Category Archives: Costumes

Parlour game

Posted on January 25, 2013 by mercedes-c

Bonnets are everywhere due to the bicentenary of Pride and Prejudice*. This blog could not resist the temptation to join in, especially when the said article of apparel features so prominently in Douce’s folders of costumes, where the fashion plate … Continue reading →

Posted in Colour, Costumes, Everyday life, Fashion, Games, Literature, Prints, Wood-engravings | Comments Off on Parlour game

The ruff-setter

Posted on December 12, 2012 by mercedes-c

In 1817, the April issue of The Critical Review carried an article on Philip Stubbes’s The Anatomie of Abuses (1583), in which Douce and his print Der Kragen Setzer are mentioned with regard to extravagant fashions and to the moral … Continue reading →

Posted in Costumes, Engravings, Everyday life, Fashion, Prints, Satirical prints, Shakespeare | Comments Off on The ruff-setter

“The Puck of Commentators”

Posted on November 27, 2012 by mercedes-c

One of Douce’s most assiduous correspondents in the 1790s was the Shakespeare scholar George Steevens (1736-1800), of whom the DNB says that “his wit and the associated learning […] earned him the name of the Puck of Commentators”: From his … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Collections and Collectors, Costumes, Dance of Death, Everyday life, Literature, Paintings, Prints, Shakespeare | Comments Off on “The Puck of Commentators”