The magic of Google

I can't even conceive of having written The Re-education of Mr. Darcy in the pre-Internet era (which I am old enough to remember... card catalogs with real cards and all). For fun, here's a baker's dozen things I Googled as I wrote this book:

1. When did Americans start calling small, flat, sweet baked goods "cookies"? (While still colonies; it's derived from a Dutch word.)

2. Did tennis exist in 1815? (No.)

3. Italian folk dances, particularly in Tuscany and Umbria

4. History of railroad, locomotives, and steam engine development

5. How was the waltz danced in 1815?

6. Epidemics in New York City

7. When did the major Roman tourist sites open to tourism? (Answer: almost none opened to tourists until well after the time period of the book. The Capitoline Museums did exist and were open to the public at that time, however.)

8. Average travel times for carriages, horses, and sailing ships

9. Bathing-carts and swimwear in 1815

10. Novels, operas, and songs published in the 1810-1815 range. Special emphasis on Rossini. I found the lyrics and music for Ballads from the Poem of The Lady in the Lake, published 1810, in the online collection of the U.S. Library of Congress.

11. One Thousand and One Nights (not yet published in English at that time)

12. Procedures for sailing ships coming into port

13. Medical term for a stroke in 1815 (Apoplexy.)