From chatelaines to whale blubber, ice making machines to stained glass, this six-volume collection will be of interest to the scholar, student or general reader alike - anyone who has an urge to learn more about Victorian things. The set brings together a range of primary sources on Victorian material culture and discusses the most significant developments in material history from across the nineteenth century. The collection will demonstrate the significance of objects in the everyday lives of the Victorians and addresses important questions about how we classify and categorise nineteenth-century things.
This collection brings together a range of primary sources on Victorian material and culture. This third volume, ‘Invention and Technology’, will look at a variety of Victorian inventions, both foundational and short-lived.
Part 1 The March of Invention
1. Alexander Somerville, ‘One Who Has Whistled at the Plough’, The Autobiography of a Working Man (London: Gilpin, 1848), [extract] pp. 358–61.
2. John Stoughton, The Palace of Glass and the Gathering of the People: A Book for the Exhibition (London: Religious Tracts Society, 1851), [extract] pp. 18–25.
3. Michael Angelo Garvey, The Silent Revolution, or the Future Effects of Steam and Electricity upon the Conditions of Mankind (London: Cash, 1852), [extract] pp. 1–13.
4. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘Ode for the Opening of the International Exhibition’, Fraser's Magazine 65 (1862), p. 803.
5. F. R. Conder, ‘The Best Friend of the Working Man’, Fraser’s Magazine new series 19 (1879), pp. 231–2.
6. ‘The World in a Hurry’, Sewing Machine Gazette and Journal of Domestic Appliances (1 March 1881), p. 30.
7. ‘The Latest Patent’, Answers (29 August 1891), p. 249.
8. A. R. Bennett, On the Telephoning of Great Cities (London: Whittaker, 1892), [extract] pp. 4–7.
9. Alfred Russel Wallace, The Wonderful Century: Its Successes and Failures (London: Swann Sonnenschein, 1898), pp. 1–3, 150–3.
Part 2 Transport
2.1 Third-class rail travel
10. Railway Reform: Its Expediency and Practicability Considered (London: Pelham Richardson, 1843), [extract], pp. 2–3, 14–19.
11.‘Railway Politeness’ and ‘The Third Class Traveller’s Petition’, Punch (1845), p. 101.
12. D. T. Timins, ‘From Roofless Pen to Corridor Coach: The Evolution of the 3rd Class Carriage on the South Eastern Railway’, Railway Magazine 4 (1899), pp. 496–500.
2.2 Metropolitan Underground Railway
13. J. Hain Friswell, ‘A Journey Underground’, Once a Week (20 Sept. 1862), pp. 361–3.
14. Simon Sterne, ‘The Greathead Underground Electric Railway’, Forum 11 (1891), pp. 683–7.
15. Fred T. Jane, ‘The Romance of Modern London, III: Round the Underground on an Engine’, English Illustrated Magazine 10 (1892/1893), pp. 787–92.
2.3 Tricycle and Bicycle
16. ‘Women on Wheels’, Cassell’s Family Magazine (1885), pp. 589–91.
17. ‘The Social Effect of Bicycling’, Spectator 76 (30 May 1896), pp. 769–70.
18. E.B. Turner, ‘Health on the Bicycle’ Contemporary Review 73 (1898), pp. 640–8.
19. Cesare Lombroso, ‘The Bicycle and Crime’, Pall Mall Magazine 20 (1900), pp. 310–6.
2.4 Horseless Carriage
20. J. Munro, ‘Carriages Without Horses’ Cassell’s Family Magazine (1896), pp. 529–32.
21. H. Cunningham, ‘Horseless Carriages’, Edinburgh Review 183 (1896), pp. 408–20.
Part 3 Illumination
3.1 Gas light and electric light
22. ‘Electric Lighting’, Cornhill Magazine 39 (1879), pp. 157–72.
23. J. Munro, ‘From Candles to Gas’, Cassell’s Family Magazine (1880), pp. 225–8.
24. J. Munro, ‘From Gas to Electricity’, Cassell’s Family Magazine (1880), pp. 282–4.
25. Charles W. Vincent, ‘The Dangers of Electric Lighting’, Nineteenth Century 27 (January 1890), pp. 145–9.
3.2 Lucifer Match
26. Charles Knight, ‘Illustrations of Cheapness: The Lucifer Match’, Household Words 1 (13 April 1850), pp. 54–7.
27. [Henry Morley,] ‘Letter from a Highly Respectable Old Lady’, Household Words 1 (18 May 1850), pp. 186–7.
28. T. E. Thorpe, T. Oliver, G. Cunningham, Report on the Use of Phosphorus in Manufacture of Lucifer Matches (HMSO: London, 1899), [extract] pp. 11–2, 17–8.
