That Butler, Cataloguing

Reference material for people, places, and items in Black Butler

[abybweisse]

Ch213, Spoiler: the resort hotel

The resort hotel The Nectar Springs might be loosely based off The Grand Brighton.

Yes, I think I've found it. The height. The undulating balconies, the shape of the top....

[abybweisse]

It's even referred to as "unparalleled" in some reviews.

Take note that it was the site of an assassination attempt in 1984 on members of the British government by the IRA. The hotel was bombed in an attempt to kill Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. Hmm 🤔 👀

Now I'm wondering if our earl and Sebastian might end up bombing the place....

[abybweissekurorefs]

Something else to keep in mind.

[abybweisse]

Ch213, Spoiler: the resort hotel

The resort hotel The Nectar Springs might be loosely based off The Grand Brighton.

Yes, I think I've found it. The height. The undulating balconies, the shape of the top....

[abybweissekurorefs]

Ch213. The Nectar Springs resort hotel appears to be based on the middle of the facade for The Grand Brighton.

[abybweisse]

Ch197, Interesting cooking spatula/scraping paddle

I was wondering if this was just a single slot spatula (not common these days) or something slightly anachronistic... like a candy thermometer (with the glass tube in the slot).

But it's just the former. Here're a couple examples of vintage designs by Avon and Foley. Other brands made them, too, like Tupperware, but most are short, wide, and bent.

What Oliver uses is even older, of course, since nylon wasn't around quite yet. Also, his is flat, probably wooden, and has a metal or possibly leather loop going through the handle for hanging.

Some brands make something similar now, for stirring and scraping. This silicone/nylon Betty Crocker one even has a flat design.

It's still just too short, too wide, and not made of materials available back then. I know the series has a bunch of anachronistic things, but a spatula at the orphanage shouldn't be one of them. 😆

It might actually be a Japanese (or at least Asian) style that's probably been in use for a very long time without much change over the past hundred years or longer. So, it would be immediately recognizable to local readers.

I did finally see these Japanese spatulas with the right shape, but the single slotted ones are apparently not too common. I have not found one just like it quite yet, but I'll keep looking.

[abybweisse]

Is ciel wearing Burberry during the murder arc?

Does our earl wear brands like Burberry?

Burberry was established in Basingstoke in 1856 (but has its HQ in London), so it was definitely around... even when Grandma P was watchdog. I find it interesting Burberry was established there because I once looked at Basingstoke as a potential area for Phantomhive Manor and its surrounding estate. Even tried to figure out whether St. Michael's Church in Basingstoke could be the reference for the parish church where Vincent and Rachel marry... and where Vicar Rathbone worked as reeve for Vincent -- because Rathbone even mentions St. Michael's Day -- but it doesn't seem to be. I still haven't definitively found the Phantomhive estate on a map of England, but the North Downs area is still promising....

I've also looked at Burberry for being the reference for Grelle's red trench coat, which I think might actually be true. (I think Abberline might be wearing an Aquascutum 🧥.)

You bring up a valid question, here. Is this:

This?

And I do believe the answer is YES. Yana-san has dressed the bunch in it, including Arthur:

And a lot of websites try to pass off similar designs, like these with extra red lines:

But true Burberry has those single red lines, like our earl and the others have donned.

Yana-san is lucky to not get sued for it, since... as I mentioned in the linked post above, Burberry also has licensing in Asia, so the brand might be looking for knockoffs or other trademark infringements there. In the west, Target (among other stores) has been sued over the years by copying the signature check pattern, sometimes even with the single red line. Target is lucky that the lawsuit was dropped after talks. Idk why it was dropped, honestly. 🤔

Anyway. Yeah.

Of course, in the Kuroverse, it might be that Nina Hopkins has made all sleuthing outfits worn by our earl and anyone else in his household. No telling where she claims to buy the fabrics she uses. 😆

But many fans recognize that iconic check.

Bonus: I searched my blog for "Basingstoke", hoping to find something about my old search for the Phantomhive estate, and lo and behold, the only post that came up was from the murders arc. But it's about Bartitsu... and Arthur accidentally calling it Baritsu. Someone says it's time to go to Basingstoke Bartitsu Irregulars. It's real. 😳😂

Now I'm back to wanting to figure out where the estate must be located.... 😭

[a-nest-of-teeth]

Research is a cruel lover.

