Kristen MacGregor
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kristenmacgregor.bsky.social
Kristen MacGregor
@kristenmacgregor.bsky.social
20 followers 60 following 3 posts
Storyteller. Historical mysteries, romances, and always a happily ever after. She/Her.
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Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
Good morning! The bank holiday is sadly over, so this week's theme is Londoners at Work.
------
'Ludgate Hill, London' (1884) by Wilhelm Trübner

(Private collection)
May 6, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
christiestratos.bsky.social
A handsome man on a cabinet card wearing a classic father killer collar.

I wish I could see the pin on his tie better!

Fashion friends, what is the type of striping on his suit jacket and waistcoat called?

#19thc 🗃️ 🗃️🪡
A young man, maybe in his twenties, with side-parted hair and maybe hair oil used—there are comb marks on the side of his hair facing the camera. He has a straight nose with a lift at the very end. His eyes look to be blue or green. He wears a very well kept mustache only above his upper lip, carefully trimmed. His suit is a classic type (it has some sort of conservative striping I don't know the name of) with a high-closing waistcoat and small-knotted tie.
March 22, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
'Flower-girl on the Putney Bridge, London' (1887) by Alfred Johnson

(Private collection)
May 9, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
christiestratos.bsky.social
A tour of some #19thc corsets.

1880 lavender cotton sateen w/steel spoon busk, cream & orange appliques, cream lace w/red ribbon

1890 black silk corselet, yellow silk embroidery, tangerine silk topstitching

1892 & 1883 glazed black cotton sateens w/cording

[Augusta Auctions]

🗃️ 🗃️🪡
Lavender cotton sateen with steel spoon busk. Decorative machine quilting and appliques in cream and orange over double B godets. Cream lace applied along top edge with red ribbon insertion. Embroidered finishing at base of stays. Lavender-enameled grommets. Stamped "716." Black silk corselet with yellow silk embroidery, tangerine silk topstitching, tangerine flat twined cord insertion to lace trim at top edge. Twill cotton lining. Original lacings. Stamped "IZOD's Patent Moulded Sewn Corsets, Trade Mark 539." 1892 glazed black cotton sateen with corded geometric B panels, steel busk front closure. Adjustable shoulder straps with button closure. Original lacings. Stamped "Kabo Style 201, Pat. Feb. 23 '92"; 1883 heavily corded glazed black cotton sateen corset with steel busk and single side bone. Double-corded gathers across bust with adjustable panels for insertion of bust improvers. Shoulder straps with snap closures. Stamped "Manufactured by the Reliance Corset Co. Patent Feb 21, 1883 Jackson, Mich."
March 26, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
'By the Lake, St James’s Park' by Nicholas Hely Hutchinson
nicholashelyhutchinson.com
May 12, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
christiestratos.bsky.social
There's something about this 1880s dress that really catches me. That skirt! 😍

A lovely two-piece in finely ribbed silk with voided velvet on patterned ground in early #17thc style motif. It has box-pleated satin ruffles and buckram ruffle and a skirt lining.

[Augusta Auctions]

#19thc 🗃️ 🗃️🪡
A very fall-looking two-piece dress. The bodice is a cool tan brown with lapels that match the skirt exactly. The skirt is burgundy in voided velvet with small shell-like patterns The ruffles lining the bottom of the skirt are closer to the tan color (but a little more golden) of the bodice and the back of the trained skirt.
April 22, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
'Hyde Park, May' (1893) by Rose Maynard Barton

(Private collection)
May 14, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
christiestratos.bsky.social
1893 rose-colored silk satin dinner gown brocaded in cream, yellow & gold blossom motif.

Collar, front insert & back overlay w/faceted metallic beads.

Trained skirt with hanging tabs at the front to reveal twill silk satin underdress w/silver lame tulle overlay.

