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The Victorian Christmas
The author of Food Through the Ages presents a festive overview of Dickens-era Christmas traditions—from decorations and songs to games and recipes. Anna Selby discusses how the Victorians invented many of the Christmas traditions we enjoy today from Christmas trees and cards to carols and Father Christmas himself. Dickens and Prince Albert shaped how many people view the British Christmas, an idea explored in the opening chapter. There is an emphasis on Victorian food, including authentic wassailing recipes and an easy introduction to planning traditional Christmas foods and traditional decorations. It offers readers a chance to enjoy a traditional Christmas, one centered around the home, family, and simple decorations made from nature, a far cry from the materialistic Christmases we have today. This lovely book reminds us all just how enjoyable Christmas really is and shows us how to recreate our favorite traditions and recapture the magic of Christmas.
285 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 29, 2020
This is a nice collection of information about British Victorian Christmas traditions and where they actually originated. It includes the Pagan origins of the date for Christmas and the Germanic background to Christmas trees and to putting charms into the Christmas pudding, as well as a comprehensive recipe for making a traditional Christmas pudding from a Victorian hand-written recipe book. It also details what contributions the Victorians added to our modern view of Christmas, including the pudding and the slow adaptation in modern times to Christmas Cake. I had to smile at the suggestion that the transition was due to making the cake without alcohol, as my family recipe for Christmas Cake uses nothing but brandy for the liquid in the recipe.
It's a well-researched book that goes into every possible Christmas tradition, including the origins of Christmas cards and singing carols. There is a wealth of old recipes, many from the Mrs Beaton Cookbook for things like traditional Wassail, gingerbread in various forms and mincemeat, as well as a vast array of recipes for cooking a spectrum of meats that Victorians from different stratas of society might include in their Christmas feast.
Christmas decorations and the origins of many of the traditions for those are explained followed by the background to Panto and Boxes, two things still common in England though not well known in the U.S.
While I'm not likely to use the wealth of recipes provided, their historical significance makes them of interest. Also included are the lyrics for many old Christmas carols, script samples from mummer's plays and an excerpt from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Whether these are historically significant or filler could be a matter of opinion.
The book finishes off with related New Year traditions and some information that the date for Christmas has actually moved from the new year dates over time and changing calendars, which I didn't know before.
As a reference book this is very thorough and professionally presented. It's not always riviting reading, but most reference books aren't.
It's a well-researched book that goes into every possible Christmas tradition, including the origins of Christmas cards and singing carols. There is a wealth of old recipes, many from the Mrs Beaton Cookbook for things like traditional Wassail, gingerbread in various forms and mincemeat, as well as a vast array of recipes for cooking a spectrum of meats that Victorians from different stratas of society might include in their Christmas feast.
Christmas decorations and the origins of many of the traditions for those are explained followed by the background to Panto and Boxes, two things still common in England though not well known in the U.S.
While I'm not likely to use the wealth of recipes provided, their historical significance makes them of interest. Also included are the lyrics for many old Christmas carols, script samples from mummer's plays and an excerpt from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Whether these are historically significant or filler could be a matter of opinion.
The book finishes off with related New Year traditions and some information that the date for Christmas has actually moved from the new year dates over time and changing calendars, which I didn't know before.
As a reference book this is very thorough and professionally presented. It's not always riviting reading, but most reference books aren't.
November 19, 2019
This is a really nicely presented book about The Victorian Christmas. If you are a fan of Christmas, you will enjoy reading about the traditions, the ones that we still have today and the ones that fell out of fashion.
You will like this book even more, if you are a cook or baker. I'm not, so this was lost on me but there are so many recipes in here. If you wanted to cook an authentic Victoria Christmas, you could! Though some of them are in here for historical interest, like turtle soup.
A great book to get you in the Christmas mood!
You will like this book even more, if you are a cook or baker. I'm not, so this was lost on me but there are so many recipes in here. If you wanted to cook an authentic Victoria Christmas, you could! Though some of them are in here for historical interest, like turtle soup.
A great book to get you in the Christmas mood!
January 16, 2026
Fun little read about the height of Christmas celebration and where many of our modern traditions come from. Honestly, our Christmases seem boring compared to Victorian England. So much more community spirit, games, cakes, and frivolity. I'm going to have to incorporate some of these things next year. Took a star off for the weird formatting of the digital book.