The Victorians are all at once cryptic and an open book.

I can find manuals on exactly how to carry out a proper and respectable funeral, burial, and subsequent mourning period. This includes dress, behaviour, and even the FABRICS one should use.

Not sure how long you should mourn your dead spouse/child/sibling/brother-in-law?

Fear not, ‘tis a simple question!

But heaven forbid, I attempt to find out precisely what the lower-class danced in pubs in the late 19th century. Now that is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Polka, two-step, and the waltz seem like the closest answer.

[abybweisse]

Yeah, about mourning practices, you can even easily learn what colors of jewelry (the stones, etc.) to bring back into your wardrobe over time and in what order.

I got much the same info about dancing as you did, but I started comparing them.

I’d say… if you want 1844 to 1880, go with polka or mazurka, but people danced to them after 1880, as well. Polka remained quite popular into the 1890’s and was considered a serious rival to the waltz. There’s also (a bit later in the dance’s development) a female soloist version of the mazurka that would have turned the pub into more of a nightclub or cabaret scene (lots of leg lifts). Schottische is basically a slowed down polka.

Cotillions/quadrilles were considered more formal dances, so you might see those at balls more often than at pubs, though the lower classes did copy whatever the upper classes were doing. The waltz could show up anywhere, and the galop is considered one of the easiest couples dances to learn. Two-stepping back then (and in England) was more like simply part of certain dances (like in 2/4 time), and it’s different from things like “country two-step”.

Here is a video demonstrating a bunch of popular Victorian ballroom dances. I imagine the faster, more boisterous ones would be more popular in pubs.

FYI, the main difference between the music for waltz vs mazurka is where the beat stresses are: 1 2 3 for waltz and 1 2 3 for mazurka.

Oh, but keep in mind that if you go with mazurka, don’t automatically select Chopin for the music; he intentionally composed mazurkas to be too complicated to dance to….

Really want those pub dancers to have a fun time and get “real close” (for the era)? I’d probably choose a polka.

Hope this helps!

[abybweisse]

Ch111, Paragon fortune-telling cup

In ch111, Blavat is clearly using a “fortune-telling” cup based off a popular design by Paragon. It’s rare now but comes in a few color combinations… mostly pastels… with gold trim.

The difference that Yana-san has created between the real pattern and the one Blavat has is seen when you look down into his cup.

She has combined china patterns… and added stylized zodiac signs from a source I don’t recognize. But below the zodiac signs there’re these tips of what must be triangles, so I think she’s also using something like this Aynsley “Nelros” cup.

But she’s replaced those symbols (14 of them) with the 12 zodiac signs, then has a triangular section coming down between each zodiac. The rest of the design, farther down, might be essentially the same as this. A star with a broken circle and planetary signs. Might even have the ship anchor ⚓️ in the center. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Paragon and Aynsley are well known English porcelain makers, but they didn’t really make these until at least 1900. So… Blavat is using a teacup that doesn’t quite exist… and ones similar to it didn’t exist until at least a decade later.

[abybweisse]

Interesting to note: Paragon was started in 1903 by Herbert Aynsley and his son-in-law.

So, these two English china companies are closely related by blood. 🤔

Funny thing is, Paragon got a bit full of itself, thanks to so many royals owning their porcelain, that they started calling themselves Royal Paragon… until the Royal Warrant office forced them to remove it. See, Paragon didn’t have a royal warrant. Whoops. 😬

[abybweisse]

Ch111, Paragon fortune-telling cup

In ch111, Blavat is clearly using a “fortune-telling” cup based off a popular design by Paragon. It’s rare now but comes in a few color combinations… mostly pastels… with gold trim.

The difference that Yana-san has created between the real pattern and the one Blavat has is seen when you look down into his cup.

She has combined china patterns… and added stylized zodiac signs from a source I don’t recognize. But below the zodiac signs there’re these tips of what must be triangles, so I think she’s also using something like this Aynsley “Nelros” cup.

But she’s replaced those symbols (14 of them) with the 12 zodiac signs, then has a triangular section coming down between each zodiac. The rest of the design, farther down, might be essentially the same as this. A star with a broken circle and planetary signs. Might even have the ship anchor ⚓️ in the center. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Paragon and Aynsley are well known English porcelain makers, but they didn’t really make these until at least 1900. So… Blavat is using a teacup that doesn’t quite exist… and ones similar to it didn’t exist until at least a decade later.