[Augusta Auctions]

#19thc 🗃️ 🗃️🪡
1893 rose-colored silk satin dinner gown brocaded in cream, yellow, and gold blossom motif. The motif includes 10-petaled flowers that are half cream and half gold. In the center of each flower are 5 yellow petals. The flowers run along brown branches and leaves. Collar, front insert, and back overlay with faceted metallic beads. The cuff flounce and jabot are chemical lace. Silk velvet leg of mutton upper sleeves. Center front plastron. Center back bow. Trained skirt with hanging tabs at the front to reveal twill silk satin underdress with silver lame tulle overlay, knotted lame fringe at the base. Skirt is lined in fine cotton buckram. Closeup of the faceted metallic beads on the back collar down onto the upper back in a V shape. The metallic beads are in a four-petal flower shape.
April 26, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
theduncanmackay.bsky.social
I’ve posted this before but the light was perfect today- a little Victorian cat paw in a brick at the front of the old Norfolk & Norwich Hospital. As this is on the front-facing corner of the main gates, the bricklayer quite clearly put it there on purpose, at a height where children would spot it.
Cat paw print in a red brick wall.
December 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
admirablewomen.bsky.social
Beatrix Potter--English writer, illustrator, natural scientist--died #OTD in 1943.

With >250 million copies sold, she is one of the best-selling authors of all time. Her most famous book, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵, remains one of the best-selling books in history. #booksky #literature #litsky
Left: a black-and-white photograph of Beatrix Potter standing outdoors in a long Edwardian coat and high-necked blouse, holding a wide-brimmed hat and gazing calmly at the camera beside an ivy-covered cottage window. Right: the original dark-green cover of her privately printed first edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1901), featuring Peter in his little blue jacket and the words “BY BEATRIX POTTER – F. WARNE & Cº”. Together they capture the quiet, determined woman who turned rejection by publishers into a self-published phenomenon that launched one of the best-selling children’s series of all time.
December 22, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
daveyph.bsky.social
The organ in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral is the biggest in the UK, the second biggest is at The Royal Albert Hall and the third biggest is at St George's Hall in Liverpool.
December 22, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
annadent.bsky.social
Not now, haunted Victorian shoes
December 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
courtneymilan.com
So I am going to say something about romance as a genre.

A lot of people think that romance is ignorable because <insert thing they think about romance> and romance authors don't count because <insert thing they think about romance>.

This thread is not about whether you have to like romance.
December 24, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
christiestratos.bsky.social
A subtle statement on this lovely afternoon dress from 1900.

Brown silk Ottoman with cream silk taffeta. Brown silk woven passementerie overlay: stock collar, yoke, waist, lower sleeve band & cuffs.

Bodice with draped panel gathered into half bow at the left shoulder.

[Augusta Auctions]

🗃️🪡
Description from Augusta Auctions: Brown silk ottoman w/cream silk taffeta & w/brown silk woven passementerie overlay to stock collar, yoke, waist, lower sleeve band & cuffs, bodice w/draped panel gathered into half bow at left shoulder over semicircular panel faced w/glazed cotton buckram, skirt stiffened w/buckram & lined in glazed printed striped cotton
April 28, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
For #WorldWombatDay on a #WombatWednesday :
Dumpy the #Wombat, from Louisa Anne Meredith's _Tasmanian friends and foes : feathered, furred, and finned; a family chronicle of country life, nature history, and veritable adventure_ (1881) p. 53.
archive.org/details/b281...
black & white book illustration of Dumpy, a pet wombat described in the book, sitting in his box with his blanket eating
October 23, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
victorianweb.bsky.social
"At the Seaside"--Victorian style. J. Gordon Thomson's illustration for F. E. West's "A Cottage by the Sea" (The Graphic, 24 July 1886). Things have changed a bit! victorianweb.org/victorian/ar... #summer #holidays
Two women are walking along the beach in hats and bulky clothes, followed by two men swaggering and smoking cigars. The younger of the two ladies carries a lap dog, and other dogs prance around.
August 15, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
lbwfarchives.bsky.social
A Dress Rehearsal 1888, Albert Chevallier Tayler (1862-1925). Albert Chevallier Tayler was born in Leytonstone. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange fabulous fashion for Kingston Glamour: Art, Innovation & the Suburbs at Kingston Museum 🖼️ Lady Lever Art Gallery artuk.org/discover/art...
A Dress Rehearsal 1888, by Albert Chevallier Tayler (1862-1925). 🖼️ Lady Lever Art Gallery https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-dress-rehearsal-102691/search/actor:tayler-albert-chevallier-18621925/page/2/view_as/grid
May 15, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
mpsheritage.bsky.social
150 in ten days' time, the Crime Museum may not have started out as an archive, but did originate in record-keeping of criminals' belongings, from 1870 kept in trust for the term of their sentence & then returned - other than the instruments of crime, naturally! #ArchiveBeginnings #Archive30 #CMU150
A woman in a long skirt sits at a table bearing a large ledger and instruments of crime such as burglars' tools, with three men, a woman and a child standing on the other side of the table. In the room around them pistols, weapons and other tools are attached to the walls on open display, with death masks on a high shelf above them. At the top, close-ups of the pistol used by Edward Oxford in his attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria, a said of items captioned as "The property of a distinguished prisoner", and what looks like a wooden box with a plunger entitled "Prof. Zandevesto's fortune telling machine". Overall caption is "The Criminal Museum at the Convict Office, Metropolitan Police Department, Scotland-Yard".
April 2, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
'An Omnibus Ride to Piccadilly Circus, Mr Gladstone Travelling with Ordinary Passengers' (1885) by Alfred Morgan

