glossa historica

Historical marginalia for historical fiction.

[glossahistorica]

THINGS IN SEASON FOR JUNE

FISH.—Flounder, mackarel, soles, mullet, salmon, perch, pike, plaice, prawns, shrimps, skate, smelts, tench, turbot, whitings, whitebait, haddocks, ling, lobsters, cod and crawfish.

MEAT.—Lamb, veal, beef, venison, brawn.

POULTRY.—Spring chickens, ducklings, pullets, tame pigeons and rabbits.

VEGETABLES.—Peas, new potatoes, asparagus, lettuces, cucumbers, carrots, cauliflowers, spinach, radishes and sea-kail.

FRUIT.—Strawberries, currants, gooseberries and cherries.

The English Woman's Domestic Magazine, June 1852, p.60 [x]

[glossahistorica]

BOILING.

BOILING.—The French method, which is that of allowing meat only to simmer, is decidedly the right one; by this means the juices are not extracted, and the meat is rendered more digestible. French cooks will allow four or five hours for simmering a small piece of meat weighing only 6lbs.; they give preference to solid pieces without bone, which are by far the most economical.

The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, May 1852, Series 1, Vol. 1, No.1, p.30. [x]

[glossahistorica]

TO MAKE HUNG BEEF IN THE DUTCH WAY.

To make Hung Beef in the Dutch Way.—Take a lean piece of beef; rub it well with treacle or coarse sugar, and let it remain for three days, turning it frequently; after that wipe it dry, and salt it well with common salt and saltpetre, well dried and beaten fine; turn it every day for a fortnight; roll it quite tight in a coarse cloth, and put it into a cheese-press, or under a heavy weight, for a day; hang it then to dry in the smoke of wood or turf, but turn it upside down every day.

The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, May 1852, Series 1, Vol. 1, No.1, p.30. [x]

[glossahistorica]

BEEF HAMS.

Beef Hams.—Take the leg of an ox, cut like a ham. Take basalt one ounce, saltpetre one ounce, common salt one pound, and coarse sugar one pound, which will be a sufficient quantity for about fourteen or fifteen pounds of beef; rub the meat with the above ingredients; turn it every day, and baste it well with the pickle every day for a month. Then take it out, and roll it in bran or sawdust, and hang it where there is a constant smoke for a month. Then take it down, and hang it in a cool, dry place.

The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, May 1852, Series 1, Vol. 1, No.1, p.30. [x]

[glossahistorica]

BAKED HADDOCK.

Baked Haddock.—We give the following novel receipt for cooking haddocks:—Make a stuffing with bread-crumbs, chopped parsley, the yellow rind of lemon chopped fine, and a small piece of butter; add an egg, to bind the whole together. Cleanse the fish, and fill the belly with the stuffing; lay it in a baking-dish, dust it with flour, and put a few bits of butter over; a little water or gravy may be put in the bottom of the dish. Bake in a moderate oven; and serve with plain butter, egg sauce, anchovy sauce, Dutch sauce, or any other usually served with cod.

The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, May 1852, Series 1, Vol. 1, No.1, p.30. [x]

[glossahistorica]

VEGETABLE SOUP.

Vegetable Soup.—Take two pounds of Jerusalem artichokes, pared and halves, and one pound of turnips, also pared and sliced; two or three good-sized onions, and a stick of celery; add two quarts of cold water, and boil all together slowly for more than two hours; then add two large tablespoonfuls of flour, an ounce of dripping, with pepper and salt to the taste, and let it simmer on for half an hour longer, stirring it frequently.

