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A 19th-century pamphlet against masturbation as an example of control over sexual behaviour

Look at what this charming fifteen-year-old girl became in a mere year, after making the acquaintance of the dreadful sin of masturbation! Yet another nineteenth-century pamphlet against self-gratification is a rather typical example of how the state and society, through the institutions of morality, propriety and

Aristocracy · Architecture · Faith · Art · Mores

A Man Entangled in a Net of Lies and Vices

There are various ways of honouring one's parents. Raimondo di Sangro, the seventh Prince of Sansevero, a Neapolitan, commissioned a sculptural portrait of his father disentangling himself from the nets, or snares, of deceit and sin, accompanied by an angelic figure who frees the sinner for the bosom

Archaeology · Museums · Mores

Roman slave shackles in museums in Spain and England and the question of constant wear

Roman slave shackles from the museums of Seville in Spain and Norwich in Norfolk, England. Finds of this kind are characteristic of the vast territories of the Western Roman Empire. The abundance and character of the finds may also suggest that some of the slaves in the countryside wore shackles

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores

Anastasia Koshkina and the Romanov and Godunov Claims to the Russian Throne

The Romanovs' claim to the throne rested on the fact that there once was a maiden Koshkina. It was not even a surname: at that time it would be more fitting to speak of by-names. And so there were the Koshkins-Romanovs, and accordingly Anastasia, or, as we

NB! · Archive · Mores · Humour

1832: Charles Warren, a Dorset father of three and modest proprietor of an acre of potatoes, lately widowed, seeks a woman to tend the pigs while he is at work

Aristocracy · Mores · People · Humour

William, 5th Baron Byron, British nobleman, peer, politician and great-uncle of the famous poet, went down in history as the Wicked Lord or the Devil Byron: a dreadful scoundrel who beat his wife, killed his own cousin, stabbing him in a dark…

William, 5th Baron Byron, British nobleman, peer, politician and great-uncle of the famous poet, went down in history as the Wicked Lord or the Devil Byron: a dreadful scoundrel who beat his wife; the killer of his own cousin, whom he stabbed in a dark room and was convicted

Page of an old English dictionary with the entry Bonfire, a fire made for triumph or exultation, with quotations from Spenser, South and Gay.

NB! · Observations · Mores

Bonfire as a celebratory fire rather than fireworks, in an English dictionary entry

The bonfire is a fire made for triumph or jubilation, in other words not a firework but a festive blaze. And quite rightly: what is a holiday without one?

Aristocracy · Art · Books · Mores

“Morphinists” by Georges Moreau de Tours and the fashion for morphine among the aristocracy of the 19th century

Girls who wanted happiness. Happiness... Georges Moreau de Tours, The Morphine Addicts. I remind you that this pernicious dependence was extremely popular in aristocratic and bohemian circles in the nineteenth century. The fashion, which spread from England, is shown by Leo Tolstoy in the case of Anna Karenina, whose personality

Art · Mores

Samuel Moon's child portraits and unisex children's fashion until the late 19th century

Children's portraits, Samuel Moon. The child in the peach-coloured frock is a boy, as the boyish toy, a gun, indicates. Right up to the end of the nineteenth century, children's fashion was to a large degree characterised by unisex clothing, though for some reason with

NB! · London · Museums · Science · Mores

Glass moulds for rubber or latex condoms of various sizes, 1900s-1920s, Science Museum (London)

Books · London · Observations · Mores

The White Lady cocktail, the English legend and Boieldieu's opera after Walter Scott

There is a classic cocktail made from gin, orange liqueur and lemon juice: the White Lady. Its name is usually linked to Ella Fitzgerald, who sang about a white lady. But the cocktail itself was devised in London when Ella was still an infant. And in England the image of

Observations · Mores · Nature · Humour

Lady Hamilton's poodle Codina and the fashion for poodles during the fall of the French monarchy

Aww, what a darling! Little Codina, the favourite poodle of Horatio Nelson's mistress, Lady Hamilton. In Russia at this time large poodles were the fashion, while in Europe small ones like this were preferred. Poodles came into great vogue precisely in the years of the fall of the