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The Importance of Pencils

Today I’m going to talk about pencils, because the quill gets all the attention for Regency writing implements. But seriously, I had to do so much research to figure out why people lick the tips of pencils before they start writing (because I wanted my heroine to do it, naturally), that I figured I would fob some of my knowledge off on you. The answer to that question is complicated, but the fluid does make certain kinds of pencils write better. Anyway, you may already know that the writing part of pencils isn’t made of lead, but of graphite. The pencils in the Regency were probably from graphite sawn from a large deposit discovered in Cumbria, England, in the 1500’s. Pencils in England continued to be made from that deposit until the 1860’s. The pencils in Germany, however, were made from a mix of graphite powder and clay developed by a German at the end of the 1700’s. Fun fact: during the Napoleonic Wars, the French couldn’t get pencils from England or from Germany (both were their enemies), so a French officer in Napoleon’s army independently invented his own graphite powder and clay mixture to enable the French to have pencils. Who knew that pencils were so important?

Embalming

In honor of Halloween, I thought I’d talk about something rather grisly: embalming. Although it wasn’t popular in the Regency, the rich did tend to do it, especially since it enabled them to have open caskets for public funerals. So Olivia has a legitimate concern when she worries that if Grey’s father was embalmed, she might not be able to tell if he was poisoned. Every undertaker had different embalming methods at this time. How do I know? Because I stumbled across a very interesting source—Civil War era undertakers who shared their “recipes” for embalming fluid in The Era formulary: 5000 Formulas for Druggists! Most of the embalming ones contain arsenic in the form of arsenious acid. Eventually, formaldehyde replaced arsenic in embalming fluid, but that happened after the Civil War. You can find the entire formulary here.

Sabrina in the News

You’ll find Sabrina popping up all over the literary world this summer. Check out these interesting reads!

1. Read more about Sabrina’s take on “historical accuracy” in female-centered historical romance novels in a Washington Post article by fellow author, Vanessa Riley.

2. See what happens when a historical romance-reading newbie tries out Undercover Duke and breaks down the “fake dating” trope in an article on Frolic.

3. Find out which Undercover Duke scene Sabrina would pitch to a producer if the book were optioned for a movie, plus other fascinating hot takes in this interview with Harlequin Junkie.

Undercover Duke is a bestseller!

Thanks to wonderful readers like you, Undercover Duke earned spots on several bestseller lists including:

#9 on the Publishers Weekly mass market paperback list

#42 on the USA Today list

Rave Reviews for Undercover Duke!

“Smart, sexy historical romance…a perfectly fashioned love story rich in smoldering sexual chemistry, sharp wit, and a dash of danger.” —Booklist

“Undercover Duke was a great finale. The whole family made appearances, and the epilogue was a wonderful ending to the series.”—Novels Alive

“UNDERCOVER DUKE is a brilliant conclusion to a fun and entertaining series. I hear the author plans to write a Christmas novella involving the playwright, Juncker. I cannot wait!”—Romance Junkies

“Fans will delight in revisiting Sheridan’s large family in this heated, twisty tale of love and deception.”—Publishers Weekly

NEED MORE REGENCY?

If you love historical romance novels and the Regency era in particular, you’ll find tons of fascinating facts in the Regency Tidbits section of my website. Just click on “The Regency” on the navigation bar to have immediate access to a host of knowledge about the vibrant and decadent Regency period. Enjoy!

PREORDER UNDERCOVER DUKE – NOW WITH LARGER PRINT!

In the fourth Duke Dynasty novel, readers will delight in this enchanting Regency romance with a mystery at its core, as half siblings investigate the truth about their mother’s succession of beloved husbands. The May 25 release will include a new “mass max” book size which is slightly bigger than a traditional mass market paperback and with larger print. Be one of the first to check out this conveniently sized novel by preordering a copy of UNDERCOVER DUKE now to start reading on May 25.

Guns during Regency

Guns during the Regency were sometimes things of beauty, like the one I describe in The Bachelor that Thorn offers to Joshua as payment for his being bodyguard to Gwyn. If you want to see what it looked like, I based it on an actual set of dueling pistols, a picture of which is on Pinterest here and here. I also have an image of Joshua’s seven-shot flintlock pepperbox pistol, made by Henry Nock of London around 1800, which looks big enough to use as a club after you run out of loaded barrels. Of course, it would take you a while to run through them all since the barrels had to be turned by hand! My Pinterest page for the book also features a number of blades in canes, pistol canes . . . everything you need to be a bodyguard.

Rave Reviews for Who Wants to Marry a Duke

“Holy hotness!!! This was absolutely one of the most sizzling historical romances I’ve read in forever!” —Goodreads reviewer

“I just love Sabrina Jeffries’ spin of Regency-style, dysfunctional families.” —Romance Junkies

“The chemistry is as intense in the bedroom as it is in the science lab in Jeffries’s intoxicating third Duke Dynasty Regency romance.”Publishers Weekly

Where did we get the term “Regency”?

Do you know where we get the term “Regency” for the period? (If you do, you can hum “God Save the Queen” while I explain.) It covers the time when the Prince of Wales, George Augustus Frederick (aka Prinny), stepped in as Regent for his father, King George III (aka the King George Americans fought against because of his taxation policies aka Mad King George), because he was, well, unable to run the country. So technically the Regency Period began in 1811 and ended in 1820, 200 years ago this month, when George III died and George IV became king. But for purposes of looking at periods in terms of their culture, fashions, ideas, etc., many people consider the Regency period to stretch from either 1783 or 1795 to 1830 or 1837 (when Victoria came to the throne). That’s why there’s such a wide range of dates in our books!