Part 4 Communication
4.1 Postage stamp and letter
29. Rowland Hill, Postal Reform: Its Importance and Practicability (London: Knight, 1837), [extract], pp. 27–30.
30. Charles Dickens and W. H. Wills, ‘Valentine’s Day at the Post Office’, Household Words 1 (30 March 1850), pp. 7–8.
4.2 Electric telegraph
31. ‘A Few Weeks from Home: The Electric Telegraph’, Chambers Edinburgh Journal 9 (25 July 1840), pp. 209–10.
32. George Wilson, ‘The Electric Telegraph’, Edinburgh Review 90 (1849), [extract] pp. 459–63.
33. Andrew Wynter, ‘The Electric Telegraph’, Quarterly Review 95 (June 1854), pp. 131–9.
34. Anthony Trollope, ‘The Young Women at the Telegraph Office’, Good Words (1877), [extract], pp. 377–81.
4.3 Telephone
35. ‘The Telephone’, Westminster Review 53 (1878), pp. 208–11.
36. ‘The Telephone: A Domestic Tragedy’, Temple Bar 107 (1896), pp. 106–10.
37. Arthur Mee, ‘The Pleasure Telephone’, Strand Magazine (1898), pp. 208–14.
4.4 Typewriter
38. Ardern Holt, ‘The Art of Type-Writing’, Cassell’s Family Magazine (1888), pp. 659–60.
39. Edward Abbott Parry, ‘Mr. Twistleton’s Type-Writer’, Cornhill Magazine 8 (1889), pp. 62–71.
4.5 Linotype
40. ‘A Shareholder’, The Linotype Composing Machine: A Retrospect and a Prospect (London: Witherby, 1889), pp. 28–31, 47–9.
Part 5 Sound and Vision
5.1 Stereoscope and stereoscopic photography
41. David Brewster, The Stereoscope (London: Murray, 1856), [extract], pp. 196–200.
42. John Henry Pepper, ‘The Stereoscope’, in The Boy’s Playbook of Science (London: Routledge, 1866), pp. 320–3.
5.2 Zoetrope, phenakistiscope, thaumatrope
43. William B. Carpenter, ‘On the Zoetrope and Its Antecedents’, The Student and Intellectual Observer of Science, Literature, and Art 2 (1869), [extract], pp. 25–7.
44. The Young Ladies’ Treasure Book: A Complete Practical Cyclopedia of Practical Instruction and Direction for All Indoor and Outdoor Occupations and Amusements Suitable to Young Ladies (London: Ward, Lock, [1884]), [extract], pp. 806–8.
5.3 Aniline dye
45. Thomas W. Salter, Field’s Chromotography; or, Treatise on Colours and Pigments As Used by Artists (London: Winsor and Newton, [1869]), [extract], pp. 161–4.
5.4 Pianista
46. ‘The Inventions Exhibition: The ‘Miranda Pianista’, British Trade Journal (1 May 1885), p. 297.
5.5 Phonograph
47. W. H. Preece, ‘The Phonograph’, Journal of the Society of Arts (10 May 1878), pp. 534–8.
48. ‘The New Phonograph’, Cassell’s Family Magazine (1888), pp. 315–7.
49. ‘Mr. Edison’s Phonograph’, Times (30 June 1888), p. 5.
50. ‘What Will Come of the Phonograph?’ Spectator (30 June 1888), p. 9.
5.6 Wireless telegraphy and future media
51. M. Griffith, ‘An Electric Eye: The Marvellous Discovery of an Eastern Professor Which Distances the Röntgen Rays As They Distance Photography’, Pearson’s Magazine (December 1896), pp. 749–56.
52. James Knowles, ‘Wireless Telegraphy and ‘Brain-waves’, Nineteenth Century (1899), pp. 857–64.
6 Daily Life – and Death
6.1 Sewing machine
53. ‘Sewing Machines’, All the Year Round (27 March 1869), pp. 394–7.
6.2 Refrigeration, frozen food
54. James Harrison, ‘Food Committee’ [Frozen Meat], Journal of the Society of Arts 22 (28 Nov. 1873), pp. 24–8.
55. ‘Refrigeration and Preservation’, Cassell’s Family Magazine (1879), p. 189.
6.3 Roller skate
56. ‘Skating Rinks and Rinkomania’, Cassell’s Family Magazine (1875), pp. 304–6.
57. J. A. Harwood, Rinks and Rollers (London: Routledge, [1876]), [extract], pp. 13–20.
6.4 Maxim gun
58. ‘The Maxim Machine Gun’, Chambers’s Journal 64 (1887), pp. 190–1.
59. C. H. W. Donovan, With Wilson in Matabeleland, or Sport and War in Zambesia (London: Henry, 1894), [extract], pp. 181–4.
60. From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator (2 Oct. 1897), p. 1.
Index
Biography
Richard Menke, is Associate Professor of English, University of Georgia, USA
