The Bones & Bobbins Podcast, Season 5, Episode 03: Postage Play and Courting: Love Victorian Style

Listen:

The Bones & Bobbins Podcast, Season 5, Episode 03: Postage Play and Courting: Love Victorian Style

S05E03: The very Victorian art of dating and the hidden codes in Victorian love letters.

Sit down for a bit of old fashioned Victorian dating advice, flirting etiquette, and fan wielding tips, then cozy up by the fire to search for hidden meanings within the latest sweet missive penned by your most beloved. So many rules! So much mail!

Support the show:

If you like what we’re doing, please rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice! Ratings tell the internet gremlins that you like us, which means our podcast will show up in more people’s recommendations!

Show Notes:

Here are links to the sources and resources we used while researching this episode:

Haley: Victorian Dating:

• Date Like a Victorian: Courtship and Romance in the Victorian Era: https://www.friendsofdalnavert.ca/blog/2021/2/12/date-like-a-victorian-courtship-and-romance-in-the-victorian-era
• 7 Ways to Flirt Like a Victorian: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/551330/ways-flirt-victorian
• Love: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/victorian-literature-and-culture/article/love/26982749BF1D74924403D15A6A984240
• The secret love lives of the Victorians: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/feb/14/7
• Patreon Dispatches from the Curiosity Shop 42: Love Tokens, Both Endearing and Weird: https://www.bonesandbobbins.com/2022/02/11/patreon-dispatches-season-2-num-42/
• The Bones & Bobbins Podcast, Season 1, Episode 12: Flowers, but Not in the Attic? https://www.bonesandbobbins.com/2020/09/25/season-1-episode-12/

Natali: The Art of Victorian Love Letters:

• A Manual Of Correspondence, Showing The Correct Structure, Composition, Punctuation, Formalities, And Uses Of The Various Kinds Of Letters, Notes, And Cards. https://archive.org/details/howtowritelette01westgoog 
• Accokeek Foundation- Love Letters in the 18th Century https://www.accokeek.org/post/love-letters-in-the-18th-century 
• Susanna Ives Blog: ​​https://susannaives.com/wordpress/2012/03/more-victorian-love-letters-and-the-basics-of-postage-stamp-flirtation/ 
• Letters Written to and for Particular Friends, on the Most Important Occasions. Directing Not Only the Requisite Style and Forms to Be Observed in … But How to Think and ACT Justly and Prudently: https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_letters-written-to-and-f_richardson-samuel_1750
• The Postal Museum Blog
• https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/victorians-secret-ways-of-keeping-in-touch/
• Philatelic Database: http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/nostalgia/the-language-of-stamps/
• Oscar Wilde: A life in Letters https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43249.Oscar_Wilde?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=9gtQzwuVva&rank=1

Further Reading:

• A Transatlantic Love Affair: Letters to Nelson Algren https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21125.A_Transatlantic_Love_Affair?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=SMecWkKU1K&rank=3
• Letters to Satre
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21123.Letters_to_Sartre?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=SMecWkKU1K&rank=1
• Letters to Milena https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88340.Letters_to_Milena?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=LRx6f4FvSg&rank=2
• Other: Benedict Cumberbatch reads Chris Barker’s love letter to Bessie Moore (29 January 1945) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tkm7AlXyZU
• Letters Live YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LettersLive
• National Trust Exhibit: My Dearest Jack: The 19th Century Love Letters of Henrietta & Jack  https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/blog/my-dearest-jack-the-19th-century-love-letters-of-henrietta-and-jack/
• The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained (1890), Henry J. Wehman: https://archive.org/details/TheMysteryOfLoveCourtshipAndMarriageExplained