Saturday, June 28, 2014

Images of London in 1894

1894 was an exciting year in the literary history of London with the publication of the Jungle Book and the first issue of the Yellow Book (to say the least). That year also saw the first attempt at an international terrorist attack with the botched bombing of the Royal Observatory. Luckily, street photography continues to be popular, thanks to the wacky cameras that were increasingly available. I found many of these street photos in the Descriptive Album of London, 1894, to which I've provided links to George Birch's detailed descriptions (very much worth reading).

London Bridge (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.
Piccadilly Circus (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.
Cheapside (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.
Royal Courts of Justice (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.
Bank of England (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.
North London Railway Staff, 1894.
More info at the National Railway Museum.
Holborn Circus and Viaduct (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.
Fleet Street (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.
Northumberland Ave South-east from Trafalgar Square (1894)
The Foreign Office, (detailed description by George Birch), 1894.

Piccadilly Circus (1894) 
The White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, London (1894)
Trade Union Banners (1894)
The Chapel Royal on Savoy, (1894)
(Detailed description by George Birch)

The Opening of Tower Bridge – London, 30 June 1894.
Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt and
by Rhine & Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich,
London, 1894
Ads at Charing Cross Station (1894).
A hansom cab in London (1894).
The American Rev. M.L. Latta (1894).
More documents and history.
Fishermen's wives crying
The London Illustrated News, 28 July 1894.
Opening of the Clarence Park Grand Stand (1894)
Benz Velo (1894)
I'm not actually certain where this photo was taken,
but it was too cool to pass up!
Peckham Rye Park (1894)
For more, look at Images of London in 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1893. I'm still working on more!

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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

What's-her-name: The Most Dangerous Woman of the 1890s

"Editha Jackson"
THE coming and going of Ann O'Delia Diss Debar are mysteries for there is no record of her birth and no trace of her death, but the "in between time" furnished Inaterial enough for an entire book rather than a single chapter, and gave her sufficient opportunity to have it said of her that she was "one of the most extraordinary fake mediums and mystery swindlers the world has ever known." Some even have classed her among the ten most prominent and dangerous female criminals of the world, and her repertoire is claimed to have run the full gamut from petty confidence games to elaborately con- trived schemes aimed at the magnates of Wall Street. - "A Magician Among the Spirits" by Harry Houdini
Like so many Victorian charlatans, few details are about this woman's life are for certain, least of all the things she said about herself. Her criminal record seems true enough, though she went by so many names it is difficult to be sure. In June 1888, she was sentenced to six months in prison for frauding an elderly lawyer out of his townhouse. She was imprisoned for two years in Illinois for another fraud. She got kicked out of New Orleans in May 1899, then went to jail again for another 30 days. In September 1901 in England, she and her husband were arrested and charged with obtaining property by false pretenses, rape and buggery. For this she went to jail until 1906.

At one point, she managed to convince the gullible Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers that she was the Countess Anna Sprengel of Landsfelt, co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

She wished she was five years younger and born in Italy to King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his beautiful mistress, the dancer Lola Montez, and that her real parents were actually her foster parents. However, she was probably born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky (1849) to Prof. John C.F. Salomon, a Professor of Music at Greenville Female Institute also known as Daughters' College (now the Beaumont Inn).
"Edith Saloman"
The professor called his daughter Ann O'Delia Salomon. She seems to have been married many times, and called herself: Princess Editha Lola Montez, Edith Solomon, Della Ann O'Sullivan, Ann O'Delia Diss Debar (or Dis De Bar), Vera Ava, Madame Messant or McGoon, Swami Laura Horos, and Swami Viva Ananda.

Whatever she was called, she spent some time in Africa, ran a fruitarian colony in Florida, and married Frank Dutton Jackson in Louisiana in 1899.

That's when she started calling herself Princess Editha Lolita. He must have been perfect for her. The newlyweds went to England, calling themselves "Swami Laura Horos" and "Theodore Horos". They established a "Purity League" at the Theocratic Unity Temple, near Regent's Park in London. They worked as fortune tellers and diviners, until they were arrested in Birkenhead in September 1901.

The charges were the result of their sexual practices at the Temple, and included obtaining property by false pretenses, rape and buggery. The couple defended themselves, but the Swami was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, and her husband to 15 years. She was held in the prison in Aylesbury, and released on licence in July 1906.

In Unsolved Mysteries: Vera Ava’s Final Days, Linda Vaccariello introduces her as a barefoot woman, who is soon arrested while seeking shelter. Vaccariello points out that this wild and dangerous woman's death was as mysterious as her birth. And really, who can lie about death?

She "vanished from history" after returning to the States in 1909, and was last seen, as Vera Ava, in Cincincinnati in 1909. Though she may not have been a genuine medium, using fake seances and mystic painting (is that like automatic writing?) to con people out of their money and property, she managed to pull off a disappearing act in the end.

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Saturday, June 21, 2014

1890s Women's Fashion

Bookmark this page, if you like 1890s dresses. I intend to keep adding to it. It is, as the title suggests, a collection of women's clothing from the 1890s.

I also strongly recommend browsing the 1890-91 H O'Neill & Co. Fall and Winter Catalogue.

Mary Harrison McKee's gown, 1889

1880s Bloomer Suit (typically used for cycling)
A Brighton Lady in a cycling costume (1889)

1889 Stern Brothers evening shoes
1889/90 evening dress
1890s cycling costume

1890 evening coat by House of Worth

1890 evening dress
1891 silk corset
1891 dress by Madame Clapham
1891 dress American
1891 dinner dress by House of Worth
1891 tea gown
Fashions for May 1891
1891 ensemble from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reception dress 1891/92
1892 dress
1892 evening dress by House of Worth
1892 ensemble by Germain Lecomte
1892 evening dress by House of Worth
1892 dress by House of Worth

1893 evening jacket

1893 dress by House of Worth
1893 dress
1893 House of Worth
1894 evening coat
House of Worth
1894 jacket
1894 parasol
1894 dress by Haas Brothers

1894 House of Worth
1894 afternoon ensemble
House of Worth
1894 carriage ensemble
House of Worth

1894 dress by House of Worth
1895 silk evening mantle by
House of Worth
1895 evening hat
1895 dress
1895 dress
1895 dress
1895 parasol
1895 House of Worth
1895 House of Worth
1895 jacket
House of Worth
1895 House of Worth
1896 dress (French)
French dressing gown
of Japanese silk (1896-98)
1896 evening dress
House of Worth
1896 dress by Madam Leonie Duboc
1896 evening gown by House of Worth
1896 day dress
1897 dress by House of Rouff
1897 walking dress
1897 day dress
1897 dress by Jaques Doucet
1897 day dress
1897 dress by House of Worth

1897 evening dress by House of Worth
1898 House of Worth
1898 House of Worth
1898 House of Worth
1898 dress
1898 fan by Tiffany & Co.
The Delineator June 1898

1898 evening dress by House of Worth
House of Worth evening dress (1890s)
1890s bathing suits
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