Echos of the Past
View of the Blue Ridge Mountains with mist rising over the Shenandoah River. Photo by Catharine Kempson
How do you make the past feel real?
Questions come up constantly. Could Adair have used a pencil, and when were they invented? (As early as the 1500s.) What did lamps look like, and what fuel did they use? (The Stanfords were prosperous enough for whale oil, which was more expensive but burned clean and bright.) What kind of sweets would the kids eat? (Think boiled hard sugar candy, not chocolate.)
Two things treasured by my characters deserved a special place in my notes: Adair’s square grand piano, and Benjamin Stone’s baleen-clad telescope. I found images on the internet that helped me to place them, figuratively, in my characters’ hands.
Whale Oil Lamp, 1825-1845: pressed and free-blown lead glass. Property of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y.
A “square” piano was actually rectangular, with horizontal strings and a keyboard along the long side. Made of rosewood and with an internal iron frame, Adair’s piano was a technological leap from the earlier wood frames that warped under the demand for greater volume and resonance – but a far cry from the Steinway grands we’re accustomed to. It’s sound was somewhere in between that of a fortepiano and the more resonant pianos of today. Below are links to two performances of the second movement of the “Pathetique”: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13, to enable a comparison of the sound. This is the piece Adair plays at a party during one scene in the novel.
Square Grand Piano, Jonas Pickering, Boston, mid-19 th Century. Property of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. Detail of nameplate.
Adair’s square Chickering piano:
Adair’s piano was a present from her aunt from before they became estranged; it is evidence of her Aunt Sally’s love that she shipped it to Virginia, where it remains one of Adair’s greatest treasures.
Closed, the telescope is only three and a half inches, fitting easily into a pocket. But at full extension, it provides 15x magnification – a huge advantage to Benjamin’s sea captain uncle, and later to his own wanderings around northern Virginia. It’s practical, too, due to the baleen covering: baleen is a keratin substance from whale’s mouths, and is durable, handsome, and water resistant – like a lot of plastics today. This one was made in England in the first half of the 19th century and signed by its creator in the beautiful ornate lettering typical of the time.
Benjamin Stone’s six-draw, baleen-clad mariner’s telescope:
Baleen-clad six-draw mariner’s telescope, produced and signed by Simon
Thompson, Yarmouth, between 1804-1844. Photo used by permission from
Scientific Collectables, London
Benjamin was fascinated by the telescope as a boy, as well as by his uncle’s tales of life on a clipper ship. His uncle bequeathed it to Benjamin when he died.