabling them to fill up many a happy hour with amusement and pleasant instruction. But girls have bee neglected in this line until recently and have had to rely on their own native resources or on those of their acquaintances. What has been indeed "a long felt want" is now supplied by this volume by Lina Beard and Adelia B. Beard.
The contents of the book are classified according to season. In the spring there are the amusements appropriate to April first there follow the months of wild flowers, which girls are instructed how to preserve, transplant, to press, how to preserve their perfumes, etc. Some points about walking follow. The chapter on Easter, alone, would delight any girl enough to pay to get this book. Instruction is given in the making of a lawn tennis net; and May Day sports are described. There is some fortune telling, seaside cottage decoration, and an outline of many ways in which a girl can amuse herself on the Fourth of July. How to make an impression album for ferns and leaves; how to conduct picnics, burgoos and corn-roasts; how to make a hammock, corn husk and flower dolls, fans, and how to conduct quiet games for the hot weather—all these are there for the summer.
In the autumn girls like to know what to do on Hallowe'en; how to employ leaves and flowers for decoration; how to draw and paint in water and oil colors; how to model in clay and wax and to make plaster casts; how to paint china and make picture frames; and about these matters the book is minute. Nutting parties and Thanksgiving amusements have their place; Christmas and New Year's festivities, gifts and games; the simple making and uses of a home gymnasium; scrap books, window decorations, mantel pieces and fireplaces, home made candy and St. Valentine's Day. Nothing more than a hint can be given in this notice as to the contents of this book, but the reader is already prepared to believe that it is really a remarkable compendium of information on topics that interest girls in a thousand ways. Explanations are plain and lucid and the materials to be used are within the reach of all and the outlay is in most cases little or nothing... [E]very girl would think herself fortunate to get [this book] for a holiday present." —Book review of How to Amuse Yourself and Others: The American Girl's Handy Book excerpted from Good Housekeeping, December 10, 1887.
Beard, Daniel. The American Boy's Handy Book
Bonehill, Captain Ralph: Rival Bicyclists
Burnett, Frances Hodgson: A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden
Dana, R.H.: Two Years Before the Mast
Hughes, Thomas: Tom Brown at Rugby and Tom Brown at Oxford
Kingsley, Charles: The Water Babies
Wiggin, Kate Douglas: The Birds' Christmas Carol
"The Birds' Christmas Carol" is a beautiful Christmas story by Kate Douglas Wiggin —touching indeed and moving the sympathies, but cheerful as a whole and very pleasing... and is just the thing for a gift at Christmas or at any other time." —"Holiday Book Notes" Good Housekeeping, December 22, 1888, p. 92.
Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women; Little Men; Jo's Boys
Beard, Lina and Adelia B.: How to Amuse Yourself and Others: The American Girls' Handy Book
"Boys have had book without limit made for them explaining how such things are made as a boy likes to make, how to do what boys like to do, and enabling them to fill up many a happy hour with amusement and pleasant instruction. But girls have bee neglected in this line until recently and have had to rely on their own native resources or on those of their acquaintances. What has been indeed "a long felt want" is now supplied by this volume by Lina Beard and Adelia B. Beard.
The contents of the book are classified according to season. In the spring there are the amusements appropriate to April first there follow the months of wild flowers, which girls are instructed how to preserve, transplant, to press, how to preserve their perfumes, etc. Some points about walking follow. The chapter on Easter, alone, would delight any girl enough to pay to get this book. Instruction is given in the making of a lawn tennis net; and May Day sports are described. There is some fortune telling, seaside cottage decoration, and an outline of many ways in which a girl can amuse herself on the Fourth of July. How to make an impression album for ferns and leaves; how to conduct picnics, burgoos and corn-roasts; how to make a hammock, corn husk and flower dolls, fans, and how to conduct quiet games for the hot weather—all these are there for the summer.
