Regency Era Fashions - Ackermann's Repository 1819

Welcome back to another installment of Regency fashions from the pages of Ackermann's Repository.

In my last post for 1818 - I gave a bit of information about Mourning dress customs, since these were playing a significant part in fashions that year.  Ackermann's published a record number of 4 fashion plates depicting Full-Mourning dress; then to started off the new year of 1819, they published 2 fashion plates showing Half-Mourning as the Royal court continued in it's mourning for beloved family members.

My pick of the 1819 Ackermann Fashion Plates

The Regency Royal court was in Mourning from late 1817 through 1819 due to the deaths of Princess Charlotte in Nov 1817 and then later for Her Royal Majesty Queen Charlotte in Nov 1818.

(Princess Charlotte was the only child of the Prince of Wales "Prince Regent aka Prinny" who later became King George IV.  Queen Charlotte was the wife of King George III and mother to the Prince Regent).
The Prince Regent was ruling England in place of his father George III (Mad King George) so Prinny was actually setting the tone for Court mourning due to his loss of both daughter and mother during this time. 

 Ackermann's Repository 1819 Fashion Plates

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

Please note that even though some of the coloration on this garment appears to be a 

pale blue; this coloration is depicting the shadowed areas of the white trim.

If you read the description of the garment below you will see that it is in the 

traditional half-mouning colors of black, grey and white.

There is no blue in this outfit at all.

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

I'm including all the Ackermann's fashion articles for January 1819 depicting these Half-Mourning costumes and how the Royal families mourning was effecting the fashion trends of the time.  

I thought it was an interesting glimpse into this time period and hope you enjoy reading it too.

1819 Fashions- Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

1819 Fashions- Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

1819 Fashions- Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

1819 Fashions- Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

1819 Fashions- Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

1819 Fashions- Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

1819 Fashions- Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - January Issue

Now to continue with the Ackermann Fashion Plates of 1819

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - February Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - February Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - March Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - March Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - April Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - April Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - May Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - May Issue

(Just an interesting tidbit I wanted to share). 

On occasion there were errors with the Ackermann Fashion Plates.

The most common error seems to be where the colorist applied the wrong choice to a garment.

For instance the description of a dress may have stated pale green but it was actually colored in 

pink. Each of Ackermann's "plates" were hand-colored by hired women all over London and they and their children did the work in their homes; therefore this type of mistake did happen from time to time.

This is why some issues my have that particular garment in the correct color where other issues would have the same plate in an incorrect color.  Another example would be the very first January 1819 fashion plate of a half-mourning, walking dress. There are areas which appear to be a pale blue when there is no blue at all in this garment - based on both the description and the fact that blue is not a half-mourning color.  It's not uncommon that a colorist would use a very light blue when accenting the shaded areas of a white item; however in this example it was an incorrect choice and cause the garment to appear as if it is light blue when it is not.  Chances are there are probably examples of this same garment in other issues where this is not the case and the colorist used a more appropriate pale gray for shading rather this this stronger blue seen in this example.

Another type of error is in the printing of a plate.

Here are two such examples where that happened in June 1819.

(The Evening Dress and Morning Dress received the wrong captions under each costume.)

It is possible that the error was caught in mid-print and there could be other issues that

had the correct caption under each costume but the issue I had access to shows the errors.

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - June Issue
An example of an Ackermann's Error  - this is the Evening Dress for the June issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 7 - June Issue
An example of an Ackermann's Error  - this is the Morning Dress for the June issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - July Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - July Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - August Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - August Issue

September 1819 Fashions Missing

The Ackermann's Series 2 Vol 8 I had access to was missing the 

fashion plates for September of 1819.  The Fashion descriptions were

there but the fashion plates were not.  I do not know if this was a printing

error that they were excluded or if those plates were accidentally removed when

the July - Dec 1819 issues were being bound into book form that became Vol 8.

Rather than tease you by only showing the descriptions for the missing garments 

I thought I'd give you a fun bit of information about the binding process to show how these 

individual issues became books in libraries; which allowed several of them to survive over 

the past 200 years, so we can still enjoy them today. 

A bit of information about how these magazine issues became Bound Book Volumes

Ackermann's Repository was a monthly periodical that was published over a 20 year period 

from 1809 to 1828 with a total of 3 Series. 

Series 1 was 1809-1815  Series 2 was 1816-1822 and Series 3 was 1823-1828.  

This was an extremely popular publication and in many cases these issues were later 

bound professionally into volumes that included 6 months per bound volume 

(This helps to explain the odd numbering system on the plates, if you were wondering 

what all the Series and Volume numbers meant on some of the plates)

This numbering system is what allowed independent binders to properly order the pages 

of each issue as they turned them into bound book form.

Unlike magazine we get today and throw out or put in the recycling bin; Ackermann's was in a way a historical account/reference of daily life, fashion, politics, art, literature and more of the time; therefore granting it a place in many private libraries.  Subscribers of the day had several options when it came to the binding of the Ackermann's Repository issues.  They could save and take their issues to a binder and have them bound as they chose to coordinate with other books in their personal libraries. (Ackermann's even published and sent binders the information necessary to do this correctly) You could also purchase pre-bound issues directly from Ackermann's and other booksellers with various binding options to choose from.  There was even a trade up option available where for an up-charge you would return your issues to Ackermann's and purchase one of the pre-bound versions for a discounted amount.

Here is an example of Ackermann's giving binding instructions in one of their issues.

 (another fun tidbit to read since it also includes an open call for articles 

and how to subscribe or obtain issues of Ackermann's)

Example of binding instructions and more

(Update 09-27-13  I located images of what the missing Sept 1819 Fashion Plates look like)

I found these two September 1819 Ackermann fashion plates listed on eBay today!
It's always so much fun to find the "missing" pieces so I hope you enjoy seeing them too.

Now for the conclusion of the 1819 Fashion plates

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - October Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - October Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - November Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - November Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - December Issue

1819 - Ackermann's Repository Series 2 Vol 8 - December Issue

I hope you have enjoyed another adventure into the
Ackermann Repository fashions of the Regency era.


 1819 puts us half way through Ackermann's series 2 and also
the mid-point of the 20 year run of Ackermann's Repository.

For your convenience:
below are links for for the previously posted fashions
from series 1 and the first part of series 2.

Ackermann's ran series 1 from 1809 - 1815

Series 1 -  Vol 1 & 2  - 1809
Series 1 -  Vol 3 & 4  - 1810
Series 1 -  Vol 5 & 6  - 1811
Series 1 -  Vol 7 & 8  - 1812 
Series 1 -  Vol 9 & 10 - 1813
Series 1 - Vol 11 & 12 - 1814
Series 1 - Vol 13 & 14  - 1815

Ackermann's ran series 2 from 1816 - 1822

Series 2 - Vol 1 & 2 - 1816

Series 2 - Vol 3 & 4 - 1817

Series 2 - Vol 5 & 6 - 1818

Series 2 - Vol 7 & 8 - 1819

(1820 - 1822 - are yet to be posted)

Series 2 - Vol 9 & 10 - 1820

Series 2 - Vol 11 & 12 - 1821

Series 2 - Vol 13 & 14 - 1822

Ackermann's ran series 3 from 1823 - 1828

(series 3 coming soon)

I hope you join me again 

for more from Ackermann's Repository

Till next time...

Thanks for visiting me here at EKDuncan.blogspot.com

If you have enjoyed seeing these images from Ackermann's Repository 

and would like the opportunity to see and read an original for yourself 

they are are available on line at www.archive.org

Click HERE then choose the volume you are interested in.

You can then see and read them online or download 

them to your computer for future reference.

Enjoy!