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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Gorgeous post-eclipse sunset at Watchet (didn‘t capture the big event itself!)

A golden sunset over the Bristol Channel. Watchet harbour wall in the foreground. Little scudding clouds in the sky, tinged with a golden glow.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Some views of Trinity College/ Dublin, taken at #RSVP2026. Such a fantastic event!

Trinity College Dublin, with blue sky and clouds behind.

A spherical metal sculpture outside a building on the Trinity College campus, Dublin.

The Oscar Wilde sculpture at Merrion Square Dublin.

Street furniture spray painted with the face of James Joyce, Dublin.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Happening soon! If you’re at #RSVP2026 come and join us at Panel 4E to hear about mediated memories of the Irish Famine!

A PowerPoint slide titled ‘Hunger, Memory and Masculinity in the Post-Famine Fiction of The Irish-American’.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Today’s reading matter at the British Library: a beautiful 1847 edition of William Carleton’s The Black Prophet. #19thCentury

A decorative cover of the first edition of William Carleton’s The Back Prophet. The background is deep green, with red and gold embellishments. The title is in a Gothic-style font.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

The perfect view for some relaxing Friday-evening yoga after the busiest of terms …

The picture shows wooden decking leading to a beautiful view - trees in full leaf with a mountain in the distance and a clear blue sky.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Managed to catch the final weekend of the William Nicholson exhibition at Pallant House. Much as I love Nicholson’s later paintings, I adore his earlier graphic work, like these woodcut prints of Queen Victoria and (my personal fave) Sarah Bernhardt. #19thCentury #art

A print showing Queen Victoria as an older woman, dressed in black, with a dog at her side.

A print showing the 19th century actress Sarah Bernhardt standing with her arms spread open in front of a theatre curtain.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

In the pre-Christmas excitement, I forgot to mention that I have a new article out in a special issue of VPFJ. If you’re interested in neo-Victorian representations of George Sand and queer possibility check it out! victorianpopularfiction.org/publications...

A Victorian-style collage including a sitting woman in 19th century dress with her hand on her hip, some flowers, and words ‘Re-articulating the third sex: Victorian and Neo Victorian engagements with LGBTQIA+, edited by Helena Esser and Claire O’Callaghan’. The artwork is by Helena Esser.

A Victorian-style collage with a picture of George Sand, and the words ‘The Search for a Liveable Life: George Sand, Scandal and Queer Possibility in Briefly, A Delicious Life’ by Charlotte Boyce. The artwork is by Helens Esser.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Nearly time for one of my favourite Christmas traditions - wrapping some last minute presents while watching the BBC’s latest Ghost Story for Christmas. This year it’s E F Benson’s The Room in the Tower, starring Tobias Menzies and Joanna Lumley - can’t wait!! #Gothic

A promotional still from the BBC’s new adaptation of the story The Room in the Tower, starring Tobias Menzies and Joanna Lumley.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Exciting news - The Edinburgh Companion to Romanticism and the Arts is out in paperback! And EUP are offering a 30% discount! Why not treat yourself??

A flyer for the paperback edition of The Edinburgh Companion to Romanticism and the Arts, with a 30% discount (use code PAPER30 at the EUP website)

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

One of my favourite objects at MFA Boston: an inkwell of Sarah Bernhardt as a sphinx - sculpted by the actress herself! #HappyHalloween

A Gothic looking inkwell depicting the 19th century actress Sarah Bernhardt as a sphinx with bat’s wings.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Why are you even framing this as a matter of debate, Daily Mail? Totally irresponsible.

A Daily Mail headline reading: what is the REAL truth about any link between paracetamol and autism?

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Beautiful medieval floor tiles at Titchfield Abbey in Hampshire. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the building was converted into a mansion by Thomas Wriothesley (of ‘Call-Me Risley’ fame for fans of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy).

Medieval floor tiles at Tichfield Abbey. Some of them are patterned and some inscribed with Latin text.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

The famous beetle-wings dress worn by Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, now on display at Terry’s former home, Smallhythe Place in Kent. The picture doesn’t quite do it justice - the colours are so much deeper and more iridescent in real life! 🤩 #19thCentury #FashionHistory

A photo of a green, floor-length dress decorated with beetle wings and a gold and green knotted belt.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Can we take a moment to appreciate the gorgeousness of Rudyard Kipling’s dining room wallpaper? #Bateman’s #19thCentury #Art #InteriorDesign

A picture of the interior of Rudyard Kipling’s dining room at Bateman’s in East Sussex.

