Essential Reading

'I have been a family historian for more than 40 years, and a professional historian for over 30, but as I read it, I was constantly encountering new ways of looking at my family history....Essential reading I would say!' Alan Crosby, WDYTYA Magazine

Monday 18 December 2017

Ancestors' Advent Calendar: Dec 18th: Christmas Decorations by Gaslight!


Colin Smith- Wikimedia Commons





‘Christmas Decoration should be prepared with a view to being effective by gaslight. Hence, elaborate colouring is less needful than broad and bold effects. Half-tints, as  a rule, are quite washy by gaslight, though some neutrals, such as lilac, dove-colour, and fawn, are valuable, as they afford by gaslight various chaste shades of grey, and are more pleasing than white. These colours will generally be preferable to red, or any of the primary colours, for ribbons to tie garlands, and in artificial flares to brighten the effects of the stronger colours. The two predominating colours in Christmas Decorations should be red and green. Any and every shade of the two colours can be used to advantage, but depth and richness are needed to be consistent with the season.’  
                                               Birmingham Daily Post 27th December 1866







Gas Light By Thomas's Pics, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31971469








Four family history books with a difference....











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