December 17, 2017
Good primer on Christmas in Dickens time
Full of lore and legend as well as recipes. The author addresses the splendor and fun of a British Victorian Christmas. Includes well documented games and recipes as well as a complete bibliography. 12th night serves as the end of the season of the holiday so includes customs right up to that date.
Full of lore and legend as well as recipes. The author addresses the splendor and fun of a British Victorian Christmas. Includes well documented games and recipes as well as a complete bibliography. 12th night serves as the end of the season of the holiday so includes customs right up to that date.
December 25, 2020
I've got mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, it is the best book about historic Christmas traditions that I've read so far. However, like many of the others, there are issues with the accuracy of some of their claims, which leaves the rest a tad suspect. For example, the author claimed the Victorians invented muslin, but that is just not true. It was imported into Britain and was around long before the Victorian era and was exceptionally popular in dressmaking during the Regency era.
That aside, this book is full of first-hand accounts from the era, which is super useful. It covers a ton of aspects of Christmas and the Twelve Days of Christmas, focusing more on what records of that day said rather than regurgitating the information published online or in other books. If you're interested in learning more about historic Christmas traditions, this is a great place to start. I'm definitely going to use the bibliography in this book to do some more digging into first-hand accounts of the holiday.
So, I'm rounding up to 4-stars for the heavy use of authentic accounts to illustrate things. It also includes a ton of historical recipes & even song lyrics and a Christmas play transcript, which was neat to read through. However, the author's own words have to be taken with a grain of salt as some of their claims aren't true or are not as black and white as presented.
That aside, this book is full of first-hand accounts from the era, which is super useful. It covers a ton of aspects of Christmas and the Twelve Days of Christmas, focusing more on what records of that day said rather than regurgitating the information published online or in other books. If you're interested in learning more about historic Christmas traditions, this is a great place to start. I'm definitely going to use the bibliography in this book to do some more digging into first-hand accounts of the holiday.
So, I'm rounding up to 4-stars for the heavy use of authentic accounts to illustrate things. It also includes a ton of historical recipes & even song lyrics and a Christmas play transcript, which was neat to read through. However, the author's own words have to be taken with a grain of salt as some of their claims aren't true or are not as black and white as presented.
December 19, 2021
Interesting but confusing
This book provides an interesting glimpse into the Christmas season during Victorian times. However, it's simply comprised of pages of cut-and-paste material loosely joined by transitional paragraphs.
The book features many interesting Victorian recipes, but fails to translate the instructions for the modern cook. There's even one recipe in which the author admits she has no idea what the recipe's author meant!!
This could have been a much better book than it is had the author put a little effort into " writing" it rather than collecting huge chunks of information from others and simply pasting it together and calling it a book.
This book provides an interesting glimpse into the Christmas season during Victorian times. However, it's simply comprised of pages of cut-and-paste material loosely joined by transitional paragraphs.
The book features many interesting Victorian recipes, but fails to translate the instructions for the modern cook. There's even one recipe in which the author admits she has no idea what the recipe's author meant!!
This could have been a much better book than it is had the author put a little effort into " writing" it rather than collecting huge chunks of information from others and simply pasting it together and calling it a book.
November 12, 2019
Most of this book was pages from other books. There were literally whole portions of books by Dickens and Mrs. Beeton used here. While that's fine to do if someone wanted a summary of other books, this book wouldn't have been able to stand on its own without the approx 3/4ths of other peoples' writing involved. I feel like I've wasted my money on this book when I could have just read the quoted books that I already own.
December 18, 2020
Little original material from author
This was interesting but must have been a dash to put out since much of the book consists of recipes, and extensive quotes from the works of others such as Dickens in order to flesh it out to book length. Not bad but I expected better and hoped for some original material.
This was interesting but must have been a dash to put out since much of the book consists of recipes, and extensive quotes from the works of others such as Dickens in order to flesh it out to book length. Not bad but I expected better and hoped for some original material.
December 26, 2025
Nice overview of Victorian era Christmas traditions for the whole season, from the Advent lead up through to Twelfth Night on January 6. Mostly British Isles (some comparison of Scottish traditions to English ones). Full of recipes some of which are nice to read about for historical interest, others of which I may try my hand at myself one day.
November 13, 2016
Interesting overview of Christmas, new year's and twelfth night during the Victorian era. Lots of recipes which will please any foodie's heart.
November 22, 2018
It was OK and nice to read around Xmas time but not what I was looking for really.
January 9, 2019
This book is adequate for what it is: A book that is used around the Christmas holidays, from Thanksgiving until the Epiphany.
