The Universal Advertising Sheet, Part 3

Let’s see what interesting shreds of personal and social history we can read about, courtesy this week of the Monthly Compendium of Literary, Fashionable, and Domestic Advertisements from the March 1, 1807 edition of La Belle Assemblée...

First, another Jane Eyre moment:

EDUCATION.

The attention of Parents and Guardians is requested. A Lady is desirous of taking ONLY TWO young ladies, from three to eight years of age, to instruct with every comfort and advantage of paternal Education; she does not propose giving any Holidays –Letters (post paid) addressed to A. Z. Post Office, Laytonstone, Essex, will be duly answered.

Well. I said this sounded like a Jane Eyre moment...but from whose point of view? No holidays? That seems a tad harsh for students of pre-school and elementary age, I think; A.Z. was quite the taskmistress.

These advertising supplements are full of ads for hair products (in this issue, there’s one for Russia Oil, for the growth of hair...but here’s one for a stylist, which I found interesting. Cropped hair was still quite fashionable, and would be yet for another few years:

VICKERY

Ladies’ Head Dress Maker and Hair Cutter, No. 6, Tavistock-street, Covent-garden,

has the honour to acquaint the Nobility and Gentry, that he has completed an assortment of elegant Head-Dresses; that need only to be seen to be approved of.

The Royal Crop is a specimen of superior elegance.

Ladies that honour him with their commands, will please to say, if for young, middle aged, or elderly Ladies. The price from two to five Guineas.

Gentlemen’s Crops made to a perfection in fitness very rarely to be met with, at two Guineas and a half.

The Nobility and Gentry’s hair cut with every attention to style and the improvement of their hair.

Ladies and Gentlemen will please to give their servants very particular directions to his house, as Vickery’s name is placed very conspicuously at shops in the neighborhood, with which he has no connection.

Vickery’s establishment, formerly of Bond-street, Bishopsgate-street, and Cheapside, (but now of Tavistock-street only) upwards of thirty years standing.

I suppose that if one was using too much Russia Oil, Mr. Vickery’s services would be frequently required... ;)

Now, this one is the most interesting of the issue:

LADIES.

The delicate and restrained condition which custom imposes on females, subjects them to great dis-advantages, —Mrs. Morris offers to remove them. Ladies or Gentlemen who have formed predilections may be assisted in obtaining the objects of their affection; and those who are unengaged may be immediately introduced to suitable persons; but she cannot assist applicants in any marriage if their characters are not irreproachable, and their fortunes considerable and independent. She will not admit any others.

Apply or address (post paid) at the Bow-window, next door to Margaret Chapel, Margaret-street, Cavendish-square. Ladies who require it, may be waited upon at their own houses.

Oh, my writer’s mind is teeming! Was Mrs. Morris a marriage broker? Did she have the Regency equivalent of an overstuffed Rolodex because she was perhaps a lady of once-high social status now fallen on hard times? Was she in the business of match-making for noveaux riches cits looking to marry into a higher social class?  What do you think?

The Universal Advertising Sheet, Part 2

Back by popular demand! Let’s have another look at the advertisements posted in editions of La Belle Assemblée from April  and July 1813—two hundred and six years ago.

This one was interesting:

A Lady

Who has been accustomed to the Private Tuition of young Ladies, wishes for a situation as GOVERNESS in a family of consequence. She is competent to teach the French and English languages Grammatically, Geography, Writing, and Arithmetic; also to superintend the practice of young Pupils in the absence of the Master. Should any genteel family who are going to the East Indies want an Instructress for their children, the advertiser would be ready to treat with them on liberal terms. The most respectable references will be given.—Letters, post-paid, and addressed to M. B. and left at the General Post-office, will be attended to immediately.

N.B. The advertiser would have no objection to engage herself as companion to any Lady, who would render such a situation comfortable.

Oh, I do love the advertisements like these! Jane Eyre immediately comes to mind, doesn’t it? What I find interesting about this one is that M.B. seems quite willing to travel all the way to India—she was certainly no shrinking violet! I wonder if she found employment with a family who were indeed going there...and did she perhaps meet a handsome, up-and-coming East India officer there?  The plot bunnies are a-hopping...

On a related note...from the July advertisement supplement:

FEMALE AGENCY.

MRS. SASS, honoured by the most decided preference, acquaints the Nobility and Gentry, that she continues to provide Families with GOVERNESSES, Ladies who keep SCHOOLS, with Partners, Teachers, Apprentices, and Half Boarders. Ladies who wish to be accommodated, by setting their names down in MRS. SASS’S Book, will meet with due attention; Governesses and Teachers, French and English, may hear of Situations, by application at No. 120, High Holborn. Letters (post paid) will be attended to immediately.

Maybe our M.B. above should have paid a call on Mrs. Sass and her book. And by the way, here is another respectable profession for a woman—employment agent!

What’s even more interesting is another ad placed in the same issue:

TO THE LADIES. HENRY SASS, corner of King’s-street, Holborn, begs leave to acquaint his Friends and the Ladies in general that he has a large assortment of DRAWINGS, consisting of Figures, &c., on SILK, for Lambs’ Wool Embroidery, ready for sale; also Hearth Rugs, Turkish Cushions, Urn Stands, Table Matts, with Patterns set, and every material for the different Works. Pieces ready worked, and Paintings, on the most reasonable terms, for ready money.—Ladies taught all the different works.

A young Lady wanted as an Apprentice.

***Drawing taught in all its different branches.—Also Painting on China, Glass, and Velvet, in a superior style.—Schools attended.

Ooh, lots to unpack here. First, I assume Henry Sass and Mrs. Sass are related—married? In laws? Second...why hasn’t Henry asked Mrs. Sass to find him a young Lady Apprentice? And third...here is the Regency London equivalent of A.C. Moore—a craft shop! The painting on velvet caught my eye—would they maybe have pictures of Prinny or Lord Byron painted on velvet, instead of Elvis? ;) Lastly, Henry evidently was willing to teach at  schools; a useful service for smaller schools who could not afford a full time art master, or did not want to have one living on the premises along with a bunch of impressionable girls.

What struck you about this week’s ads?