A close up of the wallpaper in Rudyard Kipling’s dining room. It’s gold with painted foliage and birds.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

I can still recite every word of this by heart … 🥹 RIP Allan Ahlberg

The front cover of the children’s book Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Wonderful to see so many old and new faces at BAVS’ 25th anniversary conference! #BAVS2025 It was particularly inspirational to hear from so many of our past presidents at the event’s closing panel. A fitting ending to a fantastic 3 days! #19thCentury #BAVSTRAVAGANZA

A photo showing the six past presidents of BAVS, the current and incoming president, sitting in a line at the annual conference.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Happening later today at #RSVP2025 - panel 1B. Come along if you’re in Chicago!

A laptop screen showing the opening slide for a presentation on Body Image in the Girl’s Own Paper: Conflicting Voices and Visions.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Love to see the Welsh flag flying in South End, Boston! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇺🇸

A Welsh flag (red dragon on white and green background) flies from a top floor balcony.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Re-engaging with Sally Mitchell’s classic *The New Girl*, and love her account of how she got the sabbatical to write it!

The New Girl … was written almost by accident and certainly for fun. When the form to apply for a sabbatical had a section headed “Describe your methodology” I actually wrote “I will read a great deal and write something”.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Day 1 of the INCS 2025 Conference in Genoa has not disappointed! Great panels and an amazing city 🤩

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Did a (belated!) Chelsea chop over the weekend so now have lots of lovely blooms to bring some colour to the house 😊

Photo of a cream vase containing purple salvias and red lilies (I think! Not an expert on plants)

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

The South Downs looking resplendent this sunny weekend 😎

A view from Harting Down, with fields and hills extending into the distance. The sky is blue with just a few tiny white clouds.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

I was so excited to see The Women of Llanrumney at the Sherman Theatre last night after missing out on tickets for last year’s sold-out run. It was harrowing but brilliant. Suzanne Packer in particular was amazing. If you get the chance to see it, do!

Poster for Azuka Oforka’s play The Women of Llanrumney. In shows a candlelit scene. Annie, an eighteenth century house slave on a Jamaican sugar plantation, is setting down a platter of fruit on an elaborately laid dinner table. She is staring directly at the viewer. On the left and right hand sides of the poster flames are raging.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Some examples of Queen Victoria’s mourning dress, on display at the ‘Dress Codes’ exhibition at Kensington Palace. #19thCentury

A black mourning dress and white widow’s cap worn by Queen Victoria.

A black crepe mourning jacket worn by Queen Victoria.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Convinced I would be sooo much more productive if I could just work in Dylan Thomas’s lovely little writing shed …

The exterior of Dylan Thomas’s writing shed in Laugharne.

The interior of Dylan Thomas’s little writing shed, with a desk and chair, and notes and pictures on the walls.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

My parents have been cleaning out their ancient drinks cabinet and among the treasures found are 2 unopened bottles of Bailey’s (use by date 2023) and this dusty bottle of Angostura Bitters (bought for £2.99 in Tesco according to the price sticker - date unknown).

An old and dusty bottle of Angostura bitters.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

The Girl’s Own Paper’s helpful advice on how to preserve your complexion? ‘Avoid worry.’ Um, yeah, thanks for that! #19thcentury

Text from the 1902 volume of The Girl’s Own Paper saying ‘avoid worry’.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Sure, the world’s going to hell in a handcart, but why not organise a bicycle gymkhana? The Girl’s Realm is here to show you how!

An article on how to organise a bicycle gymkhana from the late C19th magazine The Girl’s Realm.

A picture of women on bicycles standing up and holding hands from an article on how to organise a bicycle gymkhana from the late C19th magazine The Girl’s Realm.

Some text and a picture of a woman riding a bike backwards from an article on how to organise a bicycle gymkhana from the late C19th magazine The Girl’s Realm.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Great to be back at the British Library, but I’m gutted to have missed their Medieval Women exhibition - by just 3 days 🤦‍♀️

A huge wall poster for the ‘Medieval Women in their Own Words’ exhibition at the British Library.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

This weekend’s dog walk took us past the Tichborne estate - famous to Victorianists (and readers of Zadie Smith’s novel The Fraud) as the centre of a C19th cause célèbre! Pictured: The Tichborne Arms, looking resplendent in the early spring sunshine.

A photograph of the Titchborne Arms pub, an old red brick building with a thatched roof.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Happy St David’s Day!