In the autumn girls like to know what to do on Hallowe'en; how to employ leaves and flowers for decoration; how to draw and paint in water and oil colors; how to model in clay and wax and to make plaster casts; how to paint china and make picture frames; and about these matters the book is minute. Nutting parties and Thanksgiving amusements have their place; Christmas and New Year's festivities, gifts and games; the simple making and uses of a home gymnasium; scrap books, window decorations, mantel pieces and fireplaces, home made candy and St. Valentine's Day. Nothing more than a hint can be given in this notice as to the contents of this book, but the reader is already prepared to believe that it is really a remarkable compendium of information on topics that interest girls in a thousand ways. Explanations are plain and lucid and the materials to be used are within the reach of all and the outlay is in most cases little or nothing... [E]very girl would think herself fortunate to get [this book] for a holiday present." —Book review of How to Amuse Yourself and Others: The American Girl's Handy Book excerpted from Good Housekeeping, December 10, 1887.
Beard, Daniel. The American Boy's Handy Book
Bonehill, Captain Ralph: Rival Bicyclists
Burnett, Frances Hodgson: A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden
Dana, R.H.: Two Years Before the Mast
Hughes, Thomas: Tom Brown at Rugby and Tom Brown at Oxford
Kingsley, Charles: The Water Babies
Wiggin, Kate Douglas: The Birds' Christmas Carol
"The Birds' Christmas Carol" is a beautiful Christmas story by Kate Douglas Wiggin —touching indeed and moving the sympathies, but cheerful as a whole and very pleasing... and is just the thing for a gift at Christmas or at any other time." —"Holiday Book Notes" Good Housekeeping, December 22, 1888, p. 92.
Horror:
A Bottomless Grave And Other Victorian Tales of Terror. ed. Hugh Lamb.
Poe, Edgar Allan: Various short stories
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
A Bottomless Grave And Other Victorian Tales of Terror. ed. Hugh Lamb.
Poe, Edgar Allan: Various short stories
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Humor:
(Anonymous) Blunders of a Bashful Man. Printed by J.S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, New York, 1881
Diary of a Nobody, by Grossmith.
Librivox version: https://librivox.org/the-diary-of-a-nobody-by-george-weedon-grossmith/
A BBC piece which discusses the social context of this hilarious book: "The Long View, Documenting the Self: Victorian Diaries and 21st-century Social Media."
Shams: Or Uncle Ben's Experience With Hypocrites by John S. Draper
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens): Various books
(Anonymous) Blunders of a Bashful Man. Printed by J.S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, New York, 1881
Diary of a Nobody, by Grossmith.
Librivox version: https://librivox.org/the-diary-of-a-nobody-by-george-weedon-grossmith/
A BBC piece which discusses the social context of this hilarious book: "The Long View, Documenting the Self: Victorian Diaries and 21st-century Social Media."
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens): Various books
Literature:
Dickens, Charles: Various books
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary
Jackson, Helen Hunt: Ramona
Dickens, Charles: Various books
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary
Jackson, Helen Hunt: Ramona
Mystery:
Collins, Wilkie: Wilkie Collins was the Victorian version of John Grisham; his books are thrilling page-turners, and it's really hard to put them down! His works include:
--The Dead Secret: A dying noblewoman orders her maid to reveal her darkest secret, and swears with her dying breath to haunt her forever if she disobeys! What is that secret? When the maid thinks she's found a loophole in the solemn oath she took, will her mistress still come back from the grave to torment her? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Frozen Deep One woman, two would-be lovers: When the men are sent on a doomed Arctic mission together, will her horrible premonitions come to pass? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--Hide and Seek: A kind-hearted man takes in a small, deaf girl and raises her as his own. Where did she come from? What secrets are hidden in the mysterious hair bracelet left behind by her dying mother? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Law and the Lady —The unyielding heroine of this story is determined to expose the truth about her new husband, but each secret she unlocks opens the door to an even bigger mystery.
[N.B. There is a poisoning scene in this book which bears a very striking resemblance to a case of poisoning investigated by American detective Allan Pinkerton and described in his book, The Murderer and the Fortune Teller. Pinkerton's book was published the same year as Collins' The Law and the Lady, but detailed a case he had investigated years before. Given the parallels in the stories, it seems likely Collins had been familiar with Pinkerton's work.]
Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--Man and Wife: A wonderful legal thriller about the complexities of marriage law in Scotland and Ireland. Librivox (free audiobook) version.
—Miss Bertha and the Yankee: A short story in classic Collins style! The scene opens on a young woman testifying in court: She is now an heiress, but tells the court from the start that her poverty as a small child left her sadly ignorant of the ways of the world. What exactly happened after she came to England and inherited her fortune?
