Over the years, I have read dozens of Regency romances which include a scene in the bath. The hero may or may not be present while the heroine bathes, but one thing which is always close at hand is a bar of soap. Yet during the Regency, bar soap was extremely expensive, used only by the affluent classes. Bar soap, something so ubiquitous today we take it for granted. Yet, it was only in the last decade of the eighteenth century that a French chemist patented a method of making bar soap which should have helped to reduce the cost, making it available to more people. Before that time, those of modest means were more likely to use the less expensive soft soap.

A brief history of how soap lathered its way to the Regency ...

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I first learned of the existence of that small lady's handbag, the reticule, from the novels of Georgette Heyer. Later, as a museum curator, I had the opportunity to see a number of actual Regency-era reticules, both in person and in museum photographs. As I continued to research these often exquisite little bags, I discovered they had their origins in the late eighteenth century. Prior to that time, ladies carried their personal essentials in pockets under their skirts. Not in their skirts, under their skirts.

So, when and how did the lady's pocket come out from under her skirt and make its debut as the reticule?

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Or not. But authors, if your Regency hero does take off his shirt, or, even more enjoyable, if your heroine chooses to help him, please be sure they take off a Regency-era shirt, not a modern one. It does so ruin the mood to have a present-day garment appear in a delicious Regency seduction.

What precisely are the salient features of a man's shirt from the time of the Regency?

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