The Backstreet Regents

A cartoon from 1832, showing the dangers of pumping raw Sewage into the Thames. I’m just so glad that our Government would never allow this to happen today… (Warning: tweet may contain irony) #EndSewagePollution @Jamie_Woodward_ #SewageScandal

@MilesOgborn Thank you. It looks most interesting...

Very pleased that this is now published open access. “Fire in Jamaica, 1831-32” in Journal of British Studies doi.org/10.1017/jbr.20…. The politics of fire and habitation in the largest uprising in the British Caribbean colonies.

It’s Dr Johnson’s birthday and I can’t help wondering if he’s the only person ever to have both written a Dictionary and inspired a Brown Ale (from a Brewery he was "intimately connected" with, no less), as we raise a tankard in his honour. #otd #SamuelJohnson

@JaneDunnAuthor @ronanbeckman Wow ! What a great find. It looks wonderful !

Thanks to @ronanbeckman I found this beautiful book 2nd hand; 66ft of vistas drawn in 1829 reproduced from the original, a late Georgian tourist guide. Here, St Paul's Cathedral with 3 bridges. I love that the big houses are so new they carry their owners' names #Regency #history

On John Soane’s birthday, here’s London as he knew it! 🎈🏙️ Made from the roof of the Museum in June 1813 by one of Soane's pupils, this drawing – much like every view of London and every birthday – is a snapshot from an ongoing story, never to be repeated quite the same! 🎁

@MulraineArt He was quite entertaining, by all accounts, and very popular in his day. And I do think we lost something when we stopped singing and making music together.

Did you know Charles Dibdin (1745 - 1814) was “the pre-eminent Musical Showman of his age”? If not, you may be unaware of the Advantage of Toping (drinking yourself silly), which he celebrated in song and deed. He was also, amazingly, one of Jane Austen's favourite composers !

@Stephen25367746 Indeed — although, it seems, primarily Song. The guy was like a composing machine, with over 1400 songs to his name !!

@RegencyNights Wine, women and song.

@JaneDunnAuthor @bodleianlibs Hahaha !! It would indeed be an imposing feature in your home, and just the thing to fill a free 7 metres of wall space !

@RegencyNights @bodleianlibs So wish it could be published in a reprint so one could study it. Then I read it was 7 metres long!!!!!!

Stretching from #London Regent street to Westminster abbey, this 7m long panorama was published in 1849. The level of detail that illustrator R. Sandeman and engraver G. C. Leighton put into this #Victorian view is astonishing. Digitised on Digital Bodleian. G.A. Lond. 16° 187

@JaneDunnAuthor @bodleianlibs I agree, and I’m so happy that things such as this were created, and have survived. They give an invaluable insight into the period, as well as being a delight to explore.

@bodleianlibs Absolutely wonderful! Thank you @bodleianlibs & @RegencyNights The detail is marvellous, from terrific drawings of the buildings to the people, carriages, even the sky with varying cloudscapes & weather patterns enlivened with storm clouds & flocks of birds. A labour of love

@BrettHethering Wonderful pic !

Young girls showcase their Charleston dance skills in Harlem, 1923.

@UltimaThule0000 PS The print of two men and an enormous telescope is just the sort of image the Backstreet Regents delight in. What a great find !

@UltimaThule0000 A highly impressive essay, Ultima, perfectly complemented by your photos. Is it to eventually form part of a book?

@AustenMicrocosm That’s the perfect quote for this picture !!

She is perfectly amiable, and often condescends to drive by my humble abode in her little phaeton and ponies. 😊 #JaneAusten #PrideAndPrejudice

@JaneDunnAuthor I guess it's just satirising the oversized headwear of the time & the newly-available undersized horses. The print was published by a woman (Mary Darly) so I hope its satire is at least affectionate! She & her husband developed a new Print genre, centring on extremes of Fashion.

@RegencyNights OMG didn't know pygmy ponies were a thing! Her ostrich feathers are quite overbearing of the dear teeny things... this must be intentional, though have no idea what the cartoonist means by it. Do you?

I don’t often comment on Modern Female Taste, but I'd venture to say this Phaetona (or female driver of a Phaeton carriage) is very much in the vanguard !!

@ronanbeckman Ha ha, indeed ! I just hope she’s not too hard on the poor little things, and that the whip is only for show !

@RegencyNights She's like 3 times the size of the wee, tiny ponies pulling her along! 😄😁

@YorkFHS @seabrkei I second that — this is the positive side of Twitter (a lot of the rest of it makes me shudder !)

@seabrkei @RegencyNights Thank you Keith - love social media for just this very thing.

If you ever find yourself in 1830s London, why not treat yourself to an exhilarating ride on Mr H. Thorrington’s famous Suspension Railway? You’ll be AMAZED, you’ll be THRILLED, you'll MARVEL at just how much fun you can have for a single shilling.

@seabrkei @YorkFHS Yes, it was an insanely ambitious plan, which failed spectacularly. The Gardens opened in March 1830, but only lasted a couple of years, before being demolished in 1832. Strange to think how different that whole area would be today if the scheme had been a success.

@YorkFHS We could do with them still being there today, but — as @seabrkei points out — they weren’t a great success (to put it mildly!) due to the indifference of the public, and closed within a couple of years of opening.

@RegencyNights Wow! Where are the Royal Paramonium gardens for crying out loud! 🤣