Literature Network » Oscar Wilde

The Essay: Parlour games Was Oscar Wilde the Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen of his day? Matthew Sweet examines the Victorian roots of Britain's obsession with DIY and home decoration

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From: The Independent - London
Date: 20000429
Author:Matthew Sweet

The latest issue of Period Living and Traditional Homes magazine has a free gift gummed to the cover. Three packets of seeds. And they're not just ordinary seeds, they're "Heritage Seeds to Remember". Asters, which, the packet reminds us, "commanded a high price in the Victorian flower markets of Paris and London" - as if the old girl ruled France as well as the British Empire. Sweet Williams, the result of hybridisation by "Victorian plantsmen" - some breed of silver-bearded rustics long vanished from the earth. Poppies, which - rather incomprehensibly - will produce "nostalgic fringed ...

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