Thursday, October 2, 2025

Foods in Season: October, 1861

Candlelight is close at hand, so for planning purposes, I took an early look at Beeton's Book of Household Management to see what's in season (in London, which doesn't have a substantially different climate from here) in October:

Fish- Barbel, brill, crabs, cod, eels, flounders, gudgeons, haddocks, lobsters, mullet, oysters, plaice, prawns, skate, soles, tench, turbot, whitling.

Meat- Beef, mutton, pork, veal, venison.

Poultry- Chickens, fowls, geese, larks, pigeons, pullets, rabbits, teal, turkeys, widgeon, wild ducks.

Game- Blackcock, grouse, hares, partridges, pheasant, snipes, woodcocks, doe venison. 

Vegetables- Artichokes, beets, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery,  lettuces, mushrooms, onions, pease, potatoes, sprouts, tomatoes, turnips, vegetable marrow, various kitchen herbs.

Fruit- Apples, black and white bullaces, damsons, figs, filberts, grapes, pears, quinces, walnuts.

Again this month, the fish category saw multiple changes: barbel, crabs, gudgeons, haddocks, and tench were added, with carp, sturgeon, and whitebait removed. Venison replaced lamb on the meat list. Ducks came off the poultry list, with widgeons and wild duck added (back). Buck venison is out; doe venison is in, along with snipes and woodcocks.  The fruit and vegetable categories are both starting to contract. In the vegetable list, we see asparagus, beans, salading, and sea-kale replaced by beets and cauliflower. Apples have finally made the fruit list this month (though depending on the variety, my friends have been harvesting theirs since July or August) while melons, morella-cherries, mulberries, nectarines, peaches and plums have all rotated off. 

Note that teal and widgeon are both types of ducks. I don't know the nuance implied by listing them out separately from duck or wild duck. 

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Original: Embroidered Corset, 1830s

 

Corset, c.1830, in the LACMA collection.

While the small embroidered leaves on this garment were what first caught my attention, what I'm really curious about is the cording or quilting along the top edge of the busk casing. I'd really love to see this one in person and get a better idea of how that part of the corset was constructed, and whether it is actually cording or just close-set rows of parallel quilting. I don't recall seeing anything quite like it, and will need to keep an eye out for whether this is a common feature that I've previously overlooked.