--The Moonstone Who stole the precious Indian diamond —and is it really cursed?
--Poor Miss Finch Will poor, blind Lucilla get her sight back —and will she still be entranced with her lover when she sees the color of his skin? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Woman in White Mysteries within mysteries as crimes intertwine with questioned sanity and confused identities. One of Collins most popular novels! Librivox (free audiobook) version.
Ottolengui, Rodrigues: Short story - "The Nameless Man"
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: Rodney Stone, Various Sherlock Holmes stories
The Dead Witness: A connoisseur's collection of Victorian detective stories. ed. Michael Sims
Collins, Wilkie: Wilkie Collins was the Victorian version of John Grisham; his books are thrilling page-turners, and it's really hard to put them down! His works include:
--The Dead Secret: A dying noblewoman orders her maid to reveal her darkest secret, and swears with her dying breath to haunt her forever if she disobeys! What is that secret? When the maid thinks she's found a loophole in the solemn oath she took, will her mistress still come back from the grave to torment her? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Frozen Deep One woman, two would-be lovers: When the men are sent on a doomed Arctic mission together, will her horrible premonitions come to pass? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--Hide and Seek: A kind-hearted man takes in a small, deaf girl and raises her as his own. Where did she come from? What secrets are hidden in the mysterious hair bracelet left behind by her dying mother? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Law and the Lady —The unyielding heroine of this story is determined to expose the truth about her new husband, but each secret she unlocks opens the door to an even bigger mystery.
[N.B. There is a poisoning scene in this book which bears a very striking resemblance to a case of poisoning investigated by American detective Allan Pinkerton and described in his book, The Murderer and the Fortune Teller. Pinkerton's book was published the same year as Collins' The Law and the Lady, but detailed a case he had investigated years before. Given the parallels in the stories, it seems likely Collins had been familiar with Pinkerton's work.]
Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--Man and Wife: A wonderful legal thriller about the complexities of marriage law in Scotland and Ireland. Librivox (free audiobook) version.
—Miss Bertha and the Yankee: A short story in classic Collins style! The scene opens on a young woman testifying in court: She is now an heiress, but tells the court from the start that her poverty as a small child left her sadly ignorant of the ways of the world. What exactly happened after she came to England and inherited her fortune?
--The Moonstone Who stole the precious Indian diamond —and is it really cursed?
--Poor Miss Finch Will poor, blind Lucilla get her sight back —and will she still be entranced with her lover when she sees the color of his skin? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Woman in White Mysteries within mysteries as crimes intertwine with questioned sanity and confused identities. One of Collins most popular novels! Librivox (free audiobook) version.
Ottolengui, Rodrigues: Short story - "The Nameless Man"
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: Rodney Stone, Various Sherlock Holmes stories
The Dead Witness: A connoisseur's collection of Victorian detective stories. ed. Michael Sims
Romances:
Brontë, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Egan, Maurice Francis: The Chatelaine of the Roses
Ford, P.L. The Story of An Untold Love
Harland, Marion: True as Steel
Jackson, Helen Hunt: Ramona
Phillips, David Graham: A Woman Ventures
Rives, Amelie: The Quick - Or the Dead?
Stockton, Frank Richard, A Bicycle of Cathay
Tompkins, E.K: Her Majesty. —Distinctly influenced by The Prince and the Pauper, this sweet romance shows a New Woman queen going out amongst her subjects in disguise—and finding love along the way.
Tytler, Sarah: Girl Neighbors
Brontë, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Egan, Maurice Francis: The Chatelaine of the Roses
Ford, P.L. The Story of An Untold Love
Harland, Marion: True as Steel
Jackson, Helen Hunt: Ramona
Phillips, David Graham: A Woman Ventures
Rives, Amelie: The Quick - Or the Dead?
Stockton, Frank Richard, A Bicycle of Cathay
Tompkins, E.K: Her Majesty. —Distinctly influenced by The Prince and the Pauper, this sweet romance shows a New Woman queen going out amongst her subjects in disguise—and finding love along the way.
