DOMESTIC ECONOMY.
THE MAGAZINE OF DOMESTIC ECONIMY. VOLUME THE FIRST - FIFTH. (a single thin straight line) WE ARE BOTRN AT HOME, WE LIVE AT HOME, AND WEE MUST DIE AT HOME, SO THAT THE COMFORT AND ECONOMY OF HOME ARE MORE DEEP AND HEART-FELT, AND PERSONAL INTEREST TO US,THAN THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS OF ALL THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD. (a single thin straight line) LONDON: PUBLISHED BY ORR AND SMITH, PATERNOSTER ROW; AND W. & R. CHAMBERS, EDINBURGH. (a single very small thin straight line) MDCCCCXXXVI.
Three thick Volumes. 220 x 147 x 49 mm. 1st VOL: 1st TOME: 1fep. Title page. [1] (1)iv Preface. (1)ii - iii Introduction. 4 - 382. (1)384 - 387 Index. 2nd VOL: [1] Half Title. [1] Title Page. [1] (1)2 - 376. (1)378 - 380. Index. 1fep. 3rd VOL: 2nd TOME: 1fep. Half-Title [1] Title page. [1] (1)2 - 376. (1)378 - 380. Index. 1fep. 4th VOL: 1fep. Half-Title [1] Title page. [1] (1)2 - 376. (1)378 - 380. Index. 1fep. 5th VOL: 3rd TOME: 1fep. Half-Title [1] Title page. [1] (1)2 - 376. (1)378 - 380. Index. 1fep. 6th VOL: 1fep. Half-Title [1] Title page. [1] (1)2 - 376. (1)378 - 380. Index. 1fep. All fully bound in dark green embossed silk with light brown label. with gilt text and tooling. Overall all volumes slightly age browned with very slight foxing throughout. A fine set.
- If you look at Item Ref: 11279 on this site, you can see the four volumes of Cassell's company produced books about the 'Household' with no authorship attributed. This is also the case when you peruse these three volumes here published by William S. Orr's publishing house. It's obvious both are typical of a Victorian printed genre aimed at a burgeoning middle-class due to the huge ramp-up of the British industrial revolution. The big difference is that these Orr produced volumes are full of all manner of things that the Victorian husband and wife would need, but without illustrations nor colour plates to enrich the production, whereas the Cassell books are heavily illustrated with chromolithograph colour plates and practical black and white vignettes. The Cassell production was a direct response to the famous O.S. Beeton and Ward Lock publishing phenomenon of Isabella Beeton's 'Household Management'. But Beeton's book itself was a direct response to this type of earlier book here. One of the other big differences besides the gaps in years, between all three household books is that Beeton's is attributed to Isabella and not just a company. William S. Orr was a publishers' agent from the 1830s, and was a close associate of Robert and William Chambers, (the other publisher named in these six volumes). He printed a London edition of 'Chambers's Edinburgh Journal' by mid-1832. The arrangement used stereotype plates, and brought the circulation up to 50,000. He published these volumes of 'Household Economy' in 1936. By 1845 the overall circulation was declining from its peak, and Orr wrote to Chambers explaining that the market was changing. In 1846 Chambers terminated the arrangement with Orr. Punch magazine, set up in 1841, brought in Orr to help with distribution to booksellers and news agents. Orr died in 1873. Whatever the publishing merits or not of these books, they are fascinating pragmatic advice for everything needed to be known about the setting up of a comfortable Victorian home.
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Antiquarian category
ref number:
11280