Victorian Resources Masterpost
For anyone whoâs studying Victorian literature, or writing historical fiction, or whoâs just plain interested in it, here ya go: an introduction to the fascinatingly Janus-faced era that brought us into the âmodernâ world.
Feel free to add to this, as I will continue to add to and edit it as I go through my own library and discover new sources as well.
Please note that my broke self isnât making ANY money off of any of these links that link to sale pages, Iâm doing this to help you guys and procrastinate
General Reference Websites:
The Victorian Web: if youâve ever written a research paper on anything even vaguely associated with the century, youâve been here. Itâs best for literature resource and has a TON of links to full-text copies of novels, essays, and poetry. Not to mention free access to secondary sources God save the Queen.Â
BBC: History: Victorian is sadly no longer updated, but functions much like a reliable wikipedia on the century. Includes links so social life and behaviors of the people of the time period.
Victorian Studies: itâs technically an academic print journal, but letâs be real, we all read those online now covers everything having to do with things under Victoriaâs reign and ocassionally extending back or forward a bit as well. You can access some issues of it for free here (and EVEN DOWNLOAD THEM). Or if youâre rich or a student using library access, you can also use JSTOR (if youâre neither rich nor a student, check to see if your local library has JSTOR access. Theyâll also teach you how to use it).
Story of England: The Victorians: run by the English Heritageâs network, this provides a bright and quick (if notâŠshiny) view of literally everything from the time.
Victoria & Albert Museum: often shortened to âV&Aâ this museum houses art and design from the 17th century and earlier on to the modern day. Their online galleries are image rich, and include costume from all eras, Regency era furniture and more.Â
The British Museum: aka Heaven aka âI need to forget that at LEAST 1/3 of this stuff is stolen to enjoy thisâ they have collections ranging from the literal dawn of human existence to the modern day, and as expected they have Victorian things as well. The link given is for gallery of Europe 1800-1900.
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool: I canât praise this one enough; whenever Iâm writing this thing is within armâs reach. Sure, google is faster, but the glossary in this book is a great source in and of itself: over 100 pages of Victorian terms. The first 2/3 of it is a short, sweet, and to the point Victorian Life 101. Now I never noticed this becuase I read a shit-ton of Victorian lit since I donât have a life but he does name-drop and reference a million different literary works, sometimes literary characters without naming their work of origin, but knowing these is unneeded to understand the content.
The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli by Richard Aldous These guys were the British Hamilton and Burr. They hated each other, were on opposing political sides for EVERYTHING (some say just to spite the other), and couldnât escape each other even in death, being buried within a yard of each other. If you want to know how the government grudges worked in this time period, give it a look. They also played VITAL roles in several major changes to British law.
Daily Live in Victorian England by Salley Mitchell: Much like What Jane Austen⊠this covers every aspect of Victorian life, but in slightly more detail. It focuses on why things were a certain way and how current events impacted the culture in addition to telling how things were.
How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman: This oneâs kind of fun,itâs arranged about life from morning through to the night, and has had several printings and âsequelsâ to the series (thereâs a Tudor and a Middle Ages one too I believe). The only downside is that (though Ms. Goodman goes out of her way to mention different parts of the century), the clever layout still insinuates that the century was ratherâŠhomogenous rather than constantly changing.
Victoria: A Life by A. N. Wilson is a very good (and of reasonably length) biography of her ascension to the throne and ruling, leaving out none of the cringe (Empress of India, anyone?), but also her strengths as a leader. No understanding of the century is complete without a concept of the regent that gave her name to it. Iâm guilty of watching and liking the show too, but that recent BBC drama on her was so painfully inaccurate I was tearing at my hair while begging for it to become a fully ahistorical work and end differently. So please. Do your writing a favor and familiarize yourself with the actual events.
Yikes: Nasty things the Empire did (not complete list) (books)
The Crimean War by Orlando Figes: This was a particularly violent and nasty mess that shook the Victorian world to the core.
Tom Brownâs School Days by Thomas Hughes: a frightening glimpse into how a generation of men were raised into war-mongering Churchillâs who saw battle from the backseats as a âjolly good timeâ (his line, not mine), while the poor men died in droves at the front lines. This is the generation of old men that sent all of Englandâs youth to the slaughterhouses of the trenches in WWI. It covers the schooling only, but the implications of the future are what make this otherwise charming pastural bildungsroman into a disturbing light.
The Boer War by Thomas Pakenham: a war sprung on by greed and racism, it became as bloody as you can imagine a war started for such reasons would become. Though it stretches into the Edwardian, my personal opinion is that itâs out break in 1899, more than Victoriaâs death in 1901, truely marked the end of an era for the empire on which the sun never set.
An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India by Sashi Tharoor: Company ruled for nearly 100 years before the âmutinyâ in 1857, Britain essentially took over India. This chronicles the use and abuse the empire committed on the people and land of âtheirâ âcolony.â
Victorian Murderesses by Mary S. Hartman: if youâre going to go the dark route and donât want to deviate too much from history, this is an interesting read. Covers the crime, conviction, punishment, and general circumstances surrounding crimes committed by women in both France and England.
Unconscious Crime: Mental Absence and Criminal Responsibility in Victorian London by Joel Peter Eigen: Where do I start? This covers several case studies of crimes committed by those who were in temporary states of madness, sleep walking, or otherwise ânot in their proper mindâ when committing violent crimes, and how the Victorian judicial system handled these claims in an era that was disproportionally fascinated by death and crime. The author is a great dude and kind of local to me, and has another book called Witnessing Insanity on more madness in the English court system.
The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders: EXCELLENT if not lengthy read, and entertaining enough on itâs own to read without just using it as a reference for your current work. If youâre writing on the early detective novels, early police departments, or writing a story about a crime during this century I canât reccomend it enough. She also wrote The Victorian City which focuses on the earlier part of the Victorian era.
Victorian Fashion by Jayne Shrimpton: photographic history of Victorian fashion, touches on Edwardian as well
Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail by Lucy Johnston: more of a specific look at certain items than a complete overview, it nonetheless has some fascinating points on different style elements such as embroidery, materials, construction details/stitching, and etc. Images from the Glorious V&A museum
Other Specialized Topics (books)
Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times by Lucy Lethbridge: Once again, a vital thing for writers. In an entertainment industry post-Downton Abbey, this is a bit more focused, but if Howardâs End is your only reference point for life for the serving class, familiarize yourself with their lifestyles, what was expected of them, and how they were treated.
Mrs. Beetonâs Book of Household Management: an original source book from 1861, it collects all her articles on how to run a happy and healthy home, behave like a proper woman, and care for the family.
The Victorian Book of the Dead by Chris Woodyard: You could fill a LIBRARY with books and essays written on the Victorianâs obsession with death and mourning. For example: did you know that excessive mourning was actually quite rare? Queen Victoriaâs behavior after Albertâs death was considered very unusual, and more than thatâŠ.a sign of wealth. However there were rituals even the lowest classes stuck close too throughout the century and this tome delves into even some of the more obscure trends and beliefs surrounding the cult of mourning.