Tytler, Sarah: Girl Neighbors
Science Fiction
Jefferies, Richard: After London
H.G. Wells:
The Time Machine
The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Invisible Man
The First Men in the Moon
The Food of the Gods (Incidentally, if you like Wells' The Food of the Gods, be sure to also read The Garden of Invention by Jane S. Smith—it will greatly increase your understanding of the context in which Wells wrote his dystopian book about genetic engineering of foods!)
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (If you like this book, be sure to read Elizabeth Bisland's A Flying Trip Around the World, the travel-log of a woman who actually raced around the world!)
"All books have an atmosphere of their own. They suggest much more than they contain."—Poole, Hester M. "Books: Selection, Arrangement and Use of Them."
--Good Housekeeping. October 12, 1889. p. 272.
Quotations of Quality
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Looking for more about the Victorian era? Don't forget about Sarah's books! Also, here are more secondary sources.
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Other Sources for
Research Materials
Archives
We base all our research in primary sources whenever possible. For local history and detailed topics, sometimes archives are the only place where primary sources can be found. Research work we have done in archives has led to in-depth knowledge of some of our favorite topics.
Magazines and Newspapers
Antique magazines and newspapers - available from collectors, ABEBooks, Ebay, and sometimes antiques stores, are wonderful ways to peer into the everyday lives of the past.
We always prefer actual 19th-century artifacts for study, since digitization or other reproduction techniques often leave out details such as advertising, color inserts and patterns (which are often cut out and separated from the texts), or even incidental features with something to tell about the item.
Some of our favorite magazines are:
The Anglo-Saxon Review - literary magazine
Ballou's Monthly Magazine - Women's interests
January—June, 1881
The Cosmopolitan - Women's interests
Some publicly available 19th-century issues:
May—October, 1889.
November, 1891—May, 1892.
May—October, 1894.
November, 1900—May, 1901
May—October, 1901
Godey's Lady's Book / Godey's Magazine -Women's interests, especially fashion
Good Housekeeping -Women's interest
Some available 19th-century issues:
May 12, 1888—October 27, 1888
November 10, 1888—April 27, 1889
January 1894—June 1894
January 1896—June 1896
1900
Harper's Magazine - general interest
The London and Paris Ladies' Magazine of Fashion —Women's fashions
1881
Ladies' Home Journal:
1885: http://tinyurl.com/j6tc9q2
1887: http://tinyurl.com/hh97wvm
1889: http://tinyurl.com/jnn6jqj
1891: http://tinyurl.com/jkygpnv
1893: http://tinyurl.com/judxsxd
1898: http://tinyurl.com/jh83lq9
Outing - Sports
October 1884 — March 1885
Petersen's Magazine - Women's interests
The Century Magazine - General interest: Fiction, non-fiction, and social issues.
The Wheelman - Cycling
April —September, 1883
We always prefer actual 19th-century artifacts for study, since digitization or other reproduction techniques often leave out details such as advertising, color inserts and patterns (which are often cut out and separated from the texts), or even incidental features with something to tell about the item.
Some of our favorite magazines are:
The Anglo-Saxon Review - literary magazine
Ballou's Monthly Magazine - Women's interests
January—June, 1881
The Cosmopolitan - Women's interests
Some publicly available 19th-century issues:
May—October, 1889.
November, 1891—May, 1892.
May—October, 1894.
November, 1900—May, 1901
May—October, 1901
Godey's Lady's Book / Godey's Magazine -Women's interests, especially fashion
Good Housekeeping -Women's interest
Some available 19th-century issues:
May 12, 1888—October 27, 1888
November 10, 1888—April 27, 1889
January 1894—June 1894
January 1896—June 1896
1900
Harper's Magazine - general interest
The London and Paris Ladies' Magazine of Fashion —Women's fashions
1881
Ladies' Home Journal:
1885: http://tinyurl.com/j6tc9q2
1887: http://tinyurl.com/hh97wvm
1889: http://tinyurl.com/jnn6jqj
1891: http://tinyurl.com/jkygpnv
1893: http://tinyurl.com/judxsxd
1898: http://tinyurl.com/jh83lq9
Outing - Sports
October 1884 — March 1885
Petersen's Magazine - Women's interests
The Century Magazine - General interest: Fiction, non-fiction, and social issues.
