Two hundred years ago, Regency bucks and misses who wanted the latest news on fashion, literature and furnishings would turn to the pages of Ackermann’s Repository. The first issue, priced at four shillings, was published on 2 January 1809. Each number contained one or two fashion plates ‘executed by Artists of the first Eminence,’ views of furnishings and shops, a sporting picture (horse-racing etc) and a woodcut (see left) with samples of the newest fabrics.The April 1809 issue had samples of scarlet and gold furniture calico, a striped ‘Scotia silk’, and a spotted muslin made by T. & J. Smith & Co. at Covent Garden. Amongst the featured articles that month were a ‘Method of Bleaching Straw’ and an essay on gas lighting.
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