[fwippysays]

Oh This is Interesting

For one reason or another I recently found myself browsing Alan Mays’ collection (linked here) of 1870s-80s acquaintance cards- essentially calling cards for flirting.  While these cards are described as an American phenomenon, the layout of the first few cards in the collection is strikingly similar to Baron Heathfield’s slip in Chapter 154- even down to the position of the “Yes” and “No” responses.  This suggests to me that Yana (and/or her history consultant, Dr. Riko Murakami) was also aware of this collection (which, ftr, predates CH154 by many years). I had no idea!

I’m tagging @abybweisse in this post, since I know you like to keep track of real-world versions of items used in the series, and thought you might get a kick out of this too.

[abybweisse]

Oh? *wide grin* You mean this from ch154…

…looks VERY much like this?

Indeed, it does! Good catch!

[abybweisse]

Ch135, Thelema side note….

Btw, if you google for “temple of Thelema” images, what comes up includes several versions of this image:

Looks a lot like the cloaks and black masks shown here:

The first image comes from a website about satanism and not only mentions Aleister Crowley, it also mentions Peter Sutcliffe.

Now, I don’t know if Thelemites ever did this really, but… if you are looking for art references for a manga, and if you use the internet to find some of them….

Hmm 🤔

[abybweissekurorefs]

Should have reblogged this here ages ago, but oh well.

[abybweissekurorefs]

A couple days ago:

[abybweisse]

Wedgwood Jasperware... really

Remember the Jasperware from ch3? They are well-known “Sacrifice Figures”, where Greek figures (usually deities) are making offerings.

Well, I managed to snag a couple small examples of them today. One is a small pitcher in the common “Wedgwood blue”, while the other is a small flowerpot in the only slightly less common light green.

I’d rather not say how much I spent on these, but I will say that I got 30% off the sticker price for the blue jug, simply because everything over $10 in that booth was 30% off. And I got 10% off the green pot... simply because the cashier was “celebrating” my foray into buying Wedgwood. 😯 Seriously, she assumed I had a large collection of it, and I said these are my first. Then said she could take 10% off the green pot and the “Meissen” teacup and saucer (previous post) and said it’s “to celebrate” me buying my first Wedgwood pieces. Well, ok.

Oh, here’s an old post about the Jasperware in ch3.

[abybweisse]

I wonder why Othello tried offering licorice to Earl Ciel, did Othello think the Earl was a little boy? Was licorice the most popular candy in the Victorian Era? What other candies were there, back then?

Othello has been shown with licorice before. It appears to be his own favorite candy. The pieces of candy also happen to look like “Othello” game pieces….

I think he’s offering the earl candy for the same reason Undertaker is shown offering the earl bone-shaped biscuits (cookies). It’s adding Othello to the list of Black Butler characters who portray some characteristic(s) of the Mother3 character, Dr. Andonuts. He’s obsessed with “an donuts”, donuts made with a type of sweet red bean paste, and he offers one to Lucas….

There were a lot of candies available back then, too many to name here. One thing to note about candies of the Victorian era – many of them were originally intended to be medicinal… like cough drops and hard licorice candies. It was also common then to use herbal ingredients/flavors rarely seen today.

British confectionery companies around back then include but are not limited to (names have changed over the years, and so have the owning companies):

Bassett’s, est. 1842, known for liquorice allsorts, wine gums, etc.

Cadbury’s, est. 1824

W & M Duncan and Company (aka “Duncan’s of Edinburgh”), added confections in 1884

H.J. Packer (Elizabeth Shaw), est. 1881

Fox’s Confectionery, est. 1880

Fry, Vaughan & Co., est. 1761 (yes, really). Note: they invented the mass-produce-able chocolate bar in 1847….

Mackintosh’s, est. 1890, known for toffees

Maynards , est. 1896 (though manufacturing began in a private kitchen in 1880), known for wine gums, etc.

Needler’s, est. ~1886

Quiggin’s, est. 1880 (though manufacturing since 1840), known for Kendal Mint Cake.

Rountree’s, est. 1862. They later introduced Kit Kat and Rolo….