The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, May 1852, Series 1, Vol. 1, No.1, p.30. [x]

[remnantglow]

fun discovery from today's internet rabbit hole:

the first lesbian magazine published in the US, Vice Versa (1947-48), was entirely hand-typed by one Edythe Eyde (better known by her pen name Lisa Ben - yes, that IS an anagram for lesbian). she worked as a secretary with a ton of spare time on her hands, and her boss would tell her he didn't care what she was doing so long as she "looked busy"... so she decided to use her free time to type out copies of a home-made periodical for lesbians, writing most of the content - editorials, book/film reviews, poetry, short stories, and more - herself!

overall, the magazine ran for 9 issues, 16 hand-typed copies of which lisa would mail to friends (well, until one of them advised her she could be arrested for sending "obscene" materials) and distribute at lesbian bars :)

[remnantglow]

all issues of Vice Versa are digitized here! (the website also has a scan of a great article on Lisa Ben ❤️)

a lot of the issues of the first widely distributed gay publication in the US, ONE magazine (1952-1967), are also available online on JSTOR. there's also this article detailing the magazine's ups and downs and general history, it's v fascinating!

furthermore, a solid amount of The Ladder (1956-1972) - one of the other earliest lesbian periodicals in the US, published by Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the US - is also available for online viewing thanks to the Internet Archive

[clove-pinks]

Men's jewellery art details, 1840s.

Bildnis eines Herrn im schwarzen Gehrock, mit Orden, Albert Theer, 1843.

Josef Benesch, Eduard Ender, 1840.

Der Industrielle Maximilian Todesco, Friedrich von Amerling, 1846.

Portrait eines Architekten, Adam Brenner, 1849.

[glossahortensia]

Arums are the emblem of 'ardour' in the language of flowers. They generate their own heat - why, no one knows for certain.

More on Substack for V-day: Lords and Ladies - the Arum in love.

[vinceaddams]

Leatherwork patterns/designs from Le Cuir: Compositions Decoratives by Jehan Raymond, 1908.

[glossahortensia]

Hellebores: virulent poison or performance-enhancing study aid?

(It's the first one please don't eat this stuff you will die.)

But the Ancient Romans reportedly treated it as such. Read on today on the Glossa Hortensia Substack to learn about Pliny, hellebores, and why you should look out for eagles when you're harvesting these elegant but toxic plants.

Now live.

And if you like it, please check out my website, and share - I'm new to this and it is great to hear from people in the garden lore world.

[glossahistorica]

As the winter solstice flies by merry old England, friends and families are finding the time to huddle up and stay warm in their parlours. But cold weather is no excuse not to drink! The Victorian era had a bevy of delicious warm beverages to take the edge off the winter chill.

Read on for a selection of warm and fuzzy recipes brought to you by the 'grandfather of the cocktail' Jerry Thomas and Charles Dickens to spice up your winter, and your winter settings.

Smoking Beadles and Ramboozles now on Substack.

[beggars-opera]

So far my favorite of the Puritan-approved colors is "liver." Weirdest color I've ever seen. I don't even think this really exists in modern clothing because WHY would you do that. Compels me though

[beggars-opera]

Surely this was a mistake in the dye vat that someone covered up by making it a trend

[beggars-opera]

It's difficult to find definitive writings on this, because what keeps getting passed around is a silk dye list apparently from a 1638 catalogue that lists "sadd" or somber colors, which were supposedly favored by the Puritans. They were certainly against standing out and ostentatiousness. You were meant to be focusing on God, not your clothes.

But that was just for some people. It also depended heavily on class as well. They had sumptuary laws in place, but they tended not to mention color, only fabric and ornamentation (no lace, metallic embroidery, silk, ribbons, etc.) unless you had a certain net worth). If you or your husband had a certain level of education or more than £200, all that went out the window, because if you're stinking rich, that means God loves you and wants you to be happy.

We tend to think of Puritans as only wearing black, but that was reserved again for the ultra-wealthy or your Sunday best, because it fades quickly and is hard to maintain. Black was also super popular among the Dutch elite when the first Pilgrims came over, so I wonder if they took that trend with them. The surviving portraits (of which there are few) have a surprising amount of bright red in them. Bridget Bishop of Salem was cited to have a "red paragon bodys" which I'm unsure if that means a jacket (bodice) or a corset (bodies) - either way it's often interpreted as being too brightly-colored and flashy, but it's likely to have been just as scandalous that "paragon" was a silk blend. The idea that a tavern keeper was wearing something both brightly colored and expensive meant that she was getting notions and acting above her station. The rich folks loved the heck out of red (see above and below), but didn't want to poors to have any.