December 13, 2023
Second book I’ve read this season full of history, food and Christmas. Loved it.
December 28, 2025
Everything from recipes and customs to stories of Victorian Christmas, an era of birth of modern Christmas celebrations. Lovely read.
February 2, 2016
Just a quick review for now, because I'm quite tired.
This was an easy, fast and very Christmassy read, and not a bad reading choice to make for getting yourself in the mood for the Christmas season. The text is clear, and the author has included many Victorian images of greetings cards, food and so on to make this book pleasant to look at as well as read- even in the Kindle edition, which is the edition I read, there are plenty of images produced in colour to be enjoyed.
The author quotes heavily from Victorian sources, which is at times a nice touch, but some might feel this is excessive (all of the quotes are introduced by author and the author of this piece includes a bibliography at the end of her work). I also think it is worth mentioning that this work includes a lot of recipes. If you're a foodie like me, this is great, but if reading lots of recipes for various types of Christmas food and drink is likely to make your eyes glaze over, then perhaps give this a miss.
I did enjoy this work and think it is a solid three star read.
This was an easy, fast and very Christmassy read, and not a bad reading choice to make for getting yourself in the mood for the Christmas season. The text is clear, and the author has included many Victorian images of greetings cards, food and so on to make this book pleasant to look at as well as read- even in the Kindle edition, which is the edition I read, there are plenty of images produced in colour to be enjoyed.
The author quotes heavily from Victorian sources, which is at times a nice touch, but some might feel this is excessive (all of the quotes are introduced by author and the author of this piece includes a bibliography at the end of her work). I also think it is worth mentioning that this work includes a lot of recipes. If you're a foodie like me, this is great, but if reading lots of recipes for various types of Christmas food and drink is likely to make your eyes glaze over, then perhaps give this a miss.
I did enjoy this work and think it is a solid three star read.
December 17, 2016
Since it's almost Christmas I decided to read a few festive books during December including this as a break from just reading fiction.
It was a lovely little book and the pictures in it really added to the festive feel. It was interesting, a lovely bit of light reading, but with a few fairly big drawbacks which forced me to have to give it a lower rating. I couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.
The main reason for this was the huge quotes from Dickens and Chambers etc, with little real discussion or analysis from the author herself. I really feel as though I should have just read those books myself and cut out the middle man. There were also a lot of recipes in there too which someone who is a real foodie would love, but sadly I'm no chef and have my own unique ability to burn a salad therefore making the recipes a little dull after the first few.
Some people will love this book, sadly I wasn't really one of them.
It was a lovely little book and the pictures in it really added to the festive feel. It was interesting, a lovely bit of light reading, but with a few fairly big drawbacks which forced me to have to give it a lower rating. I couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.
The main reason for this was the huge quotes from Dickens and Chambers etc, with little real discussion or analysis from the author herself. I really feel as though I should have just read those books myself and cut out the middle man. There were also a lot of recipes in there too which someone who is a real foodie would love, but sadly I'm no chef and have my own unique ability to burn a salad therefore making the recipes a little dull after the first few.
Some people will love this book, sadly I wasn't really one of them.
April 5, 2020
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I really enjoyed this book and I loved being taken back in time by the author to see how the Victorians enjoyed their Christmases.
The book was well set out, the author had done some excellent research and I thought that the book was fascinating. I am a massive fan of anything from the Victorian period and this was a fabulous read for me.
The author has added in recipes to the book too so if you are feeling adventurous you can have a god at making some of the food mentioned too (I will admit that I have not attempted any myself yet and my ancestors certainly had stronger stomachs than me!!)
It is 4 stars from me for this one, it was a well-researched book and a great addition to my Victorian books collection – highly recommended!
I really enjoyed this book and I loved being taken back in time by the author to see how the Victorians enjoyed their Christmases.
The book was well set out, the author had done some excellent research and I thought that the book was fascinating. I am a massive fan of anything from the Victorian period and this was a fabulous read for me.
The author has added in recipes to the book too so if you are feeling adventurous you can have a god at making some of the food mentioned too (I will admit that I have not attempted any myself yet and my ancestors certainly had stronger stomachs than me!!)
It is 4 stars from me for this one, it was a well-researched book and a great addition to my Victorian books collection – highly recommended!
April 22, 2013
Very beautiful pictures, some nice recipes and mementos. But the information was not very catchy to read about... So a little boring on this side.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews