1-800-1800

Mandylion Press
  • 4.9 (27)
  • History
  • Updated Monthly

Brought to you by Mandylion®, 1-800-1800 is your guide to 19th-century history, art, literature, culture, and scandal. Each episode, we dial into a random year of the 1800s to gab about the chaos that shaped the modern world. Hosted by Madeline Porsella and Mabel Taylor, two Victorian Nightgown Girls and historians of art and design, 1-800-1800 delivers rigorous research with a healthy dose of gossip. So pick up the phone, the nineteenth century’s calling! More Mandylion®: mandylionpress.com mandylion.substack.com instagram.com/mandylionpress Music by Jeronimo Ezquerro Aguilar-Alvarez. mandylion.substack.com

  1. 4d ago

    1-800-1872: Abby and the chocolate factory

    Welcome back to 1-800-1800! This week we are joined by the one and only Abigail Sandler, architect and author of Price Upon Request, a newsletter exploring the role of ornament in our modern lives. Abby delights us with discussion of her favorite building, the Menier Chocolate Factory in Noisiel, France. Designed by Jules Saulnier (1817-1881), the building is distinguished by its iron frame and ornamental brick infill. Listen, like, and subscribe! Xo Herman Melville statue in New Bedford. Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1872. Charles Frederick Worth, Ball gown, 1872 Edgar Degas, Dance Class at the Opera, 1872 Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets, 1872 1-800-1871 with Sara Hinckley, for background on the Paris Commune. France’s colonial expansion. Did you know chocolate is a tree? Loveman, Kate. “The Introduction of Chocolate into England: Retailers, Researchers, and Consumers, 1640-1730.” Journal of Social History 47, no. 1 (2013): 27–46. http://www.jstor.org.yale.idm.oclc.org/stable/43306044. Featuring the Earl of Sandwich’s recipe for a frozen choclate treat: “Prepare the chocolatti [to make a drink] . . . and Then Putt the vessell that hath the Chocolatti in it,into a Jaraffa[i.e. a carafe] of snow stirred together with some salt, & shaike the snow together sometyme & it will putt the Chocolatti into tender Curdled Ice & soe eate a with spoons.” Chocolatier, the Game. Eplett, Layla. “For Oompa-Loompas, Orange Was the New Black.” Gastronomica 16, no. 2 (2016): 12–17. https://www-jstor-org.yale.idm.oclc.org/stable/26362342. Charles Osborne for Tiffany & Co., Chocolate Pot, 1879. 1893 poster by Firmin Bouisset. Now, what you’ve all been waiting for: the chocolate factory! As documented by Abby. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mandylion.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 22

    1-800-The Awakening

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit mandylion.substack.com “It was not necessary for a writer of so great refinement and poetic grace to enter the over-worked field of sex-fiction” — said one critic of Kate Chopin’s landmark 1899 novel The Awakening. Mabel and Madeline dip their toes into the controversy in this week’s special bonus episode of 1-800-1800. * Kate Chopin: A Reawakening * “Kate Chopin: The Awakening, T…

  3. Sep 15

    1-800-1891: basketball is our favorite sport

    This week, Harry Krinsky of Nothing But Respect joins us to talk about the invention of basketball. We discuss the rules of the game (you won’t believe how they dribbled), the cages they played in, and a hot controversy about its inventor. Listen now & follow Harry @lexaprotools on Substack & IGShow Notes: “1-800-PODCAST” from 99% Invisible Football by Chuck Klosterman From Cages to Jumpshots by Robert W. Peterson Richard Sandomir, “Basketball’s Birth, in James Naismith’s Own Spoken Words,” New York Times. Dan Barry, “Who Really Invented Basketball, ‘The Human Calculator’ Thinks He Knows” New York Times. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mandylion.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 8

    1-800-The Tenant of Yesteryear

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit mandylion.substack.com On this week’s bonus episode of 1-800-1800, the girls dare to discuss a contemporary novel, Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear (2026), a novel about a tradwife influencer who time travels to 1855. To avoid being too modern with it, Mabel and Madeline compare Burke’s #1 New York Times bestseller with the least-popular Brontë novel, Anne Brontë’s The Tenant …

  5. Sep 1

    1-800-1849: A quick history of the state of California

    On this week’s episode of 1-800-1800, Mabel goes home…to California. After a brief debate about what sport the Forty-Niners play, the girls discuss the history of California before and after the Gold Rush. Captain Constable and the crew of the Balclutha ship circa 1887. Source. David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder. Sir Francis Drake’s Landing in California circa 1579. Source. Postcard of Mission Santa Cruz, after 1898. NYPL. Tour the Sophisticated Spanish-Style Homes of 8 Celebrities, Architectural Digest. California as I Saw It: First-Person Narratives of California’s Early Years, 1849 to 1900 Sutter’s Fort, Source. Sailing card for the clipper ship California, circa 1850. Source. Merchant ships in the San Francisco Harbor, circa 1850-51. Source. Fremont Raising the Bear Flag (engraved, c. 1860). Source. Metrics of the flag for the Republic of California. Source. First photo of James K. Polk. Joan Didion, Memoirs & Later Writings. N. Currier, The Independent Gold Hunter on His Way to California: I neither borrow nor lend, 1849-1852. Library of Congress. Henry R. Robinson, “Mose, Lize, & Little Mose Going to California,” 1849. Metropolitan Museum. Jessie Benton Frémont, A Year of American Travel, 1878. Source. Frémont was the daughter of Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858), great-granduncle to the painter of the same name. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mandylion.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Aug 25

    1-800-Late Fame

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit mandylion.substack.com This week, Mabel and Madeline read Late Fame, a perfect little novella written by Arthur Schnitzler, and saw Late Fame, a perfect little indie movie directed by Kent Jones. More importantly, because the story tackles the rediscovery of a forgotten poet, both the novella and its contemporary adaptation make for the perfect little Mandylion conversation. …

    1-800-Late Fame

  7. Aug 11

    1-800-1861: Death Becomes Her w/ Jessica DeFino

    This week on 1-800-1800, we’re discussing life’s inevitabilities—death and unrealistic beauty standards—with Jessica DeFino of one of our all time favorite Substacks, Flesh World!! Join us to learn more about Prince Albert’s death, Queen Victoria’s resulting mourning period as well as the ways death is trending in contemporary beauty culture. This one goes crazy! Show Notes * Flesh World * Ask Ugly * Mess World * “World Exhibition.” Free Library. Accessed July 14, 2026. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/feature/centennial/exhibition. * Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in March 1861, Royal Collection Trust. https://www.youngqueenvictoria.co.uk/queenvictoriarevivalthe-courtship-of-queen-victoria-and-prince-albert * The Prince Consort in his deathbed, December 1861, Wikimedia Commons.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert,_Prince_Consort_%281819-61%29_after_death,_the_Blue_Room,_Windsor_Castle_16_-_16_Dec_1861.jpg * Queen Victoria in mourning, with a portrait of Prince Albert c. 1862. * Victoria - Widowhood, reforms, Legacy | Britannica. Accessed August 11, 2026. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Victoria-queen-of-United-Kingdom/Widowhood. * Queen Victoria’s Mourning Dress, 1894. The Costume Institute. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/155840 * Mitford, Jessica. The American Way of Death. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963. * DeFino, Jessica. “Cadaver Fat Filler & the Ethics of Necrocosmetics.” FLESH WORLD , March 26, 2026. https://jessicadefino.substack.com/p/cadaver-fat-filler-and-the-ethics. * Washington Post. Peptide Boom has States Scrambling to Protect Consumers, Post Investigation Finds - The Washington Post. Accessed August 11, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/07/24/peptide-boom-has-states-scrambling-protect-consumers-post-investigation-finds/. * The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015. * Hair bracelet with photograph, 1858, Royal Collection Trust/© His Majesty King Charles III 2022 https://albert.rct.uk/explore/themes/photographic-technologies/hair-bracelet-with-photograph * Lina, Katharina. “Woven in Hair.” INFRINGE, February 4, 2020. https://www.infringe.com/woven-in-hair/. * “Prescribed Periods of Mourning .” Victorian Web. Accessed August 11, 2026. https://victorianweb.org/history/mourning/6.html. * Taylor, L. (1983). Mourning Dress (Routledge Revivals): A Costume and Social History (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.yale.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9780203871324 * Wildgoose, Jane. “Ways of Making with Human Hair and Knowing How to ‘Listen’ to the Dead.” West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture 23, no. 1 (2016): 79–101. https://www-jstor-org.yale.idm.oclc.org/stable/26466679. * Lutz, Deborah. “DEATH BECOMES HER: A CENTURY OF MOURNING ATTIRE.” Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire. The Metropolitan Museum of Art; My Lady Ludlow; Death in the Victorian Family; Death, Dissection, and the Destitute; Mourning Dress: A Costume and Social History; Vanity Fair, by Harold Koda, Jessica Regan, Elizabeth Gaskell, et al. Victorian Literature and Culture 44, no. 1 (2016): 217–22. http://www.jstor.org.yale.idm.oclc.org/stable/43923421. * Lutz, Deborah. “THE DEAD STILL AMONG US: VICTORIAN SECULAR RELICS, HAIR JEWELRY, AND DEATH CULTURE.” Victorian Literature and Culture 39, no. 1 (2011): 127–42. http://www.jstor.org.yale.idm.oclc.org/stable/41307854. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mandylion.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Jul 28

    1-800-Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit mandylion.substack.com This week, Mabel and Madeline dig into the painting that has appeared most frequently in Mandylion’s visual glossaries, Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog from 1818. She’s in The Gadfly, The Morgesons, The Hill of Dreams, and our upcoming title, Love Days. Listen to find out why we can’t get enough of this Romantic masterpiece. **note: Madeline got basically every first name she said in this episode wrong, just listen to last names. Thank you for understanding, she’s doing her best.

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4.9
out of 5
27 Ratings

About

Brought to you by Mandylion®, 1-800-1800 is your guide to 19th-century history, art, literature, culture, and scandal. Each episode, we dial into a random year of the 1800s to gab about the chaos that shaped the modern world. Hosted by Madeline Porsella and Mabel Taylor, two Victorian Nightgown Girls and historians of art and design, 1-800-1800 delivers rigorous research with a healthy dose of gossip. So pick up the phone, the nineteenth century’s calling! More Mandylion®: mandylionpress.com mandylion.substack.com instagram.com/mandylionpress Music by Jeronimo Ezquerro Aguilar-Alvarez. mandylion.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Mandylion Press
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Mandylion Press
  • Show Website
    1-800-1800

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