Terry’s, est. 1767, known for cough lozenges, lemon and orange candied peels, etc. Probably best-known now for creating the Chocolate Orange….

As you can see above, the 1880′s saw quite a bit of competition in the candy and confections industry.

[abybweissekurorefs]

Don’t know why I didn’t reblog this here ages ago....

[abybweisse]

Thanks to @fwippysays for tagging me in this post. Very good eye, as I recognized those trousers from here before I even got to where I had been tagged!! 😂

I mean, where is the difference?

Now, according to this article, the image on the left shows daytime coats from circa 1840. The coat in the middle is a cutaway coat, but that’s apparently (from the differences in fabric amounts) not the type of coat Undertaker is wearing.

Undertaker is wearing the trousers in the middle (no notable differences) and pairing them with what is basically an “M notched” lapel frock coat, like the model on the right in the trio. Also like the model on the right, Undertaker is wearing a double-breasted waistcoat (probably silk or satin) with a contrasting lapel (silk, satin, or possibly velvet), a white button-down dress shirt with a vertically tucked/pleated front and upright collar with folded ends, and a cravat tied in a bow (that might also be a “stock tie”, like the model, just with a more narrow band and larger bow... something else that came into fashion in the 1840’s). To be extra fancy, he’s got a ribbon on his top hat that matches the striped lining of his frock coat.

His shoes are probably the simplest part of the outfit: black low-heeled boots with lacing up the front (that front lacing being something else that appeared in the 1840’s) and somewhat pointed toes.

Another article at the same website breaks down the middle and right-hand models’ outfits a bit further. Too bad they don’t specifically discuss the side-buttoned trousers. However, both articles suggest that even though Undertaker’s trousers are high-waisted and somewhat tight-fitting, he might still be wearing (hidden) suspenders under his waistcoat. Oh, the possibilities! 😍

I will have to do more research to get the details on this type of trouser. The article linked above says it’s hard to find examples of trousers that have remained intact (and that makes sense, as people wore out the seats of them, etc.), but since illustrations from the era have survived, there must be more information about them out there. Just need to do more digging....

This has eventually got to be added to my Undertaker cosplay wardrobe. I now consider it imperative.

[abybweisse]

🧐 Ronald Knox. He's cheerful and appears to be your typical aloof, slacker kohai guy, but like the other reapers I'm sure he's hiding a lot beneath the surface. Like Lau, the more he smiles the more suspicious I get! Of all the reapers we know of he seems the most aloof despite appearing amicable. I don't know how to feel about him honestly. Maybe I've missed or forgotten some interesting things about him...

I’ve got a few headcanons about Ronald Knox, and he’s an interesting character... partly because of his namesake.

Some actual info:

(I’m providing post links to some things, but other topics are covered by so many posts... or discussed in one long thread with numerous reblogs. So, I’m just putting pictures of his items. Feel free to search my blog and tags for these various topics. @abybweissekuroshinigami will have most, if not all of this, too. Oh, and @abybweissekurorefs, as well!)

His lawnmower death scythe is a direct descendant of the scythe, unlike most of the gardening and agricultural tools the other reapers go for. For example, Grelle’s chainsaw is the direct descendant of a surgical tool used to help with childbirth...! (Please ignore the pronouns. It’s a really old post.)

The invention of the lawnmower made huge changes to the rules of modern lawn sports. (See same “lawnmower” link from earlier.)

The historical Ronald Knox was a priest who was also an early radio personality and detective fiction writer. He came up with the Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction... and Yana-san has already broken Every. Single. One. (Go to that link for more about Yana-san’s rule-breaking.)

His watch is a Pasha from Cartiér (French, Est. 1847), and it’s actually not even just a watch. His model is a chronograph: a sports watch with a stopclock. It should also be water resistant.

His hat is likely by the brand called Knox (American, Est. 1838).

His agenda (death list holder) is by Bottega Veneta (Italian, Est. 1966)

The trunk he takes aboard the Campania is by Goyard (French, Est. 1853)

Yana-san originally gave Ludger/Rudgar an exorbitantly expensive watch model from A. Lange & Söhne, but she later changed it to a lesser model (still crazy expensive) and explained in a tweet that he couldn’t afford their most expensive watch model. So, being a kohai, Ronald cannot afford anything crazy expensive... but these are still expensive brands.

