Catherine Curzon's Blog, page 9
September 1, 2020
Watch Your Parsnip!
Knocking over this veg seller's beer might cost a careless macaroni his tail! "Make good the damage you dog, or I'll cut away your parsnip". Irish Peg in a Rage, 1773.
Via the British Museum.
See more #gloriousGeorgians on Twitter!
August 21, 2020
Under a Spitfire Sky
I'm really excited to announce that Eleanor Harkstead and I have signed a two-book deal with Orion! We can’t wait to introduce you to Florence and Siegfried.
Under A Spitfire Sky, our first novel writing as Ellie Curzon, will be published on 7th January 2021. You can preorder it now!
Can they find love in the darkest days of war?
It’s 1944, and Florence is a talented engineer in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, patching up planes to make sure that the brave Spitfire pilots of Cottisbourne airbase return safely day after day.
When she befriends the new squadron leader – shy, handsome Siegfried – it seems that romance might blossom under the war-torn skies. But Florence is nursing a broken heart and a terrible secret, which might destroy her one chance of happiness…
Meanwhile, a new plane is being developed that could turn the tide of the war, but Florence fears there is traitor is in their midst, putting Siegfried – and the whole country – in terrible danger. Can Florence save her Spitfire boys, and her own heart?
August 18, 2020
The Spell - Hobnelia
A lady uses her garter to cast a love spell on a sleeping gent! “Firm be the knot, firm may his love endure.” The Spell - Hobnelia, from the British Museum; illustrating John Gay’s verse.
See more #gloriousGeorgians on Twitter!
August 10, 2020
30% Off My Glorious Georgians
To celebrate the 30th birthday of my wonderful publisher, Pen & Sword books, all of my books currently have up to 30% off their cover price. Available in both ebook and physical formats, there's never been a better time to grab a right royal bargain!
Click here to visit Pen & Sword
August 4, 2020
Fortune Hunting Privateers
This innocent fellow doesn't stand a chance against two determined ladies! Two Privateers Attacking a Man of War, c. 1783.
Via the British Museum.
See more #gloriousGeorgians on Twitter!
July 28, 2020
The Polite Maccaroni
Here’s a chap who’s out to impress. The Polite Maccaroni Presenting a Nosegay to Miss Blossom, 1772.
Via the British Museum.
See more #gloriousGeorgians on Twitter!
July 22, 2020
Dandy in Distress
The Exquisite, Alias Dandy in Distress, is so buttoned up and laced in that he can't pick up his fallen kerchief! This image illustrates a letter from a correspondent (beneath the image) who has concerns about modern fashions... Via the Lewis Walpole Library.
“A Correspondent furnishes us with the following Picture of an Exquisite alias a Dandy in distress,
“Walking in one of the squares last week [,] it was my fate to follow an Exquisite stock'd and stay'd laced and bound collar'd and pilloried in all the fashion, so slender, so straight and so stiff that a man of ordinary strength might have used it as a walking stick, This thing flourishing a very nice perfumed handkerchief happened to let it drop; the question was how to get it up again; stoop it could not, and I confess I enjoyed its distress; for tho' for any other female I would have raised the handkerchief with alacrity, I wish'd to see how this creature would help itself, then thus it was : having eyed the handkerchief askance, something like a magpie peeping into a marrow-bone, it gently straddled outs its legs, and lowering the body between them it brought the right hand in contact with the object sought. What shall we say to the association of ideas, when I assure you, that looking on this unmanly figure, brought into my mind the knights of old, who when once unhorsed, could never from the weight and stiffness of their armour hope to mount again”.
N.B. it is found remarkably convenient in such a case for the Exquisite to carry a cane or stick with a hook at the end, as he may fish up any thing he unfortunately drops without breaking his back or exciting the pity or visibility of the Spectators. - The Publisher respectfully solicits a continuance of the ingenious communications of his friends, to which he will pay the most particular attention.”
See more #gloriousGeorgians on Twitter!
July 14, 2020
Sporting Ladies
Skittles and beer for some #gloriousGeorgians gals - and not a chap in sight! Miss Tipapin Going for All Nine, by John Collet, 1779, via the British Musuem.
See more #gloriousGeorgians on Twitter!
July 7, 2020
An Unhappy Empress
Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know that I love to share gorgeous, cheeky and downright saucy images from the long eighteenth century using the hashtag, #gloriousGeorgians. Not everybody uses Twitter, of course, so I'll be sharing some of my favourite finds here at the salon.
When Catherine the Great saw Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun's portrait of her granddaughters Alexandra & Elena Pavlovna, she was NOT happy. "Not only is there no resemblance, but the two sisters are so disfigured that people will ask which is [which]." What a critic!
When Catherine the Great saw Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun's portrait of her granddaughters Alexandra & Elena Pavlovna, she was NOT happy. "Not only is there no resemblance, but the two sisters are so disfigured that people will ask which is [which]." What a critic!
June 9, 2020
The Daughters of George III
I'm thrilled to announce that The Daughters of George III: Sisters and Princesses is available to pre-order now. If you'd like to learn more about the six daughters of the Windsor nunnery, follow the link below to read my guest post at the Pen & Sword blog.
The Six Daughters of George III
In the dying years of the 18th century, the corridors of Windsor echoed to the footsteps of six princesses. They were Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia, the daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Though more than fifteen years divided the births of the eldest sister from the youngest, these princesses all shared a longing for escape. Faced with their father’s illness and their mother’s dominance, for all but one a life away from the seclusion of the royal household seemed like an unobtainable dream.
The six daughters of George III were raised to be young ladies and each in her time was one of the most eligible women in the world. Tutored in the arts of royal womanhood, they were trained from infancy in the skills vial to a regal wife but as the king’s illness ravaged him, husbands and opportunities slipped away.
Yet even in isolation, the lives of the princesses were filled with incident. From secret romances to dashing equerries, rumours of pregnancy, clandestine marriage and even a run-in with Napoleon, each princess was the leading lady in her own story, whether tragic or inspirational. In The Royal Nunnery: Daughters of George III, take a wander through the hallways of the royal palaces, where the king’s endless ravings echo deep into the night and his daughters strive to be recognised not just as princesses, but as women too.