(Private collection)
June 3, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
clpolk.com
Hey I know this is probably obvious but super duper don't use AI marketing tools to attempt to sell or pitch books, are you out of your mind?

They're *books.* you sell them to people who *read.* have some respect for their ability to spot slop.
December 22, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
christiestratos.bsky.social
A traditional 1895 wedding gown with lovely details!

3-piece horizontal ribbed silk gown.

High stock collar w/standing ruffle back.

Side bows, wax-filled pearls, crystal seed beads & silk ribbon at waist, collar & back of elbow. Elongated front falls on skirt.

[Augusta Auctions]

#19thc 🗃️ 🗃️🪡
Three-piece horizontal ribbed silk gown. High stock collar with standing ruffle at center back. Side bows, wax-filled pearls, fine crystal seed beads & silk ribbon all also at waist, back of elbow & elongated front falls on skirt. Leg of mutton sleeve. Skirt with cotton velveteen hem facing. Buckram hem stiffening. Closeup of the high stock collar with standing ruffle at center back, plus the wax-filled pearls and fine crystal seed beads.
May 2, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
lbwfarchives.bsky.social
History of the Walthamstow School Board 1880-1903, published as a record of the Board's work. An excellent resource for local education & social history, it includes lists of head teachers, useful for family history research if your ancestors taught in late 19th century Walthamstow. #BookoftheMonth
Front cover of the book 'History of the Walthamstow School Board 1880-1903'. Illustration captioned 'Centre for Deaf and Dumb Children, William Morris School', from 'History of the Walthamstow School Board 1880-1903'. Illustration captioned 'Laundry Centre, Queen’s Road School', from 'History of the Walthamstow School Board 1880-1903'. Example of page giving brief employment details of head teachers, from 'History of the Walthamstow School Board 1880-1903'.
May 28, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
victorianweb.bsky.social
The Victorian Web @victorianweb

"Alice in Wonderland" by George Dunlop Leslie, 1879--what so many children seem to be missing now, the #reading, the imaginative world, the sharing, the closeness... the pleasure! victorianweb.org/painting/les...
#books #childhood #painting
A little girl nestles close to her mother on the sofa, as the mother reads to her from a book. The child holds some flowers but has discarded her toy, and looks dreamy-eyed. Half-smiling, the mother holds her free hand.
August 28, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
alphonsemucha.bsky.social
The seasons (Spring, Summer) https://www.wikiart.org/en/alphonse-mucha/the-seasons-spring-summer-1898
The seasons (Spring, Summer)
April 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Kristen MacGregor
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
'The Garden of Eden', Kensington Gardens (1901) by Hugh Goldwin Riviere

(Guildhall Art Gallery)
July 24, 2025 at 4:40 PM