The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency, 1811-20 [Hardcover]

J. B. Priestley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1969

The Regency Period is perhaps the most romantic of British history. It was an age which swung between extremes of elegance and refinement, and depths of sodden brutality. The central figure is the Prince Regent, Prinny, and though he sometimes appears as a gigantic spoilt child, he was famously good company and a notable patron of the arts. The author portrays the personalities of the giants of the romantic age - Byron, Shelley, Sheridan, Wordsworth, Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott; Davy Faraday and Macadam; Turner, Constable and Cotman - to name a few. It was an age of extravagance; an age marked by great eccentricities and prodigous jokes; the luddite riots; the Battles of Waterloo and Peterloo; the first waltzes and the first locomotives.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894, J.B. Priestley served in the infantry in the First World War before taking a degree at Cambridge University. Journalist, critic, novelist and playwright, Priestley was awarded the Order of Merit in 1977 and died in 1984. He is also the author of THE EDWARDIANS published in Penguin Classic History. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd (September 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0434603570
• ISBN-13: 978-0434603572
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,206,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the prince of pleasure and his regency, April 6, 2000

By 

H. J. Moissant (San Franc isco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency, 1811-20 (Hardcover)

A wonderfully detailed and readable account of the Regency era (1811-1820) and its focal point--Prince George IV. The author ably explores,within the context of the eras mores and singular fashion, the lives of its most celebrated and scandalous figures. The author also recounts the events of the Napoleaonic Wars taking place at the time in an interesting and relevant fashion. All in all, I found this book to be a very easy and enjoyable read with just enough history and gossip to keep you moving right along. If you are interested in the era, I would also recommend The Regency Companion, an enjoyable and detailed reference work of the time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Omnium Gatherum, July 23, 2005

By 

Holly Ingraham "ailurophile" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency, 1811-20 (Hardcover)

If this book has flaws (for what it attempts to be), one lies with the author and one with the publisher.

The writer is too much of his time, a bit obsessed with judging all the people as to whether they were "truly female" or "real men," whether they were properly mature or "giant children." That, and to cover his vast subject (the entirety of England of note and commonality both, not just the Regent and the ton), for people he often relies too heavily on 'The Dictionary of National Biography', taking its fourth-hand judgements rather too seriously beyond the mere facts of birth, death, marriage and offspring. His bibliography lists better books, which he might have paid more attention to.

Yes, I read the text as well as looked at the pictures, which are sometimes three per page. This is the other problem. To cram this many on in the wide borders results in them often being tiny and dark, so that any detail, sometimes any sense or image, is lost. In many cases, items with captions or speech balloons are unreadable. This is the publisher's fault: they could have either reduced the number of illustrations, making more of them valuable rather than blobby, or they could have allowed more pages and put less text per page around larger images.

That done with, if the subject interests you, I can't recommend this too highly. The pictures that are visible are a valuable cross selection, like a box full of snapshots of everywhere: machinery, grand houses, frost fairs on the Thames, bridges, furniture, mail coaches in thunderstorms, and a constant stream of portraits. If you have been studying this period a while, finally seeing the faces of the names often mentioned adds a whole level of illumination.

As well, the text is marvelously informative on a vast number of subjects. Organization year by year helps the reader see when different influences struck, rather than making it difficult to co-ordinate the war, home politics, and shifts in the arts because they're in separate chapters. Yes, sometimes he does stop to give background on an item only in this year first really important, or move forward to sum up the future of someone he means to not bring up again (and not leave the reader hanging and wondering). It's done very smoothly.

It's a good book to read cover to cover, yet one can then keep it at chairside and dip into it anywhere for a few minutes of entertainment and education. All in all, both a fun book and a good book, a combination rarely found.