He could be using a particular brand of pocket knife, but I don’t know which one it would be.

Some headcanons I have for him:

He’s the スポーティー type. Sporty as all get out. I haven’t been able to confirm whether he tends to end sentences in “-su” in the original Japanese, like a typical jock would, but that’s how I picture him. His accessories suggest it, too. Chronographs are used in sports, and Knox hats also tend to be for sports and leisure.

He chose his death scythe modification to rebel against the old-fashioned scythe but also wanted to have something related to sports.

Since he has accessories that are from French, American, and Italian makers, I like to think he travels quite a bit. He does have expensive tastes... but cannot afford anything extremely expensive. He is a kohai, like you said. He puts on airs, regarding his salary. Just think about how he says he would give his girlfriend champagne and expensive food... if he had a girlfriend.

I think he flirts with human women so often because there aren’t enough women in the reaper realm (more males commit suicide, statistically) AND the women in the reaper realm are mostly taken. I have a strong feeling that a lot of male reapers try to mate with human women... and then get punished... if there are children from it....

Since he displays his wristwatch so many times during the Campania arc, and he also brings our attention to a pocket knife, I think he might have slashed his wrists... as his suicide method.

He strikes me as the sort who might have killed himself because he felt like no one understood him. Like he was too ahead of his time, and everyone undervalued him. He also strikes me as the sort who might have had a gambling problem; he might have owed a bookie more than he could possibly pay. So, taking his own life could have been in response to either or both of these things. Nobody understood him and/or he was trying to escape from a gambling debt.

[abybweisse]

Ch171 and ch172, Florence Nightingale

Makes sense to talk about her in ch172, since she was alluded to in ch171 already.

Ch171:

Ch172:

Florence Nightingale was known as “The Lady with the Lamp”, and she popularized (but did not invent) the Polar Area Diagram. (If you click this second link, scroll down to the part about this particular kind of diagram.)

The nurse shown in ch171 looks like a random nurse, but ch172 clearly shows Florence Nightingale.

I love all the effort that goes into this series....

[abybweisse]

Ch172, Uh oh!

He’s got his Bottega Veneta death agenda out already?!?

That could be really bad....

[abybweisse]

@sebas-chanchan Are you sure that’s not Ronald supporting the rumors that there have been miracle recoveries for people who were slated to die?

Remember how Othello told/showed our earl and Sebastian that those old guys should have died months, over a year ago, from renal failure? Ronald might have a bunch of names in the agenda, but at least some of them might have their original death dates crossed out.

Since this is a sanatorium for war veterans, some are dealing with non-healing physical wounds, while others are dealing with mental health problems, like depression and PTSD. As the recent chapters have mentioned wounds that cannot be seen. Some of these people might have been (temporarily) prevented from killing themselves. They might still end up dying, but they have already lived longer than the reaper organization expected.

I’d be really interested to see what the reaper organization “superiors” think of Undertaker not only trying to deprive them of regular souls (if there are some who have still benefitted from the dialysis) but is also trying to deprive them of new reapers to recruit. 🤔

[abybweisse]

@fwippysays Thanks for that, since I haven’t seen all of the spoilers yet. Makes sense they would talk about Florence Nightingale, or someone like her, since Ada has already been talking about hygiene, sanitation, and statistics. Nightingale came up with the Polar Area Diagram, and we got to see that in ch171.

Nightingale revolutionized the field of nursing, and much of her work was with soldiers, so she had to deal with some of the worst injuries imaginable, and in some of the worst scenarios for maintaining sanitation and hygiene.

After her work in foreign battles, she returned to England and set up a nursing school.

I love all the research that goes into this series, and I love getting to figure all the details out with you guys! 🖤

[chibimyumi]

【Response to: Historically accurate Ranmao Redesign】

Dear @tweetthebirdy,

My apologies for my super-deluxe late response! First of all, I am very glad to hear that my research on Qing Dynasty fashion was worth something ^^ Thank you very much!

Secondly, thanks for the information! That is very interesting. When I read your message I started digging around a bit and I ended up finding this ↓ amazing comparison on a Chinese website! (*´v｀*)ノ Now we know how Yana did her research.

[abybweisse]

Well, here’s one I will also reblog to @abybweissekurorefs …. She just made the outfit shorter for him, probably because that’s more of an embarrassment.