Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Edwardian Ladies' Capes (Eaton's Catalog, 1901)

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
― L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between
Imagine being able to pay $3.50 for a black brocaded satin cape (with plainer trimmings) and a mere $12.00 for a black brocaded silk cape, lined with India silk, and trimmed with lace and silk ruching. Those were the good old days, right?

Here is an ineteresting page advertising ladies' capes in a 1901 catalog from T. Eaton Co., later known as Eaton's, a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country.

You can download this catalog page as a free ready-to-print 9" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark for cardmaking, collage or DIY wall art projects by clicking here.


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19th Century Public Domain Poetry: Twilight by Augusta Hancock

TWILIGHT
by Augusta Hancock
(originally published August 19, 1893)

In the tender hush of twilight,
When the summer day is o'er,
And the little waves are rippling
On the golden-tinted shore,
Comes the western wind's soft dream-song
With sweet echoes evermore.

Come amid the gathering shadows,
As they linger long and low,
Visions fair and fancies fleeting,
From the misty years ago;
With the old-time memories stealing
Ever softly, to and fro.

Comes again a loving echo
Like a lingering refrain,
From those voices in the gloaming
With their gladness and their pain;
And the never-failing sweetness
Of that long-remembered strain.

Comes the dewy breath of comfort,
Comfort for the souls that weep, For the hearts that faint with sorrow
'Mid the shadows long and deep;
For the twilight brings the rest-time.
And to God's beloved, sleep.

Featured paintings, from top to bottom:
(1) Evening by the Lake by Max Nonnenbruch (1857 - 1922)
(2) Autumn Sunset by Jakub Schikaneder (1855 - 1924)
(3) Scirocco, 1885 by Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854 - 1922)
(4) Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break by Walter Langley (1852 - 1922)
(5) An Evening by the Sea by Alfred Stevens (1823 - 1906)


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

19th Century Public Domain Poetry: Sadness by S. E. Everett

Painting ia titled "Symphony in Green"
by Alfred Stevens (1823 - 1906)

SADNESS
by S.E. Everett
(originally published 1867)

My heart is filled with strange unrest;
I'm sad, I know not why;
This world seems all a weariness,
From which I fain would fly.
It is not that I envy those
By fortune more caressed;
Nor is it strife with worldly foes,
That brings this wild unrest.

My friends are true, the world is kind;
My wants are well supplied;
Nor can my wishes be defined,
Or tell what I'm denied.
Yet strange it is, my heart is sad;
The days are long and drear;
And oft I wish their measure had
Fulfilled their courses here.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.