Vices and Volumes | Navigate Irish and British History's Absurdities from 1800s Books

By Avril Clinton-Forde

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Category: History

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Episodes: 23

Description

Victorians had opinions about EVERYTHING. Jaw shapes. Correct use of coil horns. Servant's gloves. All treated with the kind of earnest detail usually reserved for matters of real importance. Avril Clinton-Forde selects the delightfully absurd from her collection of Irish and British 1800s books—where privileged people wrote volumes about life's minutiae. Social catastrophes, Irish banshee etiquette, Georgian marriage disasters, bizarre upper-class hobbies, and enjoys wonderfully overcomplicated language of the 19th Century. For history lovers, heritage enthusiasts, and curious insomniacs!

Episode Date
Author Richard Maher brings us Sir Charles Wogen, Kildare's Jacobite Spy & the Princess Rescue 1719
Jun 09, 2026
Mayo & Galway 1852 | Lord Lucan's Evictions, Bare Feet & a Very Tinder Horse
May 26, 2026
The Irishman's Harvest | Famine Ireland Through an Englishman's Notebook 1851
May 12, 2026
Atlantic Cable 1857 | Valentia Kerry & the Mechanic of Insufficient Intelligence
Apr 28, 2026
Georgian Women Told to Hide Their Minds | Conduct Books 1761
Apr 14, 2026
Inside Castletown House | Lady Louisa Conolly's Georgian Letters
Mar 31, 2026
Maynooth 1845 | When a Protestant Queen Blushed for Ireland, Co. Kildare
Mar 17, 2026
Victorian Men Who Wouldn't Stop Talking | Egotists & Bores, 1878
Mar 03, 2026
County Tyrone Matchmaker 1845 | Mary Murray's Marriage Schemes
Feb 17, 2026
Victorian Love Letters End with Business Cards | London & Yorkshire 1810
Feb 03, 2026
Victorian Perfection Standards | Lady Colin Campbell's Scandal & Etiquette (1884)
Jan 20, 2026
A Dublin Cabman's Tour | Irish Hospitality and Creative Storytelling in 1852
Jan 06, 2026
Survival Guide to Winter in 1823 | How Victorian Beds Could Kill You!
Dec 16, 2025
Victorian Ladies Forbidden to Speak | Tongue Control & The Slang Crisis of 1888
Dec 02, 2025
Georgian Dog Care & Mercury Poisoning | Peter Beckford's Compassion & Contradiction (1787)
Nov 18, 2025
Georgian Hunting Literature 1781 | Westport Bookshop Discovery | Vices and Volumes
Nov 11, 2025
The Mutton Chop Test: Choosing a Wife in 1829 William Cobbett's Advice to Young Men How to Judge a Wife by Her Jaws, Footsteps, and Needle Ownership
Nov 04, 2025
Familiar Spirits & Witch-Hunting Science | Matthew Hopkins' Reign of Terror (1645)
Oct 27, 2025
Salem's Spectral Evidence | How Witch Trials Corrupted Legal Systems (1692-1847)
Oct 21, 2025
Bare Recital | Legends of the Bashee
Oct 14, 2025
The Banshee's Midnight Call | Death Omens and Supernatural Warnings in 19th Century Ireland
Oct 07, 2025
Wit, Whiskey, and Water How a Perpetual Debtor Became Ireland's Most Famous Fishing Guide
Sep 30, 2025
Vices & Volumes - An introduction to the podcast.
Sep 25, 2025