People in the early nineteenth-century experienced, like today, a variety of reasons to make mobility aids desirable or necessary. While the self-propelled wheelchair has been around since the seventeenth century, the invention spirit of the time of the industrial revolution coupled with cheaper, more affordable materials, produced new devices. One such invention was Merlin's Mechanical Chair. It was developed by the enterprising John Joseph Merlin.
Spices, distilled waters and cosmetics provided a complex web of personal and socio-economical expression. Perfumes were sensual and carried the mind into rose gardens in the summer, heightened emotions and were believed to be healthy. Scents were also markers of taste and prosperity.
Today, December 16th marks 250 years - a quarter of a millennium - till a baby girl was born to the Reverend George and Cassandra Austen. Since my mother first placed her books into my hands in my early teens, she has been a constant in my life over now nearly two decades. Her characters are companions to me both on a winter's night with a cup of tea, on a long drive, and while sewing. In a way, my love for Jane Austen's books set in motion a series of defining moments in my life.
Across the decades between 1837 and 1901, the Victorian-era fashion silhouette was in a continual state of drastic changes. Fashion has a way of swinging like a pendulum between extremes; between restraint and extravagance, simplicity and opulence.
The early 1600s were a time of social, political and cultural change. These circumstances are reflected in dress, and we can read these especially well when comparing the portraits of Anne of Denmark from c. 1600 and from 1614.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an era named 'Gilded Age' by Mark Twain, scores of daughters of new money US American families were sent across the Atlantic to the UK, not merely for educational purposes but for a more permanent establishment: to marry into the British aristocracy. Referred to as the 'Dollar Princesses', these women were heiresses of newly-minted American industrial-era fortunes, often made in railroads, steel, or oil.
The late Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) witnessed not only political and cultural upheaval, but also the rise of extraordinary individuals whose lives stood in stark contrast to the social norms of their time. One such figure is Gim Man-deok (김만덕; 1739–1812), a woman whose name endures in Korean historical consciousness as a philanthropist whose acts of compassion and integrity redefined virtue within Joseon society.
Elizabeth Caslon lived from 1730 until 1795 and was a typefounder, businesswoman and mentor to another successful female entrepreneur.
After Sachio Yoshioka took over the family business, which was working with synthetic dyes at the time, he switched completely to dyeing with natural plants - because he found their variety of colours so wonderful.