“Every ad tells a story”: Victorian Font research
Every ad tells a story.
Research leads down mysterious alleys. Working on Lawless and the Clerkenwell Clockmaker with artist George Cochrane, I was just collecting a few Victorian fonts. Thus I stumbled again on the wonderful research of Beatrice Ashton-Lelliott, PhD researcher at University of Portsmouth studying nineteenth-century magicians in literature, and the press.
Through her, I stumbled on the British Library’s In the Spotlight playbills project, where the fonts curve and dazzle. (Harvey’s Midges get a brief mention in Flowers of Sin.)
And back to old faithful VICTORIANLONDON.ORG, Lee Jackson unparalleled resource for the novelist and historian. I might have used these in my third novel, House of Electricity:
And this may sneak into the next, Lawless and the Crock of Gold:
While this ought to feature in my academic paper for Asylum Steampunk conference in Lincoln in August:
But every Victorian ad article ought to end with this:
Dr Batty’s Asthma Cigarettes For the temporary relief of paroxysms. Not recommended for children under 6
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