A picture of a woodland scene with a single daffodil flowering in the foreground.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Finally got around to seeing the Barbie exhibition at the Design Museum this weekend! Lots of nostalgic fun, but we did think the exhibit labels overstated Barbie’s diversity & eco credentials a bit …

A Poster advertising the barbie exhibition at the design museum in London. It contains an image of the original Barbie doll from the 1950s.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Some of my favourite reads of 2024! (part 2) Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian Tana French, The Wych Elm Tana French, The Searcher Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light (Some of these have been on my shelves for AGES)

Pictured are cover images of the following books:
A Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian;
Tana French, The Wych Elm;
Tana French, The Searcher;
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall;
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies;
Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Some of my favourite reads of 2024! (Part 1) Zadie Smith, The Fraud Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place Rebecca F. Kuang, Yellowface Karen Joy Fowler, Booth Lucy Atkins, The Night Visitor Claire Korda, Woman, Eating

Covers of the following 6 books are pictured: Zadie Smith, The Fraud;
Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place;
Rebecca F. Kuang, Yellowface;
Karen Joy Fowler, Booth;
Lucy Atkins, The Night Visitor;
Claire Korda, Woman, Eating.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

The BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas is the perfect accompaniment to last-minute Christmas Eve present wrapping 😊 I enjoyed the latest, ‘Woman of Stone’ (featuring Celia Imrie as Edith Nesbit) but my fave will always be ‘Whistle and I’ll Come to You’ (even writing the title gives me the shivers!)

A still from the BBC programme ‘Woman of Stone’ showing a man and woman in Victorian dress.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

In related news my paper on body image in The Girl’s Own Paper has been accepted for #RSVP2025! Excited to discuss the mixed messaging readers encountered in the magazine and present some of the findings from our project@helenringrow.bsky.social @stephenpihlaja.bsky.social #19thCentury #Victorian

Slide showing two fashion plates from the late Victorian magazine The Girl’s Own Paper. The women depicted have elongated body shapes and very thin waists. The slide also shows a section of text from The Girl’s Own Paper, in which the editors suggest their readers are “crazed” on the subject of being too fat. The editors blame this obsession on the very slim body shapes girls see in fashion plates and adverts.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Had a great time this morning speaking to girls at Portsmouth High School about body image, drawing on examples from historical magazines. Part of a project I’m working on with the brilliant @helenringrow.bsky.social and @stephenpihlaja.bsky.social

Presentation title slide that reads: Young Women and Body Image Workshop. Project team: Dr Helen Ringrow and Dr Charlotte Boyce (University of Portsmouth) and Dr Stephen Pihlaja (Aston University)

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Is it even Blackpool if someone doesn’t descend to the dancefloor strapped to a massive ketchup bottle? #Strictly

A contestant on Strictly Come Dancing descends to the dance floor on a massive bottle of tomato ketchup.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 29/10/2024

Currently reading George Sand’s autobiography, The Story of My Life, and now have the One Direction song of the same name stuck in my head …

Cover of George Sand’s autobiography, The Story of My Life

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 15/09/2024

Finally got around to watching My Lady Jane and LOVED it, so naturally Amazon Prime have decided to cancel it after one series 😩🙄

The characters Jane and Guildford from Amazon Prime series My Lady Jane in a romantic clinch

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 02/09/2024

Took the opportunity to visit the amazing Alimentarium food museum in Vevey on my recent trip to Switzerland - can highly recommend! #FoodStudies #ESSE2024

Photo of a giant fork in Lake Geneva/ Lac Leman outside the Alimentarium.

Photo of a giant fork in a flowerbed outside the Alimentarium food museum in Vevey, Switzerland.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 26/08/2024

You know you’re in Switzerland when the conference pack includes a bar of chocolate!

Picture of conference folder, lanyard and bar of Swiss chocolate

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 20/08/2024

I was thrilled to be part of this discussion on attitudes to big bellies on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour this morning! Catch it on BBC Sounds if you missed it! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Post from BBC Woman’s Hour about an item on women’s relationship to their bellies.

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 07/02/2024

Looking foward to giving a talk to the Kipling Society later today on colonial famine in 'William the Conqueror'

First slide in my presentation showing title and an illustration from the story

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 09/01/2024

If you missed the special issue on death, celebrity and material culture that Danielle Dove and I edited for Victoriographies in 2022, you can now access it for FREE throughout January! www.euppublishing.com/toc/vic/12/1

Screen shot of first page of special issue

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Charlotte Boyce @c19thceleb.bsky.social · 07/01/2024

I’ve just finished reading Harriet Martineau’s Deerbrook, and why has no one recommended this to me before?!? Small-town gossip! Malicious rumour! A riot! Pestilence! It’s got it all! Strong Middlemarch vibes, with a dash of Cranford and Pride and Prejudice …

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