So when you look at portraits from this time period, you're mostly going to see a lot of earth tones with pops of red for flash.

[beggars-opera]

Going further down the rabbit hole!

I continue to see "sad" listed as a singular color and not just a group of colors. I want a time machine so I can interrogate someone. I'm going to assume it's some kind of indistinct gray based on vibes alone.

One of these days I want to scour some account books; in the meantime the one thing I HAVE found digitized is Jonathan Corwin's estate papers. He died in 1718 but it does list some of his clothes as old-fashioned so I'm just going to go ahead and say that I can use this for 25 years earlier.

For most people, if you have a probate list made, it will just lump all your clothes into "wearing apparell" but for a wealthy person like this, you get much more detailed accounts:

We of course get a lot of black - this was very common for upper-crust people. But we also get suits in lots of other colors, including "light," "drab," "sad," "dove," "copper," and "cinnamon".

There's also lots of information about fabrics! He's wearing suits of russel (wool damask), cloth (a thick felted wool), camblet (plain weave wool), calimanco (glazed wool made to feel like silk), shalloon (like calimanco but thinner), plain silk, and velvet.

And so I learn a bit more about clothing history, and also that it is entirely probable to have seen Jonathan Corwin, Salem Witch Judge, strutting down the street wearing an orange suit with black stockings and a black cloak, because SOMEONE'S got to be the embodiment of Halloween around here.

This is why we can't have nice things, Jonathan.

[beggars-opera]

Ooh, I'd love to hear more about that!

Yeah, if I had to picture "sad" as a color, I might imagine something similar to what the two little girls are wearing in the last portrait there.

[hartshorn-and-isinglass]

I am unfortunately the wrong person to ask for too much more info on this. There are a number of sumptuary laws that get enacted in the 1550s and in An act touching the making of woolen clothes. from 1557, Section XXX calls out "sad new colour" specifically as one of about twenty colors of cloth that can be legally sold in England. But I don't know how we know it's dark gray and I'm hoping the historical dyers will come out of the woodwork with their knowledge.

[beggars-opera]

Fiber history people, we'd love to hear from you!!

[theinternetarchive]

embroidery samples of silk and metallic thread on felt, french c. early 1800s.

[rowzien]

1820s suit I made over last year. The coat in particular was a huge undertaking that lasted several months.

All of these were patterned by me, the coat and trousers from The Tailor's Preceptor by Hadfield.

I made the trousers early in the summer last year and never got around to pictures till now (whoops). They're a cotton I got from Fabric Mart. Mix of hand and machine stitch.

The white waistcoat is a silk shantung and linen I got second hand. Almost entirely stitched by hand (I got lazy on the pocket bags)

During my internship/independent study I studied an original coat from aprox. 1825-1829 in a local museum, took a pattern off of it (counting stitches and all), then altered it to fit me. It was really close circumference wise! Just way too tall. It was entirely hand stitched. I couldn't understate how pleased I am with the whole outfit, but especially the coat, especially in comparison to just how far I've come since my first suit only 4 years prior. The

[glossahortensia]

Ego Borago gaudia semper ago

Borage brings joy, thanks to Pliny the Elder and overlooked Flemish botantist Rembert Dodoens.

Did you know that John Gerard was a filthy plagiarist? Me neither. Read about that and how to zhuzh up your red wine with some borage this week on the Glossa Hortensia Substack.

[glossahistorica]

Want to get a quick feeling for queer life in the mid-Victorian era? I got you.

I have begun a Substack for my historical marginalia blog, and for my floriography side project, @glossahortensia. This is an older article but I've updated it for Midsumma, the annual pride event here in Victoria, Australia.

Read about Anne Lister, Rosa Bonheur and Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, rampaging groups of cross-dressing women in Paris, cross-dressing for the stage and entertainments like Thomas Boulton and Frederick Park, Dr James Barry, the terms queer people used to describe themselves in the 17th to 19th centuries, and famous historical figures speculated to have been on the asexual spectrum.

Now live.

If you decide to stick around for more, next week you'll get two tipsy articles on borage as a wine flavouring and on winter hot drinks of the mid-Victorian era.

And if you enjoy, please share! :)