It's my pleasure to welcome back Donna MacMeans to Over Coffee. I thought it quite interesting to find that there were personal ads for finding companions and mates as early as the 1800's. Precursor to dating sites in our day. A lesson in the more things change the more they stay the same.
One commenter has the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Donna's latest release, The Casanova Code.
One commenter has the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Donna's latest release, The Casanova Code.
A few years back, a friend sent me an article about Victorian
personal ads: man seeks woman, woman
seeks man...yes, they had those sort of things back then, only they were more
eloquent in their phrasing. Here’s an
example:
B.78 Middlesex – Age 25; fair, slight, fond of music, and a lively temperament; would like to make the acquaintance of an educated, refined man not under 30; not necessarily for marriage; wishes to correspond with a gentleman who is cultured and of a sympathetic disposition, either a business or professional man, but must be at least 30, and not more than 50; not a clergyman; a man of broad views and fond of music.July 1898
The ads make perfect sense when you think about it. The industrial revolution brought people
into the cities, expanding the population and changing the methods used to find
a life partner. Personal ads came into
being about fifty years after newspapers began to widely circulate, but it
wasn’t until the Victorian period that the ads became common.
Which got me thinking...(always a dangerous development)...what
if someone knew that a notorious rogue was behind the placement of an ad for a
quiet, unassuming female, and what if that someone felt obligated to warn any
respondents of the danger they faced.
Thus my group of women determined to save other women from unscrupulous
men was born - The Rake Patrol.
I discovered something interesting in my research of personal ads
that helped shape the first book in my Rake Patrol series. Sometimes the personal ads were written in
code because the two correspondents didn’t want others “eavesdropping” on their
otherwise public conversations. I gave my heroine, Edwina Hargrove, the ability
to break code and read some of those secret conversations. That particular talent gets her in more
trouble than she ever imagined possible.
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THE CASANOVA CODE:
“A refined gentleman, age 25, of wealth and education, seeks the
acquaintance, with a view to matrimony, of a high-minded, kind-hearted lady who
prefers an evening of quiet conversation to the lively demands of
society.”
Edwina Hargrove knows that this “gentleman” was, in fact,
Ashton Trewelyn, a rake notorious for seducing the young and naive. In fact,
five decent women have already been tricked and bundled off to the continent
for scandalous purposes. There was a
way to thwart his scheme though—by shadowing this devilishly handsome Casanova
and warning his prey. If only it were that simple.
Wounded and weary, Ashton Trewelyn returns home to London
from the King’s Royal Rifles but soon discovers a coded message that has
implications for the Crown and his family.
His only hope to unravel the mystery lies in the enigmatic Edwina’s
ability to recognize patterns. Even as
he leads her on a path of secret societies and risque temptations, he discovers
she arouses his jaded soul with temptations of her own. Must they risk everything to decipher
Casanova’s Code? EXCERPT
Secret Codes, secret societies, sexy heroes - what more
could you want in a romance? I had a
great time writing THE CASANOVA CODE and I’m hoping your readers will enjoy it
as well. Someone leaving a comment on
the blog today will win an autographed copy.
I suppose the modern
equivalent of personal ads are the online dating services.
- Have you ever tried one? Would you ever try one? What attributes would you advertise for in a partner? Would you be honest about yourself or take creative license (grin)? Let’s chat!
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