The Wheelman - Cycling
April —September, 1883
Unfortunately, antique ephemera is naturally quite fragile and requires great care. Because we do enjoy reading so much, we often find ourselves doing so in situations where there would be a danger of damaging a fragile antique - such as in the bathtub, or during meals. For those situations, we create re-prints of 19th-century media by printing them out from digitized sources. (This is also a good way to sample a publication and judge whether it is worthy of seeking out and buying an antique copy.) To see how I make a hand-bound book, see http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/recipe-for-reading-how-to-make-a-hand-bound-book.html
Our favorite sources for digitized works to print out are:
Magazines and books: http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search (Using this search function, it is possible to specify start and end dates of interest - a very useful feature! Beyond this, it functions like a very detailed library catalog.)
Newspapers: http://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/newspapers.aspx (These are Washington state newspapers - we tend to prefer these since this is where we live.)
More newspapers: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
More newspapers (California): California Digital Newspaper Collection
Our favorite sources for digitized works to print out are:
Magazines and books: http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search (Using this search function, it is possible to specify start and end dates of interest - a very useful feature! Beyond this, it functions like a very detailed library catalog.)
Newspapers: http://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/newspapers.aspx (These are Washington state newspapers - we tend to prefer these since this is where we live.)
More newspapers: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
More newspapers (California): California Digital Newspaper Collection
We adore reading, but we also remember that books aren't the only way to learn. Some of the most important details of people's everyday lives didn't get written down in books, and every artifact that survives from the past has something to teach us about history.
Other Ephemera
Antique autograph albums
Antique autograph albums (sources for which include book collectors, antiques stores and Ebay) are often poignant ways to glimpse the lives of the sort of ordinary people who weren't otherwise chronicled.
Antique autograph albums (sources for which include book collectors, antiques stores and Ebay) are often poignant ways to glimpse the lives of the sort of ordinary people who weren't otherwise chronicled.
Catalogs
Catalogs such as Montgomery Ward & Co. and Sears & Roebuck revolutionized the way people shopped. Because they list descriptions and prices for a wide variety of goods, they are fabulous resources for determining availability and relative value of items.
A number of these 19th-century catalogs have been re-printed, and are readily available from publishers such as Skyhorse:
Montgomery Ward Catalog listing
Sears & Roebuck Catalogs
Catalogs such as Montgomery Ward & Co. and Sears & Roebuck revolutionized the way people shopped. Because they list descriptions and prices for a wide variety of goods, they are fabulous resources for determining availability and relative value of items.
A number of these 19th-century catalogs have been re-printed, and are readily available from publishers such as Skyhorse:
Montgomery Ward Catalog listing
Sears & Roebuck Catalogs
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Diaries, original unpublished
Original antique diaries are an amazing way to connect with the past. These two (from 1854 and 1894, respectively) were fairly minimal, but still provide an amazing view into history. |
Store ledgers
What did people buy and use in their daily lives? Fiction will only mention purchases that add to the plot, and even avid diarists might consider their shopping lists too boring to chronicle. Yet we spend hundreds or even thousands of hours of our lives interacting with such little everyday items.
Store ledgers, which recorded purchases and debits to charge accounts run by stores, are a fabulous way to learn details which would otherwise be lost to history.
What did people buy and use in their daily lives? Fiction will only mention purchases that add to the plot, and even avid diarists might consider their shopping lists too boring to chronicle. Yet we spend hundreds or even thousands of hours of our lives interacting with such little everyday items.
Store ledgers, which recorded purchases and debits to charge accounts run by stores, are a fabulous way to learn details which would otherwise be lost to history.
Visits to museums, archives, and places of historical significance
Our favorite focus: Slideshow of visits to places with importance to the 19th-century:
Putting things in perspective: Slideshow of visits to places in the larger historical picture
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Maintaining this website (which you are enjoying for free!) takes a lot of time and resources.
Please show your support for all our hard work by telling your friends about Sarah's books —and by buying them yourself, too, of course!
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*****
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Love's Messenger
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Quotations of Quality
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The Wheelman's Joy
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Words For Parting
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This Victorian Life:
Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-Century
Culture, Cooking, Fashion, and Technology
(Non-fiction)
Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-Century
Culture, Cooking, Fashion, and Technology
(Non-fiction)
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