A photo of the 1814 yearly volume of La Belle Assemblée belonging to Fanny Austen Knight, relative of Jane Austen.
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A photo of the 1814 yearly volume of La Belle Assemblée belonging to Fanny Austen Knight, relative of Jane Austen. |
Laudermilk, Sharon, and Teresa L. Hamlin. The Regency Companion. New York: Garland, 1989.
John Bell (1745-1831) ran Bell's Circulating Library, which c. 1778-1780, according to one
of its catalogues had "above fifty thousand volumes (English, Italian, and French) in history,
antiquities, voyages ..." La Belle Assemblee was also sometimes called Bell's Court and
Fashionable Magazine or the Court Magazine and Belle Assemblee. The Early British
Periodical Microfilm Series from University Microfilms has reproduced this magazine on reels 749
to 754. The first series of 7 volumes ran from February of 1806 to 1810; the new series of 30
volumes ran from 1810 to 1824, and the third series ran for fifteen volumes from 1825 to 1832. In Southern California, USC is the best place to look at original copies of this magazine; they have the issues from 1811-2 and 1825-32.
Laudermilk and Hamlin write: "This magazine contained a wealth of information on a wide
range of women's concerns. It was a true women's magazine with celebrity anecdotes, instructions
of manners, cosmetic advice, and beauty aids. Dress and fashion were covered in delightfully
colored fashion plates--the best of which were from 1809 to 1820. Fashion plates were presented with lengthy, written descriptions, and modish gentlewomen pounced on the latest monthly issue. . . . The magazine was filled with advertisements that touted the wonders of various rouges, depilatories, powders, and corsets" (32-3).
I have been able to examine some of the "new series" that began in 1810. The
issues are numbered continuously through the volumes. The volume numbers change
every six months, not like we change them, once a year. There are often supplements
to the volume, which throws off the numbers even more. Plates are dated ahead
one month. Thus the plates dated April 1809 and February 1814 are the plates
published in the issue before labelled and dated for the next month. The fashion
section is actually rather small, usually two plates per month and a general
commentary.
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Various Issues(new series begins 1810) February 1813 (Vol. 7, No. 42)
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January 1817 (Vol. 15, No. 93) February 1817 (Vol. 15, No. 94) January 1818 (Vol. 17, No. 106) February 1818 (Vol. 17, No. 107)
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Court Dress and details
Above, Cheltenham Summer Dress
 | Promenade Dresses, 1813. The two ladies stroll through a garden in simple, plain gowns tied under the breasts with sashes. The lady on the left wears a short ruffled cape over her gown, while the lady on the right wears a shawl and carries a parasol. Both dresses are cut rather high. |
Left: Seaside Bathing Dress, 1815. It is unclear to me if this dress is simply to be worn to the bathing machine, which can be seen in the lower left of the picture, or actually into the sea. Most likely the former, since the bathing machines acted as changing rooms as well. Note the odd green and white slippers that match the dress, which is purple with green trim.
Right: Morning Carriage Dress, c. 1805-1820. This carriage dress has a little capelet of fur and a matching muff to go with it. Note the bizarre carved table leg with a huge claw at the bottom and the odd grinning monkey head at the top.
Ball Dress, 1818, and detail of the hem
Detail
of headdress of ball dress above, 1818
Evening Dress, 1825
