British History Books for Reading

FINGERTIP RESEARCH BOOKS

By Therese Stenzel

 I asked some very prolific historical authors who write European based stories what books do they keep at their fingertips while writing. Some of these you might just enjoy reading if you are as obsessed with English history as I am!. 

VICTORIAN RESEARCH

Household Management by Margaret Willes

Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton

The Essential Handbook of Victorian Etiquette by Thomas E. Hill

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool

 

REGENCY RESEARCH

A Regency Companion. by Laudermilk (Out of print and very expensive--considered the Bible of the Regency period.)

Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester

Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners: Compliments, Charades & Horrible Blunders by Josephine Ross

Jane Austen For Dummies by Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray

The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800's by Marc McCuthceon

SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY RESEARCH

 The Seventeenth Century, Everyday Life by Silver Burdett (A children's book)
 Seventeenth Century: Everyday Life by Laurence Taylor

The Story of Civilization VIII, The Age of Louis XIV by Will and Ariel Durant
 The Splendid Century, Life in the France of Louis XIV by W.H. Lewis

 

MEDIEVAL RESEARCH

Culpepper's Color Herbal by Storey Publishing

Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages:The British Isles from 500 to 1500 by    Sherrilyn Kenyon

Fast and Feast:Food in Medieval Society by Bridget Ann Henish

The Black Death by Philip Ziegler

Marriage and Family in the Middle Ages by Frances and Joseph Gies

English Through the Ages by William Brohaugh

Daily Life in the Middle Ages by Paul B. Newman

The Year 1000 by Robert Lacey

Life in a Medieval Village by Frances and Joseph Gies

The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England by Barbara Hanawalt.

The English Medieval House by Margaret E. Wood

 

PIRATE RESEARCH

A General History of the Pyrates by Daniel Defoe

Pirates, Privateers, and Rebel Raiders of the Carolina Coast by Lindley S. Butler

The Pirate Primer:Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers & Rogues by George Choundas

Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly

 

 SHIPS AND SAILING RESEARCH

Nelson's Navy 1793-1815 by Brian Lavery

Seamanship in the Age of Sail by John Harland

The Visual Encyclopedia of Nautical Terms under Sail by Basil W. Bathe

 

COSTUME RESEARCH
20,000 Years of Fashion:  The History of Costume and Personal Adornment by Francois Boucher

Historic Costume for the Stage by Barton

Historic Costume in Pictures by Braun and Schneider